Talk:Young earth creationism

Article Checklist for "Young earth creationism"

Workgroup category or categories	Religion Workgroup, Philosophy Workgroup [Editors asked to check categories]
Article status	Developing article: beyond a stub, but incomplete
Underlinked article?	Yes
Basic cleanup done?	Yes
Checklist last edited by	Matt Innis (Talk) 21:48, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

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Unless the author quickly replaces this initial text with a scholarly introduction - or puts a bibliography here on the discusion page I believe this article should be speedily deleted. Citizendium is a compendium of knowlege and starting a new article requires a committment to scholarship, especially when it is a controversial topic. Nancy Sculerati 17:13, 24 May 2007 (CDT)

I've expanded it, and the article needs editors' help. Thanks! PLEASE do not turn this article into a diatribe against young earth creationism. It should be neutral. Yi Zhe Wu 21:09, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

if true THEN 7 days

literally true means 7 days. Robert Tito |  Talk 

The article needs to be neutral, please do not turn it into a diatribe. Yi Zhe Wu 21:09, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

literally seems to be what it says, literally.

By the way, one cannot invent physical properties, only apply them. Robert Tito |  Talk  21:11, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

one question

can somebody explain to me the role of biology in young earth creationism? That seems quite inappropriate to put biology in creationism. Robert Tito |  Talk  21:24, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Because the young earth creationism does address some issues about origin of organisms, which is within the purview of biology. But I'm not sure. If the biology workgroup guys have the consensus to remove the workgroup designation, they are free to do so. Yi Zhe Wu 21:30, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

never mind Robert Tito |  Talk  21:40, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Sorry if I write something wrong there, I'm only a teenager, not an expert in anything. Yi Zhe Wu 21:44, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

I've removed the word 'theory' and altered a phrase to distance science from any suggestion that it could be a submissable claim. John Stephenson 22:28, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

And the reason is...? Yi Zhe Wu 22:32, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Because it's not a theory; we should be careful to avoid discussing belief in scientific terms. John Stephenson 22:55, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

of minimal importance Robert Tito |  Talk 

could you please state all peer-reviewed magazines that censored articles about this topic, as well as their reasons? Robert Tito |  Talk  22:47, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Yi, you're doing a great job. Rob, principle YEC authors in their books detail journal names and their article names that they say indicates suppression of their submissions to mainstream scientific journals. According to its proponents, the history of the YEC movement is one that never wished to be a movement at all, but one who wished to operate within the mainstream of debate but could not. I do not have these books at this time, however. Stephen Ewen 04:29, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Well, I just put there the one I found, don't know about the others. I'm not an expert. Sorry. But I will try to add more information about the subject. Of course, it's better if experts begin to edit this article. Yi Zhe Wu 23:15, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

That was not from a peer-reviewed magazine. Hence my question. Robert Tito |  Talk  23:18, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Yeah, I agree that more peer-reviewed magazine should be cited. If you can access JSTOR it would be good. Too much controversy is going on with the subject of this article...ehh...I think it's better for me to not get too far involved in content issues. I gotta go write my history paper on John C. Calhoun now. Yi Zhe Wu 23:22, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Well, the most vocal YECs have typically also been PhD level biologists. Stephen Ewen 03:34, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Inclusion of censorship allegation

The lawsuit of Robert Gentry was brought up in court, and legal documents can prove that. So it's not a spurious one. Regards. Yi Zhe Wu 23:27, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Anyways, I have to go write my Calhoun paper for school now. Tonight I've written this article about young earth creationism and I think editors can improve it, since I'm not an expert. Good night everyone. Yi Zhe Wu 23:30, 25 May 2007 (CDT)

Robert V. Gentry - and this entry

Mr. Gentry's doctorate is not an earned degree, it's an honorary degree from Columbia Union College, a religious school in Takoma Park, Maryland, operated by Seventh Day Adventists. So far as I have been able to determine, he is not a nuclear physicist, and is only described as such on creationist websites.

