Beliefs and Stated Purpose
The statement of belief was an issue of discussion among the 10 founders during its formation, with typical wrangling over wording, and little consensus beyond keeping out anyone supportive of evolution. There was concern that Flood Geology would be able to explain all geologic evidence and whether the six literal-day creation included the creation of the universe.
The CRS adopted the following statement of belief, mandatory for all members:
- The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths.
- All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only changes within the original created kinds.
- The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect.
- We are an organization of Christian men and women of science who accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The account of the special creation of Adam and Eve as one man and one woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind. Therefore, salvation can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.
The society's stated purpose is "publication and research which impinge on creation as an alternate view of origins".
The CRS' statement of belief was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Edwards v. Aguillard. Its mandate that members affirm that the origin story described in Genesis was an established fact was cited by Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. as evidence there was a fundamentalist sectarian objective in the field of creation science and in Louisiana's 1981 Balanced Treatment Act, a law requiring creation science instruction in the state's public schools wherever scientific evolution was taught. The judge ruled, "the intent of the Louisiana Legislature was to promote a particular religious belief" and therefore the teaching of creationism was unconstitutional.
Read more about this topic: Creation Research Society
Famous quotes containing the words beliefs and, beliefs, stated and/or purpose:
“To a first approximation, the intentional strategy consists of treating the object whose behavior you want to predict as a rational agent with beliefs and desires and other mental states exhibiting what Brentano and others call intentionality.”
—Daniel Clement Dennett (b. 1942)
“Both Eliot and Pound condense; their best verse is weighted—Pound’s, with sensual experience primarily, and Eliot’s with beliefs. Where the mind’s life is concerned the senses produce images, and beliefs produce dramatic cries. The condensation is important.”
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“There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.”
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“Your good mother tells me you are feeling very badly in your new situation. Allow me to assure you it is a perfect certainty that you will, very soon, feel better—quite happy—if you only stick to the resolution you have taken to procure a military education. I am older than you, have felt badly myself, and know, what I tell you is true. Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did.”
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