 |
|
|
|
November 19th, 2012
04:19 PM ET
Rubio ignites debate with answer about creationismBy Dan Merica and Eric Marrapodi, CNN Washington (CNN) – Florida Sen. Marco Rubio attempted to walk the line between science and faith-based creationism in remarks that that have provoked the ire of liberal blogs, leaving the door open to creationism in responding to a recent question about the age of the Earth. When GQ’s Michal Hainey asked Rubio, in an interview released Monday, “How old do you think the Earth is,” the rising Republican star described the debate about the planet’s age as “one of the great mysteries.” “I'm not a scientist, man,” Rubio told the interviewer. “I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States.” “Whether the Earth was created in seven days, or seven actual eras,” Rubio continued, “I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries.” Most scientists agree that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old and the universe is 14.5 billion years old. Christian Young Earth Creationists, on the other hand, argue that the weeklong account of God creating the Earth and everything in it represents six 24-hour periods (plus one day of rest) and date the age of the Earth between 6,000 and 10,000 years. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter Left-leaning blogs and sites like ThinkProgress and Huffington Post jumped on Rubio’s comments, with the Zack Beauchamp from ThingProgress writing, “To suggest we can’t know how old the Earth is, then, is to deny the validity of these scientific methods altogether — a maneuver familiar to Rubio, who also denies the reality of anthropogenic climate change.” Rubio is regarded as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016, though the senator says his visit last week to Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, had “nothing to do with 2016.” His response to GQ’s age of the Earth query has also provoked questions about his political aspirations. Dave Weigel of Slate writes, “How can you read that and not think ‘Iowa’? ” The state is the first to hold a presidential caucus in 2016. Forty-six percent of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form at one point within the past 10,000 years, according to a survey released by Gallup in June. That number has remained unchanged for the past 30 years, since 1982, when Gallup first asked the question on creationism versus evolution. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories The second most common view is that humans evolved with God's guidance - a view held by 32% of respondents. The view that humans evolved with no guidance from God was held by 15% of respondents. The Gallup poll has not specifically asked about views on the age of the Earth. Rubio attends a Baptist church in southern Florida but also considers himself “a practicing Catholic.” He was born Catholic, but his family converted to Mormonism when Rubio was 8 years old, according to Rubio’s recent memoir. The family left its LDS faith behind when it moved from Nevada back to Florida and Rubio was confirmed in the Catholic Church. Catholic teaching is that science and faith are not at odds with one another and it is possible to believe what scientists say about the Earth’s age and in God. But many evangelical churches, including Baptist ones, promote a version of creationism. When CNN reached out to Rubio’s Baptist church in Florida on Monday, a person answering the phone would not comment on its teachings about the Earth’s age and said that a church representative was unlikely to be available in the near term. During the GQ interview, Rubio argued that “there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all.” For the past 30 years, the “equal-time argument” –- the idea that Creationism taught alongside evolution -– has been popular method for Creationists to advance their cause. In the late 1980s, some state legislatures passed bills that promoted the idea of a balanced treatment of both ideas in the classroom. In 1987, the issue made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where a Louisiana "equal-time law" was struck down. The court ruled that teaching creationism in public school classrooms was a violation of the Establishment Cause in the Constitution, which is commonly referred to as the separation of church and state. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
|
|
|
The Devil is behind all these stories, about whether God exists, that CCN keeps taunting the believers with. All one needs to do is sneeze in a crowd to know he/she exists. Well at least in theory and name thanks to a bunch of dudes who wrote the best seller to grab land and not pay taxes on it once there put up a church.
I think its Godzilla, and i have many movies to prove he is real
What bull. We can scientifically prove the earth's age. We can prove the age of rocks on the earth by radiometric aging. Get real Mr Rubio.
Yea. That's right. In fact, we're so good at it we keep coming up with different answers every time....
And not one of them is 6,000 to 10,000 years, idiot.
That is what is known as circular reasoning.
@krhod.. so lets hear how old do you think earth is? in all your wisdom and god's love.. which ofcourse according to you has a the most accurate answer..
