Possibly because I felt somewhat housebound by 18 degree temperatures this week and had more sitting time than usual, I found myself reading parts of the Star Herald that I usually just glance at and skip right over, for example the abundant local sports coverage or another of Peggy Sims’ latest sugar and two sticks of butter recipes for increasing the obesity epidemic in Mississippi.
Consequently, I landed on reading “What Are We Allowing This Country to Become,” the Gary Andrews Christian devotional column.
“Aargh!!” is what I immediately thought after making it only through the first short paragraph.
My first comment is that no one, and probably certainly not Epcot and Disney World, being the highly respected educational sources they are, proclaims what Mr. Andrews wrote.
He states that “the earth and the solar system were formed from the big bang theory.” Perhaps this is just loose grammar or unclear writing, based on inaccurately digesting what he heard at Epcot, but the Big Bang theory is not said to have “formed the earth and solar system.”
The reason is that it is a theory. As such it is a mental construct. It is not a force majeure capable of bringing the physical earth and other planets into existence.
As a scientific theory, the Big Bang then is simply an informed statement, based on observations, which proposes an explanation for how (and to some extent when), the Earth and our solar system came into existence, as well as the entire universe.
Nevertheless, I trudged onward to the second paragraph, but came to an abrupt halt at the very first sentence.
Here Mr. Andrews states that “being a Christian,” he finds the Big Bang theory “completely out of line.”
My comment is that for many Christians, “believing” in the Big Bang and also being a "believing" Christian are not considered out of line.
In fact, many contemporary, scientifically and Biblically literate Christians are embracing the Big Bang as quite compatible with their Christian beliefs.
While some fundamental Christians don’t acknowledge that Roman Catholics, despite Martin Luther’s protesting, are nevertheless still Christians, in 2014 Pope Francis himself proclaimed that the Big Bang theory does not contradict, but instead complements (enhances) Christian belief.
But in case mentioning the Pope produces a further evangelical or fundamentalist recoil from the Big Bang, Dr. Henry Schaefer, the highly reputable Protestant Christian educator and highly esteemed theoretical scientist, has also commented on scientific discoveries, such as those supporting the Big Bang. His comment was, “So that’s how God does it” (or did it, perhaps). For many Christians, the Big Bang has become the scientific theory explaining just how God did it, i.e. create the universe, including the Earth and our solar system.
Staggering on to paragraph three, I then encountered the outrageously homophobic (blatantly disparaging to homosexuals) remark by Mr. Andrews that what made it even more disappointing for Epcot to lecture about the Big Bang was that they let “the television icon Ellen DeGeneres” be the hostess and promoter of the theory. I wondered if such an anti-gay remark would have made it into the Star Herald in any other journalistic form other than a “Christian devotional column.” I don’t think so!
The "Ellen DeGeneres Energy Show" referred to in the column by Gary Andrews also starred Bill Nye - The Science Guy. It played at Epcot from 1996-2017, but the last showing was August 2017, at which time it was replaced with another attraction. After playing for so many years, the show had become dated.
Reading on, I gathered that in Mr. Andrews’ opinion the Epcot presentation on the Big Bang, which they also had the audacity to let a well-known lesbian deliver, was a supreme example of “Satan running rampant over the land and people.”
At this point - housebound or not - I decided I would be better off reading the heart-stopping Peggy Sim’s recipe for hog jowls, than continuing on with Mr. Edwards’ mentally paralyzing “Christian” devotional.
Beverly Johnson
Kosciusko
