SDA Creationism: The Origin of Young Earth Creationism in the USA.

Last weekend there was a big Evolutionary Biology conference at the University of Chicago. Among the speakers was Ron Numbers a former Seventh-Day Adventist. (Summary of his talk on Pharyngula) He mentioned something I had not known before. According to the talk the old earth creationism ideas of day/age and gap theory were the standard positions in the United States outside of Adventism until the 1960's. At the time there was a book written called The Genesis Flood which borrowed the SDA idea developed by Ellen White follower George MacReady Price - the Noah's flood was responsible for the entire geologic column. Since most of Christianity regarded Adventism as a cult, the SDA notion of a young earth wasn't widely accepted until introduced to mainstream Christianity by the non-Adventist who wrote The Genesis Flood.

Maybe this is common knowledge and I wasn't aware due to the fact that I was on the inside of the Adventist system. I just had know idea that the SDA church was the lone reservoir of special pseudo-science for so long.
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On a related note there was a special Creation Sabbath sermon here on October, 24. I didn't get to stay and listen, but I was hoping the audio would get posted. Looks like maybe I'll never get to see what I missed.

Yes on R-71

Awhile back there was a law passed in Washington State (SB 5688) that would give same-sex partners the same basic civil rights as other married people just not the name 'marriage'. There was really scandalous and disturbing stuff in this law. Things like inheritance rights and visitation rights {eyes rolling}. Obviously it was met with heated opposition by bigots terrified by the fading power of their patriarchy. The law was supposed to have gone into effect in July 2009, but the haters managed to get enough signature - due in part to dubious tactics - to put it back on the ballot for the November election.

My voters guide came in the mail last week. I read the arguments for and against R-71. I found it interesting tough not surprising that the only organizations listed as being in opposition are religious.

I'm mailing my ballot today marked Yes on R-71.

My Atheism is Complete

So, for a shot time this weekend I thought there was a chance I had a serious medical condition. I had some indeterminate symptoms that could have indicated something serious or been nothing much at all. Fortunately, it appears to be nothing, but for a few minutes I found myself contemplating my mortality in ways more seriously than I've done before. I've done the normal mortality facing that happens when you are 30 years old. And the things you think about when you have kids, but this was a little more personal.

I was pleased to notice that not once did I fear for my soul. I wasn't afraid that maybe I was wrong and I'd end up in hell after all. I didn't worry that maybe I should try to get right with Jesus just in case. I didn't even feel the need to meditate and align my chakras. I didn't waste any calories thinking about any make believe magic stuff. I did think about my family and my hope and dream and goals in life. These are things that I consider important and useful. In fact the only time anything religious came to mind was when Lori told me that I'd better be okay because she didn't want to deal with all the people that would tell her "that is terrible . . . it's so sad he turned away from the Lord".

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If anyone is curious, I was having lots of muscle pain and trouble using my hands. The closest it got to a serious condition was when I couldn't get my pants off to go to the bathroom. Had a blood test and the diagnosis was Rhabdomyolysis. I must have exerted myself too much at the gym this week. The other thing I'm proud of here - besides my lack of religious guilt - was my ability to combine my major themes of atheism and body building into one post.

SDA Creationism gets Wider Notice

I've always believed that I got a quality science education at Walla Walla College, an Seventh-Day Adventist school. That is because I was fortunate to have some excellent professors that honestly thought science. Recently principled faculty members at some other SDA schools have been getting heat from the fundamentalist from their honesty. I stumbled across one of these crackpots awhile back.

Now, this little internal doctrinal squabble is getting some wider exposure. Since this whole thing was thoroughly covered on Pharyngula, I don't need to say more. I'm off to find that fresh topic I hope to write about someday.

Belief #6: Reality is Fatal to Fundamental Adventist Beliefs

I feel like I've been stuck on one topic for awhile. I'm not exactly sure why that is. It might be just because I have less time to write on things that are only sort of interesting to me. That the Seventh-Day Adventist church has chosen to highlight creationism this year has definitely provided plenty of material. In the future I'll try to diversify, but this is just too easy.

This month's topic in The Adventist World's series on fundamental beliefs is belief number six - creation. The official position is stated as:

6. Creation:
God is Creator of all things, and has revealed in Scripture the
authentic account of His creative activity. In six days the Lord made
"the heaven and the earth" and all living things upon the earth, and
rested on the seventh day of that first week. Thus He established the
Sabbath as a perpetual memorial of His completed creative work. The
first man and woman were made in the image of God as the crowning work
of Creation, given dominion over the world, and charged with
responsibility to care for it. When the world was finished it was ``very
good,'' declaring the glory of God. (Gen. 1; 2; Ex. 20:8-11; Ps. 19:1-6;
33:6, 9; 104; Heb. 11:3.)

Which leaves a slight bit wiggle room, to adapt to scientific reality. You know, the moderate Christian position of symbolic time periods with a special 'ensoulment' of humans at some point in the recent past. However, fundamental Adventism cannot accept a moderate interpretation -
even of this easily falsifiable claim. The reason is probably clear to almost everyone, but for some reason only came into sharp focus for me after reading this article. It is this: young earth creationism is like a keystone. If it slips, it starts a cascade of failing fundamental beliefs and dearly held doctrines.

"Special creation preserves the integrity of Scripture, safeguards the loving, praiseworthy character of God, establishes the reality of the atonement and redemption, and the soundness of the seventh-day Sabbath. These reasons, and more, show why a special creation worldview matters so deeply to the Adventist message and mission."

Most important is the seventh day Sabbath, which is the nearly the entire identity of Seventh-Day Adventism. The other beliefs specifically mentioned in the article that are threatened by reality are "authority and inspiration of Scripture", "the biblical teaching of the
loving character of the Creator" and the "literal fall" of man.

This last is significant because absent a literal fall and a historical Adam who transfers sin to humanity, we no longer require atonement and redemption. No need to for Jesus to die, no need for Christianity. Clearly no religion is going to acknowledge and embrace its own obsolescence.

Although creationism is demonstrably false, I'm sort of in favor of the SDA position of holding firm. It seems to be fairly benign in practice. I don't think my science education was irreparably damaged. But, it serves to underline the ridiculousness of the religion and hopefully decrease its influence and relevance in the culture. As PZ Myers eloquently put it.

"When fundamentalists tie their faith absolutely to a claim that is easily refuted, that contradicts the evidence, and that requires them to constantly escalate their denial and delusions in order to sustain their belief, it makes it really easy for atheists to demolish their religion. We don't even need to attack religion in the classroom at all - we just calmly lay out the facts, let the students work out the conclusions, and sometimes...it's epiphany time! They realize their pastor lied to them, or was just really ignorant, and suddenly their respect for Christian authority begins to crumble away. It's not the atheist's fault, though. The lesson should be, "Don't lie to your kids,"

Even More SDA Creationism

I was poking around the internet to see if I could find some info on the new pastor here when I came an interesting group working hard to destroy good biology instruction in Adventist Schools. I always thought I got pretty good education in the SDA system, in every area but biology. Hopefully their little petition (which the new pastor here signed) doesn't get much attention.

Not that the general conference needs any help focusing on creationism. Two articles in the latest Adventist World are devoted to focusing on literal biblical creationism. In addition to the links I posted earlier. This one is especially disturbing. It encourages parents to confront teachers and report them to the administration if they disagree with the things they teach. This could be ugly.

Oooo Fairies

I'm surprised I'd never heard of this before, but I guess I'd essentially moved out of the area before this got started. I had no idea that Twisp, WA was where "veil between dimensions is said to be thinnest". Though I guess I do remember that the area was popular with the hippies.