"You know that's impossible right?" Explaining to kids the comments of creationists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went out of town this weekend. Went to a place where there was a geological formation. The plaque mentioned that it had taken 2 million years for this particular formation to come about. A woman behind us was reading the plaque out loud to her family. She then stops and tells her kids, "You know that's impossible right?"

My kids were confused and asked me why she said that.

How would you have responded? Would you have responded right then while the woman and her family were in earshot or would you have waited till they left?

Thanks.

Don't worry, one little comment by a stranger isn't going to derail the indoctrination of your children. Relax and enjoy the time with your kids. I mean, we are all here, we have to live here, who really gives a bleep how the earth was made. It's not like we can reverse engineer it or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the most helpful thing for my child is studying myths across different cultures. It's very easy even for my 8 YO to see how Christian myth is not much different than Greek or Roman myth. I encourage her to be biblically literate but to see the Bible as yet another culture's mythology. Which means in our family that we believe the bible is pretend stories they made up for things they couldn't explain. Unfortunately some people still insist that those stories are still true.

They can believe whatever they want. We believe in science.

Using the same logic, you can't possibly teach God's existence.

I teach my child the possibility of god's existence. It's not a conclusion, it's a hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the most helpful thing for my child is studying myths across different cultures. It's very easy even for my 8 YO to see how Christian myth is not much different than Greek or Roman myth. I encourage her to be biblically literate but to see the Bible as yet another culture's mythology. Which means in our family that we believe the bible is pretend stories they made up for things they couldn't explain. Unfortunately some people still insist that those stories are still true.

They can believe whatever they want. We believe in science.

Using the same logic, you can't possibly teach God's existence.

NP here- you don't need to teach god's existence because, as other posters have written, it is FAITH versus science. If one cannot prove or disprove the existence of god- note atheism, agnosticism, other religions that believe in a deity- it is a very different thing you are suggesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: There have been lots of things in history that are "factually incorrect" and have either been proven wrong or doubts raised. Yes, we once believed the earth to be flat and condemned those who said otherwise. Columbus didn't actually discover America (yet we still all pay homage to this "fact" on the second Monday in October). Some other interesting "facts" some spoken by true scientists:
"Everything that can be invented – has already been invented" (1899 Commissioner of the Patent Office).
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom," ... Robert Milken, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1923
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," ... Lord Kelvin, President Royal Society, 1895

But those are different, right?

And there have been lots of things that people believed that turned out to be true. Your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the most helpful thing for my child is studying myths across different cultures. It's very easy even for my 8 YO to see how Christian myth is not much different than Greek or Roman myth. I encourage her to be biblically literate but to see the Bible as yet another culture's mythology. Which means in our family that we believe the bible is pretend stories they made up for things they couldn't explain. Unfortunately some people still insist that those stories are still true.

They can believe whatever they want. We believe in science.

Using the same logic, you can't possibly teach God's existence.

I teach my child the possibility of god's existence. It's not a conclusion, it's a hope.

So God may exist but there's 100% absolutely no way anyone could possibly make any valid argument that the earth is not a billion years old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: There have been lots of things in history that are "factually incorrect" and have either been proven wrong or doubts raised. Yes, we once believed the earth to be flat and condemned those who said otherwise. Columbus didn't actually discover America (yet we still all pay homage to this "fact" on the second Monday in October). Some other interesting "facts" some spoken by true scientists:
"Everything that can be invented – has already been invented" (1899 Commissioner of the Patent Office).
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom," ... Robert Milken, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1923
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," ... Lord Kelvin, President Royal Society, 1895

But those are different, right?

And there have been lots of things that people believed that turned out to be true. Your point?

Really? Think a little.

[Anonymous]

Another poster from page 1. Creationism aside, God aside, science vs. faith aside (and not totally sure why the two have to be mutually exclusive), whatever you believe, why do you feel the need to foist those beliefs on your children? Why are you afraid of them making up their own minds when they are able to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people realize not all Christians believe in literally seven days creation, right? That some believe the seven days means seven periods of time, not 24 hrs. Also, it's possible to be a Christian and believe God created the universe but not know HOW he did it.

Also I take "science" with a grain of salt. Afew hundred years ago science just knew the earth was flat. Scientists are still human and basing their findings on what they know or what they wish they knew. They learn more and more all the time and are constantly debunking what they thought they knew.

Bingo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: There have been lots of things in history that are "factually incorrect" and have either been proven wrong or doubts raised. Yes, we once believed the earth to be flat and condemned those who said otherwise. Columbus didn't actually discover America (yet we still all pay homage to this "fact" on the second Monday in October). Some other interesting "facts" some spoken by true scientists:
"Everything that can be invented – has already been invented" (1899 Commissioner of the Patent Office).
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom," ... Robert Milken, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1923
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," ... Lord Kelvin, President Royal Society, 1895

But those are different, right?

And there have been lots of things that people believed that turned out to be true. Your point?

Really? Think a little.

Sorry, I can't be bothered to make up a list of "things that people believed that actually turned out to be true" for someone this lazy and flip.

Threads like this encapsulate what's wrong with DCUM. A bunch of posters like this one, who think *only they* have a lock on the *truth*. So damn it, they are going to school the rest of us! And they'll school us with lazy and flip arguments, damn it, because that's all we deserve! Even if many of us claim to believe in evolution ourselves, they'll still be lazy and flip, damn it, because how else do we talk to each other on DCUM!

