Sub forum idea!

[philadiddle]

There should be a subforum with required reading, and a test to be able to post there. Although I don't think it would ever happen, it is an interesting idea. There would be required books to read that cover all sides and everyone must have read all of them to participate. Some suggestions are,

TE books could be "The Language of God" by Francis Collins, or "Finding Darwin's God" by Ken Miller.

For books on the history of the theory of evolutin there is "Since Darwin" by Stephen Gould, and "Evolution" by Cynthia Mills.

For YEC there's "The Genesis Flood" (forget author off top of my head), "Evolution: The Lie" by Ken Ham, and that new Behe book.

For OEC I'm sure Hugh Ross has some out there.

It sounds like a daunting task to read many books, some of which won't even interest ppl with opposite POVs, but it would make for some much more interesting conversations since the ppl involved would be much more familiar with the basics of all sides.

 

[Apollo Celestio]

Yeah, I don't have money for those books. >_>

 

[Assyrian]

This forum goes quiet enough, (apart from certain posters), without siphoning off debate into a subforum. Having a reading list requirement will discourage lurkers from reading the subforum let alone participating, which I think is a vital role of this forum.

 

[Fed]

How can you include Behe under YEC if he accepts common descent? He's more evolutionist than the OEC's.

 

[Deamiter]

Yeah, Behe would be ID, but since he's widely invoked by YECs, I think it'd be appropriate. In any case, the YECs would be allowed to pick their own sources.

Of course, such a forum rule would be utterly impossible to enforce. We could create a private quiz, but what's to keep people from cheating?

I suggest something simpler. Why don't we start a reading club and alternate YEC (ID... whatever) and TE books per month and discuss? Some people won't be able to obtain every book, but some will certainly be in the local library. We could sticky a new thread each month (perhaps with links to all previous discussions?) and have at it.

Does that sound interesting to anybody?

 

[philadiddle]

I suggest something simpler. Why don't we start a reading club and alternate YEC (ID... whatever) and TE books per month and discuss? Some people won't be able to obtain every book, but some will certainly be in the local library. We could sticky a new thread each month (perhaps with links to all previous discussions?) and have at it.

Does that sound interesting to anybody?

I like that idea. We could discuss a new chapter every X number of days. It would help everyone in learning more too, since there will be both positive and negative feedback from so many ppl, and so many perspectives on the text. I think it would make for a much more thorough understanding of what's being read.

 

[Deamiter]

So... any book suggestions? More importantly, any creationists interested (sorry if one of you is creationist, I don't recognize everybody by name)?

I'd suggest Behe's new book. I haven't read it yet and was hoping to get to it soon.

 

[philadiddle]

Ya, Behe's would be good. We'd have to get an agreement from those who want to be involved though. If I'm gonna spend time reading an ID book, everyone else should be obliged to spend time reading a TE book. I've read "Finding Darwin's God" and "The Language of God". I'd love to discuss them in a forum setting. We could decide on one of those maybe after Behe's book.

 

[Deamiter]

I don't think I'd want to require anybody to read a particular book, but I do think I'd want some of the regular YECs to express interest before jumping in (busterdog? laptoppop?).

I know laptoppop has been trying to get us all to read Behe's book for a while now, but he's also quite busy (IIRC) so I don't know...

Maybe we could start a thread in the YEC forum -- that'd be pretty perfect as fellowship, and I imagine quite a few people skip this thread since the title is boring as toe-lint.

 

[philadiddle]

Maybe we could start a thread in the YEC forum -- that'd be pretty perfect as fellowship, and I imagine quite a few people skip this thread since the title is boring as toe-lint.

LOL, maybe i should have called it "l33t 1d34 4 n3w f0rum!!!11!!!11!!!1" or "Scientists found blue fossils!!!"

If we started it in the YEC forum there'd be a lot of ppl who miss it. I never look in there.

 

[Deamiter]

No, I was just pointing out that there seems little YEC interest in reading and discussing books (not in general, in this thread). I don't suggest we start the club in there, but it might be positive to mention it there to see if there are any YEC members interested.

I'll start a thread there and see what happens.