Right, but I was making the point that your second option was way too specific to allow for a broad application to a variety of viewpoints.

Right, but I was making the point that your second option was way too specific to allow for a broad application to a variety of viewpoints.

Nice link. I saw that in my feeds but never read it until just now.

Nice link. I saw that in my feeds but never read it until just now.

Your second point about the term “literal” is a good one, but I know a number of people who believe in literal interpretation of the Bible, and they don’t go into these details. For most it’s simply a matter of “seven days” matching our own interpretation of days, and the earth literally being just a few thousand years old.

I’m sure they go into contortions over a few things the way they do with pi in your example, but for the most part people aren’t that sophisticated. I think most are more likely to say that science’s view of pi is incorrect if it goes against God’s. But if they’re shown the link above they’ll change their opinion to say that we just read the Bible wrong.

Your second point about the term “literal” is a good one, but I know a number of people who believe in literal interpretation of the Bible, and they don’t go into these details. For most it’s simply a matter of “seven days” matching our own interpretation of days, and the earth literally being just a few thousand years old.

I’m sure they go into contortions over a few things the way they do with pi in your example, but for the most part people aren’t that sophisticated. I think most are more likely to say that science’s view of pi is incorrect if it goes against God’s. But if they’re shown the link above they’ll change their opinion to say that we just read the Bible wrong.

OPTION 3: One of the primary goals of education is to produce individuals who can (and are willing to) think on their own. It encourages students to NOT take things as given (including what they are told by their teachers) but to judge the liklihood of the truth of a proposition based on reason and logic. Furthermore, even when something is EXTREMELY likely to be true, education encourages people to keep an open mind so that future evidence is not discarded simply because it contradicts existing views on the subject. (Education encourages us to judge the liklihood of truth, not absolute truth.) In other words, education works AGAINST faith based KNOWLEDGE. Education doesn’t necessarily have anything directly to say about the Bible in particular. Furthermore, of those who are religious (evenly devout in their religious beliefs), I would suspect that those who have more education are also typically those who have been exposed to more interpretations of the Bible. They are more likely to see that the “literal” truth of the Bible is not separate from its context and that the “literal” truth is subject to interpretation.

That being said, I believe that pi is not equal to 3. And as an example of the INTERPRETATION of even seemingly clear literal statements, I give you: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i2/pi.asp

So, we have OPTION 4: Not everyone has the same meaning for “literal” in this context.

OPTION 3: One of the primary goals of education is to produce individuals who can (and are willing to) think on their own. It encourages students to NOT take things as given (including what they are told by their teachers) but to judge the liklihood of the truth of a proposition based on reason and logic. Furthermore, even when something is EXTREMELY likely to be true, education encourages people to keep an open mind so that future evidence is not discarded simply because it contradicts existing views on the subject. (Education encourages us to judge the liklihood of truth, not absolute truth.) In other words, education works AGAINST faith based KNOWLEDGE. Education doesn’t necessarily have anything directly to say about the Bible in particular. Furthermore, of those who are religious (evenly devout in their religious beliefs), I would suspect that those who have more education are also typically those who have been exposed to more interpretations of the Bible. They are more likely to see that the “literal” truth of the Bible is not separate from its context and that the “literal” truth is subject to interpretation.

That being said, I believe that pi is not equal to 3. And as an example of the INTERPRETATION of even seemingly clear literal statements, I give you: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i2/pi.asp

So, we have OPTION 4: Not everyone has the same meaning for “literal” in this context.