Gov. Rick Perry was asked directly about his view on creationism and the religious dogma regarding the age of the Earth. His response was truly Bushesque, saying that the Earth is “pretty old” and evolution “got some gaps.” He wants both evolution and creationism taught side by side as equal “theories” in public schools.
A mother at a campaign stop prompted her son to ask Perry about creationism and the age of the Earth. Perry responded “How old do I think the Earth is? I have no idea – it’s pretty old. It goes back a long way – I’m not sure anyone knows really completely know how old it is.” It goes back a long way? Of course, all that carbon dating appears inconclusive since no one is actually living who saw the Earth billions of years ago. Due to the lack of eye witnesses, that means that the Earth is somewhere between billions and just thousands of years old. However, it is pretty old.
Perry went on to say on evolution that “It’s a theory that’s out there and it’s got some gaps in it. In Texas, we teach creationism and evolution because I feel you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right.” A theory that’s out there.
Texas has been ranked 44th in spending on education and last in high diplomas Polls show that a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time and a majority reject the theory of evolution.
Source: TPM
Tootie:
“By the way, I don’t believe for a minute that Perry is a Christian. Just like I don’t believe Obama is. Or Bush. Or Clinton.”
*******************
You’re right.None have the secret decoder ring and the only Christian I know is you.
The arrogance of Christians is so pervasive that they don’t even believe any of their brethren are their brethren. It’s just them and the invisible god against the world.
Hey, that sounds like a sappy song:
GOP Presidential Candidates At Odds Even With Tea Party On EPA Hatred
First Posted: 8/19/11 12:51 PM ET Updated: 8/20/11 02:37 AM ET
“WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidates have taken aim at the Environmental Protection Agency, pledging to cut its federal funding and strip it of the tools to address emissions. But such views may prove a liability with voters on the campaign trail. Recent polls show that a majority of Republicans want to continue funding the EPA, while experts say the electorate largely trusts the American regulatory agency.
“They are catering to a small segment of Republican electorate,” said Republicans for Environmental Protection’s David Jenkins when asked why presidential hopefuls would target the agency. When you look at polling on just about any environmental issue, Jenkins said, be it the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act or Endangered Species Act, Americans support conservation by substantial majorities.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/19/gop-presidential-candidates-tea-party-epa_n_931406.html#s333596&title=Rick_Perry
Mike –
Agree 100% on the lack of logic in Genesis.
It all strikes me as a grand agenda, to lay a foundation for a planned lifestyle, by some seriously socially manipulative Mid-Eastern fellows.
Hell of a thing for a former altar boy to utter.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9qqLq4n2rk&w=640&h=390]
Ekerya,
I prefer this one…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gfU7qXZQhc&w=640&h=390]
rcampbell,
What if I made a very convincing case that the “nothing” we all see in the box IS god?
Can the USofA just implode and start again already?
How is a such a BACKWARD country still functioning …. oh wait.
rafflaw
1, August 19, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Wait a minute Slarts! I was promised there would be no math here! 🙂
=================================
You keep saying that … when are you going to learn that scientist are fickle creatures? It’s called “The Triceratops Panic: Why Does Science Keep Changing Its Mind?” and here’s a link for you to enjoy:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/04/14/135351303/the-triceratops-panic-why-does-science-keep-changing-its-mind
Excerpt:
“People don’t want their eternalities to change. They hate that. But, in the end, science has to win. There are 5 year olds all over the world now growing up with Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, but not that other guy, the one with the name of Mickey Mouse’s pet dog. In fifty years, Pluto may be just a dog again.
That’s how it goes.”
raf, there is always going to be math!!
We’re all looking at the same empty box. Theists believe there’s something magical and mysterious in that empty box which nonthieists can’t see and then have the unmitigated gall to expect nontheists to be responsible for justifying why they don’t see something in the empty box. That’s bullshit and I’m sick and tired of it. Until theists have something concrete, something three dimensional to offer to explain their absurd biblically-based bullshit positions, I demand they STFU.
One can’t get into to much explanation as it a complex matter.
However if I go direct to basic understanding as in explanation.
You’ll never know the answers in understanding ( take note).
However understanding will take you to a point of experience
of creation (in such experience / understanding then unfolds
as a flower unto the sunlight .. However ( take note ) with your
experience of creation in essence of its power /understanding
is in the earlier stages THEN as your merging with creation it
goes beyond understanding // the finite becomes the infinite..
