Comment Why do they need scientific creationism? (Score 1) 113
Christian fundamentalists (and I have yet to meet a creationist who isn't one) require creationism to be true because if it is not their entire religion collapses.
Christian fundamentalists believe that the world was created in 6 literal days (7 if you count the day God got tired) between 6000 and 10,000 years ago. They believe that the first two people on this planet were Adam and Eve. They believe that Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit. They believe that God cursed Adam and Eve and all of their progeny (i.e. us) for this transgression with suffering and death. They believe that 2000 years ago God sent his son/himself down to earth to give those of us afflicted with the curse of original sin a way back into his good graces.
As hard as it is for most of us to understand, they really believe all of that. So here's the rub: If creationism isn't true then there was no Adam and Eve. If there was no Adam and Eve then no one ate the forbidden fruit. If no one ate the forbidden fruit then humanity wasn't cursed with original sin. If there was no original sin there was no reason for God to send Jesus down to earth to redeem us from it. No Jesus, no Christianity.
Therefore, in the mindset of a fundamentalist Christian, creationism is the linchpin of their entire faith. That, in a nutshell, is why they will defend it so rabidly in spite of all evidence to the contrary. In the long run it doesn't really matter; dogmatic religion always loses to reality eventually. There was a time not too long ago when Christians insisted that the sun revolved around the earth and they had copious biblical passages to "prove" it. Creationism is going through some noisy death spasms, eventually it will just be an unpleasant memory.
Christian fundamentalists believe that the world was created in 6 literal days (7 if you count the day God got tired) between 6000 and 10,000 years ago. They believe that the first two people on this planet were Adam and Eve. They believe that Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit. They believe that God cursed Adam and Eve and all of their progeny (i.e. us) for this transgression with suffering and death. They believe that 2000 years ago God sent his son/himself down to earth to give those of us afflicted with the curse of original sin a way back into his good graces.
As hard as it is for most of us to understand, they really believe all of that. So here's the rub: If creationism isn't true then there was no Adam and Eve. If there was no Adam and Eve then no one ate the forbidden fruit. If no one ate the forbidden fruit then humanity wasn't cursed with original sin. If there was no original sin there was no reason for God to send Jesus down to earth to redeem us from it. No Jesus, no Christianity.
Therefore, in the mindset of a fundamentalist Christian, creationism is the linchpin of their entire faith. That, in a nutshell, is why they will defend it so rabidly in spite of all evidence to the contrary. In the long run it doesn't really matter; dogmatic religion always loses to reality eventually. There was a time not too long ago when Christians insisted that the sun revolved around the earth and they had copious biblical passages to "prove" it. Creationism is going through some noisy death spasms, eventually it will just be an unpleasant memory.
