Creationism: only in America

[trencacloscas]

Why this creationist fuzz isn't happening anywhere else?

I live in Europe, and all this thing looks so ridiculous from here. Not even churches or religious fanatics go into such speculations. When the Berlusconi administration (Italy, right wing) pretended to ban the mention of Evolution from the first grades of schools, the scorn was so unanimous that they had to back off in shame, and this was probably the only incident remotely related to the issue.

So, why the U.S.A. is involved in this strange controversy?

[Cathar1950]

I don't think so. Bush should be in serious danger.

I think the rich stupid kids can afford to get off.
The land of the free sometimes seems like the land of the insane.
I think some kid got elected mayor of one of our cities. What was funny is that he was a right in and one by one vote. One person wrote on the voting ballot "the kid running for mayor". I found it almost a breath of fresh air.

[Dion]

Tell me you from other countries do you worry about evolution in your schools. For a country that is suppose to have separation of church and state we sure have a lot of church.

I live in Scotland and our education system has always remained separate from that of the rest of the UK. That was one condition of the Treaty of Union of 1703 between Scotland and England. Our elementary school system was largely established by the Church of Scotland with local parish schools as the basic unit throughout the country. This network of schools ensured that virtually every child in Scotland had access to education at least as far as basic reading, writing and arithmetic. This system was well established long before any similar schools were widespread in England. Taken together with the four medieval universities in Scotland (compared to two in England which had a much larger [about 10 times] population) this produced a relatively highly educated population for the time.

The point of the little history lesson is that when these church schools were eventually taken over by the State, the Church was able to influence the necessary legislation. The net result was that the one and only subject that was required, by law, to be taught in Scottish schools was Religious Education - in exact opposition to the situation in the US. All the other subjects were taught but only RE was required to be taught by law. Of course, at the time, 'Religious Education' really meant Christian Religious Instruction. In modern times it means Comparative Religious Studies, and it doesn't take up more than about half an hour a week unless individual students elect to make a special study of the subject.

Perhaps because RE is 'establishment', the vast majority of students regard it as a boring waste of time and terminally 'uncool'. Any attempt to try to introduce religion into the rest of the curriculum, especially in the form of Creation 'Science' or ID would be met with outrage and hoots of derisive laughter, in just about equal measure, by both students and their parents alike.

Perhaps the US should consider making Religious Education compulsory in all schools! It might just cause the creationists to go extinct there too!

[jcrawford]

So, why the U.S.A. is involved in this strange controversy?

Probably because we have more civil rights and equality for people of various regional origins and racial ancestry than countries like Italy where Latin imperialism originated, and countries like France where secular humanism and the guillotine was invented.

[jwu]

*cough*Electric Chair*cough*slavery until the middle of the 19th century*cough*

Pot, meet Kettle.

[trencacloscas]

Probably because we have more civil rights and equality for people of various regional origins and racial ancestry than countries like Italy where Latin imperialism originated, and countries like France where secular humanism and the guillotine was invented.

In your dreams, pal, only in your dreams.

[QED]

*cough*Electric Chair*cough*slavery until the middle of the 19th century*cough*

Pot, meet Kettle.

You forgot to mention being the only nation to have ever deployed an atomic weapon

Could it be that the virtual uniqueness of creationism in the US is a symptom of isolationism? Nearly every creationist website I can find on the internet seems to be American. Searching for examples form the UK only came up with a handful of finds such as: http://www.biblicalcreation.org.uk/
I notice that their approach is a bit more conciliatory than most of their competitors:

We respectfully challenge fellow Christians who have accepted holistic evolutionary explanations of the living world to reconsider the issues. We believe we have a constructive response to their questions founded on scripture.

[trencacloscas]

Not to mention that the U.S. is probably the only example of authentic imperialism in the modern world.

[jcrawford]

They have a site on Bushisms it is really funny and sad.
trencacloscas I have to agree with you.

American Neanderthals claim President Bush as one of their own since so many wise neo-Darwinist Homo sapiens sapiens around the world reject him as an equally wise man as themselves.

Neanderthal Power! Join our Skull and Bones Club today.

[micatala]

(Warning! Illogical satire follows. Be wary of any resemblance to previous racist creationist views expressed on this thread or in this forum, as these are only the the result of inherent creationist bias against life forms from other planets)




The descendants of Martian immigrants to the earth claim the Dalai Lama as one of their own! They decry creationist racism that would claim life on other planets does not exist, especially as they trace their Martian roots back 4 billion years to a time which creationists claim did not even exist. Anyone can see that the creationist claims are inherently racist, as they postulate without any scientific evidence whatsoever that those who claim Martian ancestry are extinct or even worse, never existed. This genocidal view can only be characterized as unscientific and irreligious and is a result of creationists seeking to deny basic human and Martian rights to those of Martian ancestry through political imperialism and miseducation.

Long live the Dalia Lama! Long live Mars!

[Cathar1950]

Long live the Dalia Lama! Long live Mars!

I had no idea that the Dalia Lama was a Martian.
Does he know?