The arrogance of Biblical Literalists

I think when dealing with a certain type of Christian, namely the Young Earth Creationist type or at the very least the “Genesis is literal history” type, the nonbelievers as well as the progressives have all had their fair share of headaches from facepalming way too hard.

Not only do these people display ignorance of the scientific fields which do attest to 13.8 billion year old Universe, a 4.54 billion year old Earth and of course evolution, these people are also astonishingly arrogant in their behavior and here is why.

The obvious out of the way first: How arrogant do you have to be, when you reject a scientific consensus of about 95% of scientists in general and of course a way higher number in the particularly relevant fields such as Geology, biology, Genetics etc. .

I’m not making the argument here, that because all of them accept the theories in question (evolution, Big Bang) that they therefore must be true. Not at all. What I am saying is that when you have no expertise in the relevant fields then you forfeit your privilege of not being ridiculed when you try to take them on. It takes a lot of hubris to suppose that you as a layman are in the same league with Stephen Jay Gould, Donald Prothero, Francis Collins just to name a few.

If we take a look at the last example I gave, then we see one thing really quick: Evolution does not directly imply Atheism. I do think evolution lends support to Atheism but does it disprove a god or the God of Christianity or Islam? No.

When it comes to Creationists they are not only arrogant in their approach to science, they are also arrogant in their approach to the Bible. They are indirectly also telling God (if he exists) how he could not have done it and exactly how he must’ve done it. When you not only think that the Bible is infallible, which I find bad enough by itself, but when you also think that your interpretation of the Bible is infallible, guess what that says about you: You must then likewise think that you are infallible! In that sense they’re guilty of breaking the first of the ten commandments namely “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” because they not only worship a book they also worship themselves.

And finally I am appalled by the profound arrogance at display in this article . It’s an article by Answers in Genesis very own, Dr David Menton. On the surface it looks like a normal article but that look changes until you actually bother to look up his quotes from famous scientists with which he bolsters his contentions. There are at least 2 quote mines in the article, one by George Gaylord Simpson the other is from Steven M. Stanley .

This Creationist knew exactly what he was doing. He has the kind of arrogance that frustrates me most: The arrogance to think, that your personal beliefs and your interpretation of the Bible (or any other holy book for that matter) are above academic honesty and are above truth itself.

Those are but 3 examples of what I could have brought up. To any Bible literalist who might be reading this: Didn’t Jesus teach humility? Do you think he would approve of what you’re displaying in his name every day? Think about it.

Goodbye from yours truly,

Rene von Boenninghausen @Renevelation