A. J. Jacobs writes about his visit to the Creation Museum in The Year of Living Biblically.
I’ll have more on that when I post my interview with him soon.
But he did write a post today for Mental Floss where he shared the five things he learned from the visit:
1. Creationists are not idiots
2. The ark had baby dinosaurs?
3. Moderation is a relative term
4. There is an unexpected beauty and dignity in the creationist worldview
5. Inherit the Wind is kinda unfair to creationists
He elaborates on each point in the article.
Before attacking him for being nice — especially on numbers 1 and 4 — keep in mind he strongly accepts evolution. And in the book, he was partly looking to find an understanding of how and why firmly religious people live their life the way they do. Hell, he uses the word “distort” to describe what the Creationists do. He doesn’t let them off the hook, but the book isn’t about them being wrong.
That said, here’s his explanation of the “beauty and dignity” of Creationism:
Most notably, I felt more connected. If everyone on earth is descended from two identifiable people – Adam and Eve – then the “family of man” isn’t just a vague cliche. It’s true. The guy who sells me bananas at the deli on 81st street – he’s my cousin. The creationist mindset made me feel closer to my fellow humans. It made me want to invite strangers over to dinner.
Oddly enough, that’s how I felt when I first learned about evolution — how we are all interconnected and how we all share common ancestors at some level.
And believe it or not, the Creationists have fringe groups of their own:
Consider this: When I was at the Creation Museum, I met their resident astrophysicist.
He told me about a group of people called Biblical Astronomers whom he considers an embarrassment to the creationist movement.
The Biblical Astronomers believe the earth is the center of the universe and remains stationary because it says in Psalm 93:1 that the earth “shall never be moved.” The mainstream creationists believe the earth is young – but it does revolve around the sun.
I didn’t know you could have black sheep among a family of black sheep.
[tags]atheist, atheism, religion, Christian, Bible[/tags]