Jobar
September 20, 2006, 09:34 PM
As it was in the beginning
Is now, and ever shall be
World without end, amen.
Amen!
-The Doxology, from the Baptist Hymnal
I was thinking today about why it is that we never hear about creationists from religious traditions outside of the Abrahamic ones.
It may be that there are people who deny the fact and theory of evolution based solely on some little-known mythology which I've never heard of. There are, after all, lots and lots of religions that I know little or nothing about. But of the major world religions, it seems that the only ones who make a big production out of evolution are the more conservative and fundamentalist sects of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
I've never read anything at all, for instance, about Buddhist creationists.
On reflection, that's quite sensible. Buddhist philosophy says that the reason for suffering and dissatisfaction in the world is clinging to the forms of the world- upādāna. They believe that all forms are in constant flux, and that even the things which change so slowly that they seem permanent on the scale of a single human lifetime are still unstable- are still, in fact, mutating and evolving.
Contrast this willingness to accept that things change, and that no thing is permanent, with the attitude of the Abrahamic faiths. I quoted the Doxology above- consider also Ecclesiastes 1:9-
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.
The Preacher goes on and on about vanity and vexation of the spirit; I think that a Buddhist would nod in complete recognition of the frustrations which clinging to impermanence brings to any who do so. The tendency of all Abrahamic religions is to condemn and despise the things of the world, because they *are* temporal and not eternal; whereas a Buddhist accepts change and temporality as simply the way things are, without condemning the world for its impermanence, and that the only thing perpetual is change.
I know that there are other verses of the Bible which one could quote that exemplify an understanding of the world closer to the Buddhistic view. (Heh- I don't think there's a single philosophy in the Bible, that can't also be contradicted Biblically! :rolleyes: ) But AFAIK, creationists adhere strictly to the notion that change is, essentially, always for the worse.
We see that creationists are always politically conservative, even reactionary. Conservatives always want to maintain the status quo, or even roll back the clock to some imagined golden age; they view new ideas and philosophies with deep distrust, even hatred. They, in a word, cling to the things of the past, even when doing so is no longer comfortable or practical.
Given all this, it's no surprise at all how the reactionary religious right vilifies the branch of science whose very name means change!
I'd like to talk about ways this realization might be used to deal with creationists in general. Would it be beneficial to emphasize how completely inescapeable change is, in the real world? Can we show them how pointless it is for them to resist change in their lives, and thus make them more willing to see change over geological time scales? I know that all the arguments we use here in E/C attempt to educate the ignorant about how life changes, and to open up minds shut tight against change both within and without themselves; but I hope maybe my small epiphany will inspire other ideas, in some of the experts on the subject.
Is now, and ever shall be
World without end, amen.
Amen!
-The Doxology, from the Baptist Hymnal
I was thinking today about why it is that we never hear about creationists from religious traditions outside of the Abrahamic ones.
It may be that there are people who deny the fact and theory of evolution based solely on some little-known mythology which I've never heard of. There are, after all, lots and lots of religions that I know little or nothing about. But of the major world religions, it seems that the only ones who make a big production out of evolution are the more conservative and fundamentalist sects of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
I've never read anything at all, for instance, about Buddhist creationists.
On reflection, that's quite sensible. Buddhist philosophy says that the reason for suffering and dissatisfaction in the world is clinging to the forms of the world- upādāna. They believe that all forms are in constant flux, and that even the things which change so slowly that they seem permanent on the scale of a single human lifetime are still unstable- are still, in fact, mutating and evolving.
Contrast this willingness to accept that things change, and that no thing is permanent, with the attitude of the Abrahamic faiths. I quoted the Doxology above- consider also Ecclesiastes 1:9-
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.
The Preacher goes on and on about vanity and vexation of the spirit; I think that a Buddhist would nod in complete recognition of the frustrations which clinging to impermanence brings to any who do so. The tendency of all Abrahamic religions is to condemn and despise the things of the world, because they *are* temporal and not eternal; whereas a Buddhist accepts change and temporality as simply the way things are, without condemning the world for its impermanence, and that the only thing perpetual is change.
I know that there are other verses of the Bible which one could quote that exemplify an understanding of the world closer to the Buddhistic view. (Heh- I don't think there's a single philosophy in the Bible, that can't also be contradicted Biblically! :rolleyes: ) But AFAIK, creationists adhere strictly to the notion that change is, essentially, always for the worse.
We see that creationists are always politically conservative, even reactionary. Conservatives always want to maintain the status quo, or even roll back the clock to some imagined golden age; they view new ideas and philosophies with deep distrust, even hatred. They, in a word, cling to the things of the past, even when doing so is no longer comfortable or practical.
Given all this, it's no surprise at all how the reactionary religious right vilifies the branch of science whose very name means change!
I'd like to talk about ways this realization might be used to deal with creationists in general. Would it be beneficial to emphasize how completely inescapeable change is, in the real world? Can we show them how pointless it is for them to resist change in their lives, and thus make them more willing to see change over geological time scales? I know that all the arguments we use here in E/C attempt to educate the ignorant about how life changes, and to open up minds shut tight against change both within and without themselves; but I hope maybe my small epiphany will inspire other ideas, in some of the experts on the subject.