Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mcnc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hpda!fortune!amd!decwrl!decvax!mcnc!bch From: bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron Howes) Newsgroups: net.origins Subject: Re: Rules question Message-ID: <2232@mcnc.UUCP> Date: Sun, 16-Sep-84 12:47:10 EDT Article-I.D.: mcnc.2232 Posted: Sun Sep 16 12:47:10 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 03:39:05 EDT References: <292@uwmacc.UUCP> Organization: North Carolina Educational Computing Service Lines: 36 >> The statement "G*d created" clearly may be interpreted in a >> religious manner. Is it allowed as a starting point? That is, >> is it scientifically acceptable to the evolutionists on the net >> to postulate a Creator, and then make predictions using naturalistic >> processes on the basis of that postulate? Or is that, too, a >> religious statement, and therefore disallowed? The question Dubois asks is, as usual, more simplistic in the asking than in the answering. I suspect it depends upon the context in which the attribution "G*d created..." is used. If Dubois wants to say "G*d created an oscillating universe," or "G*d created the Big Bang," I suppose I would have no objection since such assertions most likely fall outside the realm of evidence and scientific inquiry. If Dubois wants to use "G*d created the Universe just like it is 10,000 years ago..." as some kind of starting point, then there are serious objections. The asser- tion flies in the face of the physical evidence and really is subject to scientific inquiry. Fortunately, Dubois himself provides a useful heuristic: >> If it is disallowed, how about, then, if I postulate, say, "it >> just came out of nothing"? Is that religious, and disallowed? No. I actually like this. The assertion that "...it just came out of nothing" must not, however, be confused with "We don't know (yet) where it came from," or "The physical evidence is as yet insufficient to state how this came to be" or any number of evidence-based state- ments. If Dubois, and the other creationists, would be willing to substitute "X just came out of nothing" for "G*d created X" in their expositions it would certainly lay bare the amount of non-science in their thinking. -- Byron C. Howes {decvax|akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bch