The Monkey Bible has a facebook page and below are posts which occurred after I posted the URL to a youtube video about Kentucky’s Creationist Museum.

 Peter:

 Amazing Ignorance flourishes in Petersburg, KY!

 

Bill:

bourbon plus bible= kentucky

 

John:

Great bourbon but really stupid people. New state logo.

 

Me:

What interests me about the Creationist folks is not their ignorance nor their bourbon (come to think of it, I'm not much interested in the ignorance or bourbon of any group of people). What interests me is that they're saying God created all the creatures. The Creationists, thus, are the natural frontline folks to protect God's creation. They are the natural frontline folks to create extensive, protected, connected wildlife corridors. They can take the lead in protecting biodiversity and the secular community can marvel, sincerely, at what these people who dearly love their Bible--and God's creation--will have accomplished.
-mark

 

Jeff:

But yet they aren't they the most likely to fight such efforts and to encourage the rape of the natural world through the politics that they tend to support. Sorry if I'm seeing the negative side of this situation but this is what I see.

 

Dave:

God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. - Genesis 1:28

 

Me:

Okay, I hear what you're saying, Jeff, but see Dave's quote from Genesis (above). It doesn't say that God instructed them to obliterate the fish or the fowl or each living thing that moveth upon the earth. The next generation of Creationists shall, perhaps, interpret the scriptures in such a way as to protect the natural world which would give Creationists and secularists something to celebrate together.
-mark

 

Jeff:

But you see there are many potential problems at least with the most common English translation. Are terms like subdie it and dominion over really helpful terms if we want to establish a better relationship with nature? For me the two sides we should be concerned about are the creationists and secularists (besides you can be both at the same time technically speaking) but the literalist and the Non-literalist. The first group see things in black and white terms. Creationist are almost by default literalist but most atheists are also literalist. It should be noted that most indigenous Studies scholars see both creationism and evolution-ism as being rutted in the same flawed disconnected western philosophy. Having said that what most people present as evolution was not what Darwin spoke about but some form of Neo-Darwinianism.

 

Idris:

Dominion means; you are in charge till I get back; so watch it!

 

Me:

I do agree there are many potential problems. Subdue and dominion are terms which are explored at length through a curious adventure within The Monkey Bible. But given where we are, Jeff, wouldn't it be cool if solid and positive action was taken across the spectrum of people you're concerned about?
-mark