And then there's Jack Blandiver (23 Mar 14 - 06:10 AM )

Is there a merit to creationism? Only to folklorists and storytellers - like me! I take a keen interest in religion and mythology & often tell Creation Myths, of which there are 1,000s, including the two very different ones giving in Genesis. I can't resist taking a dip into the Pseudo Science of Creationism as a caution as what happens when people start taking these things literally as part of a more sinister agenda.
The universe pre-dates humanity by billions of years; it will also ante-date humanity by billions of years. We invented God to account for things in the darkness of our ignorance, to place ourselves at the centre of it all when, in reality, we're barely on the edge. Science at least tells us where were at.

Well, Jack, I don't think that "creationist" fundamentalists can accept the idea of "story." I use that word and the term "sacred story" quite often when I'm teaching religion, and it has caused me trouble many times. The word "story" makes fundamentalists very uneasy. Stories, even when they are based on premises that may not be factually correct, can lead us to wisdom and deep insight. Sacred aboriginal stories can lead us to respect the wisdom of cultures that we of European ancestry once considered savage and ignorant. Likewise, there is value in seeking the wisdom in the sacred aboriginal stories of our own culture.

But absolutists, believers and nonbelievers alike, cannot accept or respect the concept of story. They see only narrow "facts," and have little tolerance for "ideas."

One other thing - I think it is disrespectful and dismissive to say that humankind "invented" God. That oversimplifies and dismisses a process that was far more complex and profound. Better to say that that some humans "came to believe in" a God/gods. There's no reason to be insulting, even if you do not share that belief.

-Joe Offer-