Your definition is far too narrow. Creationism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that the universe was created by an antropomorphic deity or deities.
Haha. I feel a little sorry for you, now. Many of your Christian allies throughout the world have made a bad name for the rest of the Christians, including you. It reminds me of my behavior toward my peers and my response to being addressed as “just a teenager.” The status of “adolescent” can be just as bad as “Creationist.” Either way, people don’t seem to take us seriously.
Actually, I had no idea you were an adolescent. Indeed, fresh from adolescence myself, I tend to judge them better, not worse, for their status. I just make it a rule not to take anyone seriously who quotes himself in his sig.
Anyhow, back to your first post:
Yes, curse those academics for foisting on us these useless studies like biology, algebra, a culturally balanced intake of literature, foreign languages, world history…We don’t need 'em as long as we got the Bible and our good ‘ol God-fearin’ culture!
Your post reminds me of the Count on Sesame Street:
“That’s 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. 7 straw men!”
Catholicism
invented the university, thank you very much. The liberal arts – which, though not invented by us, would not have survived the fall of Rome without us – have always been at the core of the curriculum. The fact that you study biology, algebra, literature, languages, history…? You owe a guy in a funny hat in Rome a round of thanks for that.
Theology is not just clinging to “the Bible,” as you should well know after 523 posts in this section of the board. Nor is faith reducible to belief despite a lack of, or opposed to, reason (indeed, that’s more like of the
opposite of faith). Nor is metaphysics just a litany of old dead guys ranting random, unsourced ideas about reality. The first and third are rigorous, highly learned academic disciplines; the second is vital to the very operation of human reason. The work which is the topic of this thread is sufficient refutation of your absurdly narrow view of a vast field of human thought.
The simple fact that you can seriously claim that “Catholicism has no evidence to support its metaphysical claims” is the strongest argument yet made in this thread that the education system
must incoporate epistemology, metaphysics, and logic back into its curriculum after a too-long hiatus. You may very well
disagree with the conclusions offered up by Catholicism (and other world religions). But to say that there is no
evidence is simply a denial of the plain truth. You might consider reading the
Summa yourself sometime.
I don’t advocate catechesis in (public) schools, I don’t belong to any “creation and evolution should be taught side-by-side” camps, and I don’t even see all that much value in studying other religious beliefs for “cultural” reason unless that study is strongly integrated with rigorous historical study (who cares what Zoroastrians, the Sikhs, or the Catholics believe if their beliefs aren’t
true?). But this thread has made it eminently clear that the rigorous discipline of thinking itself has fallen by the wayside in our schools. Without the skilled use of reason, none of the rest – mathematics, literature, art, music, quantum physics – matters in the least. So let’s teach 'em to think: let’s add philosophy to the curriculum. Cut 15% of every other class if you have to, but get thinking back on the menu!
Finally, since when has Driver’s Ed ever been part of the curriculum? That certainly was never the case around here. And, yes, the $400 cost is obnoxious. But it’s nothing compared to the price of gas.
