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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