Wednesday, 7 February 2007

How to ... sweep almost all science under the rug

In the "culture wars" with ID (intelligent design) I have always found it amusing at the big tent attempts of the IDists to encompass such a wide range of creationists into their folds.

We know that all creationists try to sweep good science under the rug by ignoring, denying or misrepresenting it, mostly in biology and related fields such as anthropology and palaeontology. But some take their anti-science to greater and greater heights, particularly YEC (young Earth creationists) who manage to be not just anti-evolution but anti-every-thing-else-in-science as well.

The YEC seems to be the most vocal proponents of ID, but why then are other groups such as OEC (old Earth creationists) backing the completely anti-science stance of YEC when they are more intellectually consistent with the rest of us?

This is something that I cannot answer, maybe some one else can for me, but what I want to look at here is just what science exactly does the YEC position deny? (WARNING: this could be a very long list) In brackets I have listed some examples of our understanding of which exactly is undermined by YEC. The ones with * are also in common with all IDists.

  1. Microbiology* (antibiotic resistance)
  2. Botany* (breeding plants)
  3. Zoology* (breeding animals)
  4. Ecology* (co-evolution of plants and animals)
  5. Biochemistry* (protein synthesis)
  6. Medicine* (Germ theory of Disease)
  7. Anthropology* (Descent of Man)
  8. Palaeontology* (fossil records) - Note that YEC also has issues with the dates of fossils
  9. Chemistry/Atomic Physics* (cause of mutations in DNA and hence their effect)
  10. Nuclear Physics (radiometric dating)
  11. Cosmology (age of the universe)
  12. Particle physics (since it goes hand in hand with cosmology)
  13. Geology (formation of rocks and fossils)
  14. Tectonics (the movement of tectonic plates)
  15. Physical Geography (the shape of the land)

Hmmmm well I think my list is not as long as I thought it was going to be, but then again I think that I have pretty much covered the whole spectrum. And if I have forgotten anyone's speciality please tell me. I also realise that I could have made this list longer by including more specialities that I have lumped into generalities (eg medicine). And while the list is longer in the section that is ID general rather than YEC specific those YEC specific areas are rather broad.

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