re: #627 Cato the Elder

Biblical literalism is the main culprit. What you get is people contorting their minds into pretzels to make every word true, even if it’s directly contradicted in the next chapter. The two creation accounts in Genesis are a wonderful example.

I’ll add this: Biblical literalism explains absolutely nothing. The mechanics of creation - the process used, the precise details, ANY details - are completely absent from the Bible. “God created…” is all it says, without any further explanation.

Attempts to wring process out of this absence are some of the funniest and saddest contortions Creationists engage in; far from interpreting the Bible as literally true, word for word, they immediately begin layering on supposition, guesswork, interpretation driven by a predetermined outcome, and outright fiction and invention. Their interpretation is in no way supported by any “literal” reading of the text, yet the glaring vacuum concerning how anything, including species, actually came to be according to the Old Testament represents a gaping, empty hole in their argument.