Yes, and relativity teaches that time itself is not absolute but is relative to the observer. So time could be anything. So don't get so stuck on what "scientists" think. Just a few years ago ( in earth observer time) scientists thought the expansion of the universe must certainly, logically, scientifically, be slowing down. But, voila!, a couple years later "science" in all its great ignorance finds that, in fact, the expansion of the universe in expanding, the very opposite of what science had claimed was scientifically true all along. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don't take science too seriously. It has its own limitations.
lol
"@krhod.. so lets hear how old do you think earth is? in all your wisdom and god's love.. which ofcourse according to you has a the most accurate answer.."
I have no idea and i am pretty sure neither do many others. We think we know a lot of things but as time passes those ideas are overthrown on a regular basis.
Khruddy shows all the qualities of a right-wing politician.
"I have no idea and i am pretty sure neither do many others. We think we know a lot of things but as time passes those ideas are overthrown on a regular basis."
But.. looks like the philosophy you subscribe and prescribe to others is, since science can not come down and decide on exact time, lets use this 2000 yr old bronze age book and consider it absolute unequivocal unadulterated unalterable truth and stop caring about solving the question all together.. how does that make sense?
also, I can not help but extend your sentiment to ask, isn't 2000 yrs a long enough time to throw out the stories about man living in a whale and talking snakes and woman made from a man's rib and woman turning into salt and all the stuff like that?
@Was Blind
"Yea. That's right. In fact, we're so good at it we keep coming up with different answers every time...."
How so? The estimate of 4.5 billion years has not materially changed in the last ~60 years. It was first postulated in 1953.
What different answers are (real) scientists coming up with that vary demonstrably from 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years?
Tom, there are many public sources for this information. Just one that can get you started is "A Nation of Givers" by Arthur C. Brooks. In the year 2000 (and I believe it has since increased even more) households headed by a conservative gave, on average, 30 percent more to charity than did households headed by a liberal. And in this study, liberals were earning 6 percent more in income and yet still less charitable. Same source also gives stats on donating time to charitable causes.
And your source is a conservative. Hardly unbiased.
Wait a minute Likelogic...liberals are extremely generous...just with other people's money, but generous all the same.
What is your definition of a liberal or a conservative? Would every person who is considered liberal also be non-religious by your definition?
Good question, J. W. I'd love to see the answer. What did the researcher define as "liberal?"
Ive tried to pull up some articles online just right now. Many seem to say they are about the same but the charities they donate to are different.
I'll bet they are. And I'll bet that an conservative writer won't bother to count charitable giving if it's to Planned Parenthood or NARAL. Too bad, because such contributions do count, whether or not one agrees with the cause.
OK. I get it. Nobody with half a brain can possibly believe in a young earth. Count me in. As well as this list of scientists – http://www.examiner.com/article/growing-list-of-scientists-who-consider-young-earth-creationism-yec-a-fact-and-evolution-as-bunk
And in spite of the "facts" argued here there is rational scientific data that supports a young earth. http://creation.mobi/young-universe-evidence
There must be a few who wan to actually look at the evidence and not just read immature bashing from either side of the fence.
None of that young earth data is rational. It doesn't even take an expert to figure that out. But there are always uneducated fools who'll believe it. Apparently you're one of them.
That's right don't tick with your religious nut cases by actually believing in real science.
"real" science...what other kind would there be?
You don't know KRHODES? My goodness. Things like apologetic creationism. You know, for being apologetic about making up stuff.
Oh, my goodness, mama k. You mean the way khruddy misrepresents posts others have written? Say it ain't so!
mama k
"You don't know KRHODES? My goodness. Things like apologetic creationism. You know, for being apologetic about making up stuff."
So one groups science is real and the others is false. One question...can you prove science by science?
It doesn't take rocket science to look in your spam folder and know spam when you see it. That's how obvious creationism is KHRODES.
What would people say if Chuck Schumer said "I'm not a finance guy, man". lol.
I'd say he is right.
Oh please KRHODES, this Rubio is as green as they come. He has no business being on a senate science committee with answers like that. And it was a magazine interview for crying out loud – it's not like someone had a mic shoved in his face.