I would agree with the earlier comments that the present form of this entry is not what we want for CZ -- if it can't be taken up by an editor or author in the Religion workgroup, it would be better to delete it for now until we can have a fresh start from a scholarly viewpoint. Russell Potter 09:36, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

The About Us page of the college's web site states that it is accredited. WP doesn't say anything about accreditation. Is there a way to tell for sure? And are there accrediting bodies for nuclear physicists, as there are for engineers, accountants, physicians, etc.? IMHO, encyclopedias need to be careful about diminishing religious people just because they are religious. Louis F. Sander 22:35, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

On further checking, I'd have to agree that Columbia Union College has *some* accreditation. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which is one of several regional accreditation agencies in the US, does recognize it. At the same time, it is also accredited by some unrecognized (by the US Dept. of Ed) agencies, such as the "Adventist Accrediting Association of the Department of Education of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists." I've removed the word "unaccredited" from my comment.

Accreditation is a somewhat murky business -- in addition to the general regional accreditation agencies, which are (or are supposed to be) nonprofit and nonsectarian, there are agencies which only accredit certain programs (nursing, education, etc.) and a shadowy group of unrecognized accreditors which range from the sectarian to the sham (websites which exist only to accredit diploma mills). In any case, an honorary doctorate does not entitle its bearer to use, except as an "honorific," the title "Dr." At the same time, I heartily agree that we should be careful to avoid equating the religious affiliation of an institution with a lack of full legitimacy. I can tell you firsthand, the Dominicans who run Providence College (an institution just around the corner from my house) are as sharp, and in many cases far sharper, in almost any field of study than their nearby secular counterparts. Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, sometimes do and sometimes don't play by the rules of accrediting bodies, such that Bob Jones University's diploma may not be exactly the same thing as one from, say Wisconsin Lutheran College (which is not to say that either is not worth something!) Russell Potter 23:00, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, I've asked editor Richard Jensen to take a look and see how it goes. If it can be improved, then no need for deletion. Yi Zhe Wu 09:39, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

Biology Workgroup removed

This article seems to have been put in the biology workgroup by mistake, or by following a precedent of the placement of the article intelligent design. A case can be made for the latter, but including a fundamentalist religious interpretation of the origin of life sets a precedent that every religious account of the creation of life on earth requires the biology workgroup's oversight. As part of that workgroup, I object to this. Nancy Sculerati 09:42, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

Scholarship, science and peer review

They have their place, but history has shown their fallibility. In the present century, we have this scientist and this scholar, for example.

IMHO, the present article (about which I'm no expert) is a reasonable exposition of the topic. Louis F. Sander 10:33, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

I think this article is fine as a start. I objected when it was one line placed by a user who had not filled out his biography. I'd like to know about this belief and the lawsuits, and the rest of it. Nancy Sculerati 22:09, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

this is religion

this is a standard topic in religious history, so I have rephrased it along those lines and added some history and citations. It seems the scientists who support the notions came to them via religion, not from scientific research. The Creation Museum bit, I think, add perspective. Richard Jensen 01:38, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

Well, going by memory here, YCE folk would argue it is more complicated than that. YCE folk would say that mainstream scientists approach their discipline from a set of Darwinian worldview presuppositions that are every bit as "religious" as theirs, and that Darwinian scientists impose their worldview upon the data they interpret, i.e., they find what they are looking for. So, when YCE folk simply replace another set of presuppositions and worldview stemming from a reading of Genesis's six days of creation as literal six days, they would see themselves as doing no different than Darwinists, except YCE folk would say they are the ones on solid ground since they take their presuppositions from what they view as an ultimate authoritative source, the Word of God, while Darwinists from the word of man. The debate is much epistemological and is largely all about presuppositions--it is ultimately a worldview debate, in the conception of YCE folk. The take of Old Earth Creationists is that YCE folks err in their Biblical hermeneutics--again, a presupposition debate--pointing out the take of YCE folk on the Hebrew word "yom" ("day") and their take on the Hebrew word "waw" ("and") is erroneous, saying that "yom" can mean numerous things longer than a 24 hour day, indeed even an eon or simply "event" (e.g., "The Day of the Lord"), and the Hebrew word "waw" can denote a large gap in time when used conjunctively to join the six creation events as they do in Genesis 1 ("The Gap Theory"). And most of the folk that really argue these things are Christian scientists, with PhDs from real universities. So yes, this is clearly not just a "religious" article. It is religion, every science, philosophy, and even literature in so far as hermeneutics are concerned. It's obviously political, too--everything is political--and history--everything is in that purvey, too. Stephen Ewen 03:47, 27 May 2007 (CDT)