the creationist accuses Darwinism of “being a religion”.
It is, the way they’re trying to use that word. Also is intelligent design a type of creationism? ’Cuz I think I like ID, at least more than the standard model. I’d like to think of myself as a human in the reference class “creationist who accuses Darwinism of being a religion”.
Someone who claims that faith is a good thing should not also use it as an accusation of impropriety.
The creationist does not claim — before cowans, gentiles, and the unwashed — that Darwinism is the wrong religion; rather, he claims that it is “a religion” as if to say that this is condemnation enough. To fellow creationists he may well say that Darwinism is Satanism, or a rival tribe to be vanquished by force or deception. But he does not expect that argument to fly with outsiders. With them he merely asserts that the (straw-)Darwinist is a hypocrite, a know-it-all elitist nerd who commits the grave faux-pas of mistaking his religion for science.
Meanwhile the sociologist of religion wonders where the temples of Darwin are. The strong-programme sociologist of science (who uses the methodological assumption that science doesn’t work, even as he posts on the Internet!) can mistake a laboratory for a center of ritual, but one who has studied comparative religion does not see worship happening in the microscope, the genomics software, or the fMRI.
Someone who claims that faith is a good thing should not also use it as an accusation of impropriety.
I get the impression that that argument is used more to undermine claims that darwinism is a science than anything else.
Physics is a clear science; you can use the right equations and predict the motion of the Earth about the Sun, or the time a barometer will take to fall from a given height. This gives it a certain degree of credibility. The theory of evolution (and how the creationists love to remind everyone of that word, ‘theory’!) is also science; but they would deny it, on the basis that accepting it suggests that it is as credible as physics or mathematics. If they insist that darwinism is a religion, then both alternatives start from the same basis of credibility; the creationists can then point out, quite accurately, that their version is older and has been around for longer, and therefore at least claim seniority.
Meanwhile the sociologist of religion wonders where the temples of Darwin are.
Remember that Darwinism is a lot more than biology. Sure, a computer isn’t exactly an altar. That doesn’t change that most of what universities are famous for in the wider world is their ideology.
It is, the way they’re trying to use that word. Also is intelligent design a type of creationism? ’Cuz I think I like ID, at least more than the standard model. I’d like to think of myself as a human in the reference class “creationist who accuses Darwinism of being a religion”.
Someone who claims that faith is a good thing should not also use it as an accusation of impropriety.
The creationist does not claim — before cowans, gentiles, and the unwashed — that Darwinism is the wrong religion; rather, he claims that it is “a religion” as if to say that this is condemnation enough. To fellow creationists he may well say that Darwinism is Satanism, or a rival tribe to be vanquished by force or deception. But he does not expect that argument to fly with outsiders. With them he merely asserts that the (straw-)Darwinist is a hypocrite, a know-it-all elitist nerd who commits the grave faux-pas of mistaking his religion for science.
Meanwhile the sociologist of religion wonders where the temples of Darwin are. The strong-programme sociologist of science (who uses the methodological assumption that science doesn’t work, even as he posts on the Internet!) can mistake a laboratory for a center of ritual, but one who has studied comparative religion does not see worship happening in the microscope, the genomics software, or the fMRI.
I get the impression that that argument is used more to undermine claims that darwinism is a science than anything else.
Physics is a clear science; you can use the right equations and predict the motion of the Earth about the Sun, or the time a barometer will take to fall from a given height. This gives it a certain degree of credibility. The theory of evolution (and how the creationists love to remind everyone of that word, ‘theory’!) is also science; but they would deny it, on the basis that accepting it suggests that it is as credible as physics or mathematics. If they insist that darwinism is a religion, then both alternatives start from the same basis of credibility; the creationists can then point out, quite accurately, that their version is older and has been around for longer, and therefore at least claim seniority.
There’s a short story by Asimov that gives a very nice view of the whole argument.
That is a quintessentially Asimovian story. +1.
Remember that Darwinism is a lot more than biology. Sure, a computer isn’t exactly an altar. That doesn’t change that most of what universities are famous for in the wider world is their ideology.