Question For The Fundamentalists...

When I said that I didn't believe that the world was created in six 24-hour periods, you asked me about the prayers that we say on Rosh HaShannah.

"Don't you say 'Hayom Haras Olam' (today is the birthday of the world) in the davening?" you asked me. "What are you saying there if you don't believe the world was created on Rosh HaShannah? If you don't believe it, you must be lying in your davening?"

Then when I stated that I don't believe that the world was created in six 24-hour periods, you asked me about the upcoming Bircas HaChammah (the blessing on the sun) which is supposed to mark the return of the sun to the spot in the heavens where it was created 5769 years ago.

"Aren't you going to say Bircas HaChammah?" you asked me. "If you don't believe that HaShem hung the sun there 5769 years ago at this time, then what are you making a bracha for?"

What I would like to ask the fundamentalist:

"OK, so which time are you wrong? Are you wrong when you say Hayom Haras Olam on Rosh HaShannah, stating that the world was created in Tishrei, or are you wrong now when you say Bircas HaChammah where you, in essence, state that the sun (and, by extension the rest of the world) was created in Nissan?

The Wolf

Fundamentalists and Science... and a Funny Non Sequitur Strip

(click to enlarge)

Interestingly enough, that is the way that many fundamentalists (of various religions) seem to think that science should run. You start with the stated fact that the world is 6000 years old and then you work backwards using mental gymnastics to try to find a way to get the carbon-14 dating, radiometric dating, the doppler shift and the like to fit your facts.

I've always maintained that the fundamentalists would have a much better logical argument by simply chucking the science altogether. Instead of coming up with silly theories like the boiling water of the flood made the earth appear billions of years old, they should just say "God did it" and leave it at that. Of course it sounds silly and it opens up a bunch of other questions, but at least then they don't have to fight the scientists.

The Wolf