Evolution and Nursing

The thing is, in the long run it DOES matter if a nurse utilizes critical thinking and his/her hard won personal experience and knowledge base -- or 'believes' what he/she PREFERS to believe based on Bronze age cosmology.

I'll totally trust him/her to give me shots, give me meds and insert a foley catheter. But I would feel unsafe if the nurse who considers Bronze age cosmology evidence of 'truth' and 'how things work' to put all my symptoms together coherently when I'm swirling down the drain. Fortunately, the nursing profession considers religious beliefs something to understand and tolerate rather than utilize as nursing intervention. Fortunately, even Bronze age cosmologist nurses use evidence-based nursing intervention :)

Gooselady said:

The thing is, in the long run it DOES matter if a nurse utilizes critical thinking and his/her hard won personal experience and knowledge base -- or 'believes' what he/she PREFERS to believe based on Bronze age cosmology.

I'll totally trust him/her to give me shots, give me meds and insert a foley catheter. But I would feel unsafe if the nurse who considers Bronze age cosmology evidence of 'truth' and 'how things work' to put all my symptoms together coherently when I'm swirling down the drain. Fortunately, the nursing profession considers religious beliefs something to understand and tolerate rather than utilize as nursing intervention. Fortunately, even Bronze age cosmologist nurses use evidence-based nursing intervention ?

I'm an atheist but... I do believe that the human brain is able to be evidence and science based while also believing in a religion or god. If Einstein could do it I'm willing to give folks the benefit of the doubt.

We need many more "Grumpy RN's" Take it a step farther. ..evolve...as a "logical/rational" species if you will-staunch "anti-theist" here. ..this "debate" is absurd...we need to completely do away with ALL religion. It simply keeps the scared and ignorant even more so...I already have read Dr. Seuss...

Although.....I guess killing off one another in the name of "Thou shalt not kill (commit murder...depends on the hotel version you're reading) is natural selection at its finest?

Once, I was engulfed in the arguments of creationism and scientific explanations of how we came to be. I even wanted to visit the creation museum in Ohio. But after further research and prayer I realized that as a Christian it is not my duty to prove Creationism. It is my job to live my life in Christ. I surely don't believe in evolution, but that's my right. I can tell you why but someone will just tell me I'm wrong.

As far as controversial scriptures, the bible is the word of God, but it was written by man and man does not always do what God says. That is why I love Proverbs 31; it was written by a woman :). I disagree that women should be quiet. I can be one of the loudest women in a group of people; that's just me. But in that day and age that was the norm. I guess what I am trying to say that I put God first in my heart, and I do not let discrepancies in scripture come between my faith and relationship with Him.

malamud69 said:

We need many more "Grumpy RN's" Take it a step farther. ..evolve...as a "logical/rational" species if you will-staunch "anti-theist" here. ..this "debate" is absurd...we need to completely do away with ALL religion. It simply keeps the scared and ignorant even more so...I already have read Dr. Seuss...

And Christians are the ones so often accused of intolerance...

I wholeheartedly reject the theory of evolution and believe it to be one of the greatest satanic lies ever foisted upon mankind, but I would never try to take away your right to believe in it, or atheism for that matter.

chopwood carrywater said:

I'm an atheist but... I do believe that the human brain is able to be evidence and science based while also believing in a religion or god. If Einstein could do it I'm willing to give folks the benefit of the doubt.

Einstein was not religious in the slightest, but he did use Christian based metaphors, a lot, like we all do because religion is still very common. This is a well balanced article about Einstein's 'belief' in God. As you can see, he used typical religious terms like 'God' and referred to God as 'He' with a capital H in his writings . . . but he also openly called the idea of a personal God 'childish and primitive'. I was kind of surprised myself when I read a reference about Einstein believing in "God" and saved this to my bookmarks a while ago. He had some sense of the spiritual, that's for sure, but denied that it was 'religious'.

Gooselady said:

Einstein was not religious in the slightest, but he did use Christian based metaphors, a lot, like we all do because religion is still very common. This is a well balanced article about Einstein's 'belief' in God. As you can see, he used typical religious terms like 'God' and referred to God as 'He' with a capital H in his writings . . . but he also openly called the idea of a personal God 'childish and primitive'. I was kind of surprised myself when I read a reference about Einstein believing in "God" and saved this to my bookmarks a while ago. He had some sense of the spiritual, that's for sure, but denied that it was 'religious'.

I believe you but my point is that even if it was "spiritual " in nature, it still would not necessarily hold up to evidence based proof. My point is that I believe that many people are able to hold a belief in spiritual or religious concepts and still create, understand and use scientific concepts and theories. Many people don't or won't. I'm sure there are quite a few atheists who don't believe in vaccines. I think most people can understand my point. It doesn't mean the have to agree with it.

Elle23 said:

I wholeheartedly reject the theory of evolution and believe it to be one of the greatest satanic lies ever foisted upon mankind, but I would never try to take away your right to believe in it, or atheism for that matter.

(my bold)

Nursing and evolution isn't a subject I've spent much time pondering and until now I haven't felt compelled to comment in this thread.

I have to be honest, your post actually shocked me. Not the fact that you don't believe in evolution, but the fact that you used the word satanic. That's a pretty strong word. Are you saying that science is evil? Are scientists evil?

Everyone is free to believe what they want but in my opinion it makes as much sense to call the theory of evolution a satanic lie as it would do to call Newton's theory of gravity the same.

Where did I say science is evil?

No need to throw out the baby with the bath water, so to speak.

Elle23 said:

Where did I say science is evil?

No need to throw out the baby with the bath water, so to speak.

I'm afraid that I'm no more clear on your line of reasoning after your answer. I was actually asking you if you think that science/scientists are evil. The reason I did so was that you called The Theory of Evolution, Satanic.

If you consider a theory Satanic, what does that in your mind say about the thousands of scientists in many different fields who've found evidence that supports the theory? There's hardly any controversy within the scientific community regarding evolution, it's a widely accepted theory. Calling a scientific theory Satanic just seems extreme to me.

Honest question, do you attach the same adjective to Newton's law of gravity? If you don't, why not?