Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams has launched an attack on the biblical teaching about CREATION.
This attack is featured in an article published by 'The Guardian,' on Tuesday, 21 March 2006 ... ironically on the 450th Anniversary of martyred Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's death at the stake!
Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent for The Guardian, styled the Archbishop as demanding, 'Stop teaching creationism' - and subtitled his article, 'Williams Backs Science Over Bible.'
He notes: "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.
Giving his first, wide-ranging, interview at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop was emphatic in his criticism of creationism being taught in the classroom, as is happening in two city academies founded by the evangelical Christian businessman Sir Peter Vardy and several other schools.
"I think creationism is ... a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories ... if creationism is presented as a stark alternative theory alongside other theories I think there's just been a jarring of categories ... My worry is creationism can end up reducing the doctrine of creation rather than enhancing it," he said.
The debate over creationism or its slightly more sophisticated offshoot, so-called "intelligent design" (ID) which argues that creation is so complex that an intelligent - religious - force must have directed it, has provoked divisions in Britain but nothing like the vehemence or politicisation of the debate in the US. There, under pressure from the religious right, some states are considering giving ID equal prominence to Darwinism, the generally scientifically accepted account of the evolution of species. Most scientists believe that ID is little more than an attempt to smuggle fundamentalist Christianity into science teaching.
States from Ohio to California are considering placing ID it on the curriculum, with President George Bush telling reporters last August that "both sides ought to be properly taught ... so people can understand what the debate is about."
The archbishop's remarks place him firmly on the side of science."
I add ... plus they place this shameful prelate in opposition to his illustrious predecessor, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer!
More importantly, they place him on opposite sides to God, who inspired the Book of Genesis with its classic Creation account - and all of Scripture!
As far as Jesus is concerned, the Genesis account of beginnings is non-negotiable:
β’ God created the creation (Mark 13:19);
β’ Adam and Eve were made by God "at the beginning" revealing His divine order of male and female united in marriage (Matthew 19:4&5).
If Archbishop Rowan has a problem with "creationism," he has a problem with Christ.
And, in making his statement against Christ's verdict on Creation, he has given the enemies of the cross a gilt-edged opportunity to ridicule the Scriptures.
They have not been slow to grasp it.
Science Editor of the Daily Mail, Michael Hanlon, leapt on the Archbishop's statement to compare the teaching of biblical Creationism in schools to "alchemy - find the Philosopher's Stone" and learning "the rules of elementary witchcraft."
He scoffed: "Fifty years ago, Creationism was a funny joke. Only loonies and American rednecks believed in Genesis, the same sort of people who believed in a flat Earth. ... Teaching children that Genesis is history rather than a myth is a scandalous abuse of power - and taxpayer's money. You might as well send them to Hogwart's."
One guess is that the Archbishop has already visited Hogwarts - and 'evolved' into something rather nasty!
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