Learn some tolerance, guys. We're not talking the Holocaust or Santa Claus here, despite some PPs' attempts to make specious analogies. You're a waste of time. Buh by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand being respectful and waiting until the woman walked away, but let's not be crazy here and act like creationism should be presented as "just people who have a different opinion". It is not valid to believe that the earth is a few thousand years old - facts are facts and science is science.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey don't worry those creationists are just ensuring their children to low skill, low level jobs.

Actually, a good many of them end up working in a micro-economy created and supported by their church. They can't hack the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: There have been lots of things in history that are "factually incorrect" and have either been proven wrong or doubts raised. Yes, we once believed the earth to be flat and condemned those who said otherwise. Columbus didn't actually discover America (yet we still all pay homage to this "fact" on the second Monday in October). Some other interesting "facts" some spoken by true scientists:
"Everything that can be invented – has already been invented" (1899 Commissioner of the Patent Office).
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom," ... Robert Milken, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1923
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," ... Lord Kelvin, President Royal Society, 1895

But those are different, right?

And there have been lots of things that people believed that turned out to be true. Your point?

Really? Think a little.

Sorry, I can't be bothered to make up a list of "things that people believed that actually turned out to be true" for someone this lazy and flip.

Threads like this encapsulate what's wrong with DCUM. A bunch of posters like this one, who think *only they* have a lock on the *truth*. So damn it, they are going to school the rest of us! And they'll school us with lazy and flip arguments, damn it, because that's all we deserve! Even if many of us claim to believe in evolution ourselves, they'll still be lazy and flip, damn it, because how else do we talk to each other on DCUM!

Learn some tolerance, guys. We're not talking the Holocaust or Santa Claus here, despite some PPs' attempts to make specious analogies. You're a waste of time. Buh by.

Np, but you missed the simple obvious point that sometimes things proven to a scientific certainty are in fact false. Pp presented some examples that you apparently did not like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And creationists disagree.

That doesn't mean that viewpoint is worthy of respect or deference of any sort. It's not something you agree to disagree over.

So you teach your kids to disrespect any viewpoint that differs from yours? I just thought we were way past this.

Not at all, but some things can be dismissed immediately as demonstrably false. If you tell me a cat is a dog, and I can see it's a dog, I don't have to respect your viewpoint just because you have it.

There should be no viewpoints in this case. The facts are indisputable. This is not a question of interpretation -- it is a matter of fact. Creationists "believe" something that's contrary to demonstrable fact. So, no, their "beliefs" aren't valid because I can prove them wrong, dispassionately.

Similarly, do I have to respect the viewpoint of people who think George W. Bush orchestrated 9-11? Because that's what you're arguing.

I agree with this. Not all viewpoints are equally valid. People are allowed opinions, but some opinions are not worthy of respect. What if the creationist woman had said something like this " Black people are inferior to white people". Should the OP have told her kids that everyone has their own viewpoint and that they should research and find out what they believe about black people? Some things are simply wrong. Creationism is an example of a point of view that has no merit, and deserves no respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: There have been lots of things in history that are "factually incorrect" and have either been proven wrong or doubts raised. Yes, we once believed the earth to be flat and condemned those who said otherwise. Columbus didn't actually discover America (yet we still all pay homage to this "fact" on the second Monday in October). Some other interesting "facts" some spoken by true scientists:
"Everything that can be invented – has already been invented" (1899 Commissioner of the Patent Office).
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom," ... Robert Milken, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1923
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," ... Lord Kelvin, President Royal Society, 1895

But those are different, right?

And there have been lots of things that people believed that turned out to be true. Your point?

Really? Think a little.

Sorry, I can't be bothered to make up a list of "things that people believed that actually turned out to be true" for someone this lazy and flip.

Threads like this encapsulate what's wrong with DCUM. A bunch of posters like this one, who think *only they* have a lock on the *truth*. So damn it, they are going to school the rest of us! And they'll school us with lazy and flip arguments, damn it, because that's all we deserve! Even if many of us claim to believe in evolution ourselves, they'll still be lazy and flip, damn it, because how else do we talk to each other on DCUM!

Learn some tolerance, guys. We're not talking the Holocaust or Santa Claus here, despite some PPs' attempts to make specious analogies. You're a waste of time. Buh by.

Np, but you missed the simple obvious point that sometimes things proven to a scientific certainty are in fact false. Pp presented some examples that you apparently did not like.

Actually, no. The "examples" PP presented are just the stated opinions of certain people. They were not based on scientific certainty or scientific theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people realize not all Christians believe in literally seven days creation, right? That some believe the seven days means seven periods of time, not 24 hrs. Also, it's possible to be a Christian and believe God created the universe but not know HOW he did it.

Also I take "science" with a grain of salt. Afew hundred years ago science just knew the earth was flat. Scientists are still human and basing their findings on what they know or what they wish they knew. They learn more and more all the time and are constantly debunking what they thought they knew.

Bingo!

Actually, the Ancient Greek scientists were aware that the Earth is round and calculated its size with a high degree of accuracy. Only after the middle ages, and the suppression of science by the Roman Catholic Church, did the shape of the Earth become an issue.

The evolving understanding that science provides is a reason to value it over religion. Science questions and tests its knowledge. It creates better ideas when new date presents itself.

Religion doesn't.