Archbishop: stop teaching creationism

I'm actually highlighting this not so much to agree with +Rowan but to note how the press handles [or rather fails to handle well] matters of religion. So, in the opening paragraph of this article we read this:

Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.

Note the explanatory gloss between the hyphens which implicitly argues that any other handling of the matter is not really Bible-based. Implicitly claiming that the only biblical Christian view is creationism. At least the creationists can claim to have won the secular press to their case even if they have yet to convince the rest of us Christians! Just a shame that they have failed to win them to the Christian cause and not just to their approach to biblical hermeneutics.

Anyway, I digress.
The interesting thing is, as so often when dealing with newspapers, that the later detail may actual 'nuance' the headlines or the opening paragraph so much as to make it a bit of a nonsense. Unfortunately the normal construction of an article therefore runs the danger of misleading those who only read the first paragraph or two and move on. So later on we have Dr Williams reported as saying:

Archbishop: stop teaching creationism

Williams backs science over Bible

Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Tuesday March 21, 2006
The Guardian

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.

Giving his first, wide-ranging, interview at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop was emphatic in his criticism of creationism being taught in the classroom, as is happening in two city academies founded by the evangelical Christian businessman Sir Peter Vardy and several other schools.

Article continues
"I think creationism is ... a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories ... if creationism is presented as a stark alternative theory alongside other theories I think there's just been a jarring of categories ... My worry is creationism can end up reducing the doctrine of creation rather than enhancing it,"

Precisely, a hermeneutical strategy which means that many of us remain biblical and yet also open to scientific hypotheses. For people who deal daily in hermeneutics, in effect, it's a shame that more journos don't get it.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Archbishop: stop teaching creationism:
Filed in: creation, science, Rowan_Williams