THERE ARE THINGS I would like to bring to your attention / yet
If doing so I will wander from keeping it simple as is my intention.
So I’ll jump to the part where each individuals is capable starting
the process where they can experience the essence of creation.
Such is done via meditation // in turning the senses inward / thus
focus on the spark of creation that sustain the life of each human.
SHORT EXPLANATION (( if trying to reach enlightenment looking
at the material external / its as if putting the cart before the horse
it just does not work // its understandable people make such error
it’s natural to look to the material for answers ( yet one must know
as try grasp the reality when it coming to knowing the essence of
creation // understanding takes you unto the point of MEDITATION
& via meditation comes true experience // and such the experience
it answers all your question having asked as yet to ask. When your
in a state of knowing there no questions / there’s ENLIGHTENMENT.
Of course there more to it than that because your in another realm.
You may not seek LASTING enlightenment. You may wish continue
having an human form returning as returning as returning in human
form // if it a individuals desire then it be granted / that not a problem
the problem is on return via human form // in being reminded of your
purpose of being on planet EARTH. Thus once again you must learn
in wishing to know the power of creation of which a spark in sustaining
your being // THEN YOU MUST VIA MEDITATION TURN THE SENSES INWARD /THUS BRING ONE’S UNFOLDING OF THE SPIRITUAL SELF.
On PC search put ( words of peace ) on site a large selection of videos
in which Prem Rawat talks of turning the senses inwards //thus bringing
a undfolding of the spiritual self. The videos are an needed preperation
toward meditation // one needs the understanding taking them unto the point of experience / VIa meditation. Prem Rawat in the spiritual field / is
the best of the best // he’s the teacher of all teachers / the king of kings
thus you’ll do no better in a teacher. Having an spiritual guide is a must
you’ll need encouragement / as understanding /upon your homecoming.
The greatest mystery at the moment is:
1) how machines evolved after the big bang prior to organisms;
2) how those machines then evolved into microbes;
3) why microbes (billions of years later) would choose humanity as a symbiont.
But scientists tell us that it is now reality that we are symbionts.
kdersoa,
I’ve found that in popular discourse most people use the term “carbon dating” to mean “radio-isotope dating” – creationists try to exploit this fluke of semantics to portray the science as somehow unreliable.
Doc Slarti sez: “Actually, the rest is evolution…”
********************************
True dat!
“A mother at a campaign stop prompted her son to ask Perry about creationism and the age of the Earth. Perry responded “How old do I think the Earth is? I have no idea – it’s pretty old. It goes back a long way – I’m not sure anyone knows really completely know how old it is.” It goes back a long way? Of course, all that carbon dating appears inconclusive since no one is actually living who saw the Earth billions of years ago. Due to the lack of eye witnesses, that means that the Earth is somewhere between billions and just thousands of years old. However, it is pretty old.”
Carbon dating is not capable of dating anything as old as the earth. Radiocarbon dating works only for objects up to forty thousand or so years old. This has to do with carbon-14’s relatively short half life of about 5600 years.
Actually, it was Harrison Brown, who created the technique of measuring lead isotopes for determining the age of very old rocks, enabling Clair Patterson finally to make an accurate assessment of Earth’s age: 4.55 billion years.
kderosa,
It’s a straw man/pivot because it’s a standard ploy by creationists to change the topic (to one they feel on firmer ground with [not that they are…] but is unrelated to the original question). I refuse to address the rest of the paragraph for the reasons I alluded to in my previous comment. 😉
As to your final question, I think that “God” being a black hole IN another universe (i.e. a bunch of matter in one universe collapses gravitationally and explodes into our universe – by which I mean CREATING our universe) makes more sense and this is still a problem as it would be in no sense creation from nothing.
kderosa,
Do it once more and I will be forced to attack your position to prevent a massive endothermic event in the anti-paradise and possible armageddon.
Raff,
Promises? I didn’t make no stinkin’ promises…
@slarti
“This is a pretty standard creationist straw man/pivot.”
How is that? The way I see it is that the origin of the universe is a separate issue from the origin of life in the universe. The origin of the universe gives us a bunch of non-living matter which has to be transformed, somehow, into living matter.
Now if “God” is a black hole into another universe, does that harmonize the religion and the science?