Evidently mom...politics requires no experience...look at the president.
Let's see you try you hand at being a two-termer, smart-ass.
The catholic church does not believe in a literal interpretation of the biblical creation story, so despite him saying be is catholic, he doesn't even know what he own religion teaches. Typical.
Marco Rubio is going to tell me what the Bible says. Praise his name!
Wake up America, here we go again! CNN is now taking shots and Rubio as he could be a Republican possibility for 2016. Haven't Wolfe, Soledad and Candy shown enough liberal bias during the election? CNN is a disgrace and they all need to wear Democrat, Liberal bumber stickers on their foreheads. There is no independent journalism in the mainstream media, politics are rigged by media like CNN.
If your guy's a stooge, why shouldn't we all know in advance?
@Ronaldo,
There is no independent journalism in the mainstream media, politics are rigged by media like CNN
You do know that this was from an interview by "GQ" magazine don't you? You know, the one with an almost nak-ed picture of Rihanna on the cover.
It's really deep and political, man.
Scary to think that someone this ignorant of scientific fact could be in a position of such power.
I could not agree more.
Scary to think that there's a clear majority in the House and not far from a majority in the Senate that will go along with this ignorance of proven science just to pander to the votes that they need to get re-elected!
"We need to stop being the stupid party."
-Bobby Jindal
Too late. The GOP keeps on being the stupid party because its leaders are stupid and give conservatism a really bad name.
The republicans have a monopoly on stupid. Sorry, Bobby, ain't gonna change with idi0ts like this making remarks like he did.
Dear Marco Rubio, If you won't tell us how old you think the Earth is, will you please tell us where you think oil comes from?
Olive oil?
Peanut oil?
Cottonseed oil?
Flaxseed oil?
Talk to me.....
I'd get more intelligent responses from a dead cat.
Oh, now you're Thelma?
The Gospel of Mark, 5:9, speaks of TTPS, et al when he/she was in the country of the Gadarenes:
And He (Jesus) asked him (the man), "What is thy name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion: for we are many."
Anybody thinking this party has a chance to come back and "reinvent" itself is kidding themselves....they still can't even bring themselves to start living in this century yet, how are they supposed to become this supposed new party that will suddenly be able to attract new voters who all view this party as they should – like it's the great-grandfather of the family, sitting over in the corner in a rocking chair mumbling to himself about how "back in my day".....
Remember God is all powerful. He actually created the Universe two hundred years ago and placed fake fossils all around in just the right place so that sceintists would think the earth was 4.5 billion years old. He also created a lot of people then and he placed memories in their brain. Remember, he's all powerful and can do anything. No, wait, he actually created the world yesterday with everything in it as it appears and gave us all these fake memories. No, wait, I'm actually just a brain in a jar and all this that I think I see is God playing wtih me. What, you don't believe me.
This is just as believable through faith as a 10000 year old earth and just as unbelievable through science.
When are we going to stop acting shocked when Christians say stuff like this? It's what they believe. There are worse things for them to believe. Maybe we should focus on the stuff that adversely impacts people's lives.
Another great example why I will never vote conservative... they can't accept reality!
Me too.
For a scientific and Biblical answer to the earth's age, read Dr. Gerald Schroeder's book – The Science of God. You will find that both the scientist and the theologian are correct. Fascinating stuff.
According to already p[roven atomic theory, iIf the Sun was less than coupla million years old, then the light from it's core wouldn't have risen to the surface and the Earth would still be dark.
Either that or the Nuclear Power Station in the USA are all doing magic.
What pray-tell exactly is a proven theory anyway?
In 2016, let's not forget what Rubio said about creationism in Nov 2012. This kind of public talk that cannot separate church (or religion) from state is completely unacceptable.
Never disagree with the fools who you need to vote for you, no matter how awful the consequences later.
"The Universe only appears to be super old because The Creator willed it thus."
Cool! So your god is a lying sack of shin-ola? That is good to know!
Why exactly is that good to know? Afterall, He doesn't even really exist! Your ilk kills me! They way you switch arguments midstream no wonder you are going around in circles.
"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
2 Timothy 3:7