Former NYT columnist admits to believing in creation

Yahoo! News writer and former New York Times technology columnist Virginia Heffernan set off a firestorm of criticism with a recent column detailing why she believes in creation.

“I am a creationist. There, I said it,” she wrote on Thursday. “At least you, dear readers, won’t now storm out of a restaurant like the last person I admitted that to. In New York City saying you’re a creationist is like confessing you think Ahmadinejad has a couple of good points.”

But Heffernan’s creationism is hardly of the traditional sort. After slamming the transitory nature of social sciences based on evolutionary theory, she summarizes: “I guess I don’t ‘believe’ that the world was created in a few days, but what do I know? Seems as plausible (to me) as theoretical astrophysics, and it’s certainly a livelier tale. As Life of Pi author Yann Martel once put it … ‘1) Life is a story. 2) You can choose your story. 3) A story with God is the better story.’”

The column immediately made Heffernan a target for criticism, according to the Christian Post.

Online readers left droves of comments, ranging from simplistic arguments to name-calling. Hamilton Nolan, in a blog post for Gawker, labeled her a “science-phobic angel-believing climate change skeptic,” which, he implies, means no one can take her seriously anymore because she may not be dedicated to hard facts.

“Kudos to you for being brave enough to admit to your own hilarious prejudices [against] common sense,” he writes.

While evangelicals may find plenty of room to argue with how Heffernan supports her position, Nolan says believing in creationism for any reason is only excusable for uneducated “Arkansas fundamentalists” or an eccentric aunt who “lives in the woods and sells dreamcatchers.