Joliet Herald-News, Friday May 7, 2004

COMMON SENSE
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Creation: Chaos and confusion
Despite the validity of many parts of the Bible, when used by fundamentalists to reinforce creationist views, the book of Genesis becomes hard to swallow given modem scientific advancements.
     Before I proceed any further, lets try to
define exactly what creationism is: As an outsider to the concept I still find it puzzling, and though there are many divisions among the creationist ideology in the broadest sense, it seems to be the view that the words of Genesis are to be taken literally. God created the earth and all that exists directly.
     As I said, many separate sects derive from this initial view. Some creationists' take the view that the universe was created roughly 6,000 years ago.
     Other creationists acknowledge that the universe began around 15 billion years ago, yet maintain that God created humanity exactly as the Bible states, by breathing life into the dust of the ground that became Adam.
     Another group of creationists believes that days of creation should not be thought of literally as periods of 24 hours, but that they could represent any period of time as seen from God's perspective. Each "day" could be millions or even billions of years long.
       I see absolutely nothing wrong with believing in a higher power. Acknowledging God's presence gives us comfort in times of need and can change our lives. However, when such beliefs conflict with science, chaos results.
     The problem with creationism is that it makes the words of the Bible the irrefutable and undeniable truth. Many parts of the Bible are true and can be proven by looking at other historical records. Likewise, many parts of the Bible are simply not meant to be taken literally.
     The creation story serves as a metaphor for God's role in creation. At the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that the Bible was written by men, not by God. While it is entirely possible that God provided the authors of the Bible with some sort of visions to complete their work, the stories of Genesis simply cannot explain away the discoveries of science. Disregarding the possibility of evolution and life on earth, the geological changes that have taken place on earth cannot be accounted for in a period of only 6,000 years.
     Also, I have always found it a bit absurd that humanity should assume that it is the culmination of creation. Humans are weak in countless ways. One bite from the wrong bug or one breath of the wrong type of bacteria can lead to a person's demise. Why would such feeble beings be the only ones entrusted with the care of the universe? I think that someday we'll probably encounter sentient alien life, and I'd sure like to see creationists try and explain that away. With all of the millions of planets in our universe, is it so implausible to think that there might be intelligent life more powerful than us on at least one of them?
     Whatever people believe, it's time to realize that illogical creationist views, views that cannot be proven at all, will only impede the progress of humanity in the future.

Tony Rodriguez is a Crest Hill
resident and a Joliet high school student.

An honest examination of the evidence presented in these books will surely convince any skeptic that evolution is an impossibility and the only real explanation for all we see about us is that God created all things.