Note to Mods: Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but it deals with that whole Evolution/Creationism thing, so I decided to put it here.
For some time now, I’ve known that a good friend of mine is pretty much a creationist. I learned this when I brought up the backward ruling of the Kansas Board of Education (since reversed) about the teaching of evolution in school a few years ago. I said it was terrible that they did that in Kansas, and she replied back that there should be room made for other ideas (i.e. creationism) in the curriculum because, after all “evolution is just a theory. It’s not proven.”
So then I asked her what she believed and she said she pretty much believes the Genesis creation story. I was shocked. Here’s a person that excelled in classes throughout public high school and college, including science, telling me she believes an idea with no scientific justification. Among the things she said was, “well, I do believe that Adam and Eve may not have looked exactly like we do today.” Of course, being the devout evolutionist that I am, I believe there was no Adam and Eve to start with. I have years of scientific study to back me up. She has a 5,000 year old folktale (albeit, a well-written one with a great message.).
She has some of the same misconceptions about evolution many other creationists do: That it somehow results in spontaneous generation of a new species from an old one, that it’s “just a theory” and therefore not scientific fact.
A couple other small facts that may be relevant to the discussion:[ul]
[li]She did say to me that the Genesis creation story “may be a folk tale”, but she believes it, others believe it, so that’s why it should be taught. I include this item to show she’s at least somewhat open to other views.[/li][li]We’ve talked about the Bible several times, and I asked her about books that tell us all about how to sacrifice animals and other things. She said, “the exact words aren’t important. What’s important is the message.” It seems odd that you could say one part is literal truth and one part is only symbolic truth, at least to me, and then also say the whole thing is the direct Word of God (which she believes).[/li][/ul]
Another friend of mine, when I asked him about this, said, “Her thoughts on the origin of man really don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Lay off it.” And maybe he’s right. But it just keeps grating on me more and more, to see someone who is very intelligent in almost every respect fall for something that’s been disproven time and time again.
I tell her that the more I learn about evolution and how man came about, the more my belief in God is actually strengthened, and that believing in evolution does not have to compromise a belief in the Judeo-Christian God. But it just doesn’t work and I’m just sick of seeing her fall for this garbage. She has an open-minded attitude on just about everything else (abortion, gay rights, etc.), so it shocks me that she would believe in something like this.
And even if I were to decide to do it, how in the heck to you bring something like that up? And has anyone actually succeeded in doing this, just so I can get some pointers on how to make a persuasive argument? I see this as combating ignorance, so hopefully I can get some pointers here.