I am not sure whether I am more scared of a British Police State, or an American Religious one. In the same five minute bulletin, I also heard that eleven parents in Pennsylvania USA are suing their school board, which has decreed that since evolution is just a “theory” it must be taught as such in schools, and only presented alongside alternative theories such as “intelligent design”, a form of creationism.
I continue to be both annoyed and puzzled by the shallowness of the “intelligent design” lobbyists, for a number of reasons. Why do they find evolution so offensive? What is wrong with being descended from monkeys anyway? I think it is demeaning to suggest that we simply appeared, perfectly formed, from the dust. I am not a clay model like Morph. The evolutionary struggle gives us a nobility, a triumph against ridiculous odds. How fantastic it is to believe in a theory which says that over the millenia, my ancestors evolved slowly from the trees, to the point where I can now be talking to the world from a laptop computer… And what rapture when I realise that despite the arbitrary and unjust nature of evolution, my genes and I have had the good fortune to succeed!
Why God cannot be described as a force of nature, or indeed the architect of the laws of Physics, has never been fully explained to me. For an omnipotent God, that should be a bagatelle! If one persists in beleiving in a God of the Abrahamic (i.e. Jewish/Christian/Islamic) ilk, then surely She would have the power to kick-start evolution at the beginning of the Earth. Since God is outside of time, She would presumably have the foresight of everything and everyone, including you, me, and Charles Darwin.
Why undermine the science that has introduced us to the idea of adaption, and therefore why species may become ‘endangered’? Why undermine the science that allows us to understand and cure genetic diseases?
Geologists deny that the earth created in six days. They say it is 4.55 billion years old. Are their theories criticised too? And if so, should we listen to what they have to say about volcanos, earthquakes, and tsunami?
Even if evolution is a theory, it is by the far the most rigorous we have. While we know we have not described the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about evolution, there is huge intellectual gulf between a few paragraphs in Genesis, and the mountains of peer reviewed experiments and tests that together make up the cannon of evolutionary theory. Let Genesis into science labs, and you may as well let in the Spaggeti Monster, and the Fundamentalist Aesopians. Its enough to make you tune in to MC Hawking.
Update: I found a quote from W.N.P. Barbellion:
I take a jealous pride in my Simian ancestry. I like to think that I was once a magnificent hairy fellow living in the trees and that my frame has come down through geological time via sea jelly and worms and Amphioux, Fish, Dinosaurs and Apes. Who would exchange these for the pallid couple in the Garden of Eden?
Beware your zeal for what is just a very strong theory. Its actually quite complex science, making it fairly easy to misunderstand. The reality is that large numbers of people who agree with evolution don’t fully understand it. In many respects its to be expected that people have difficulty applying Occam’s razor and end up siding with intelligent design as an explanation to life on Earth.
There is no intellectual gulf – one is scientific and one isn’t. Thus Genesis cannot enter any science labs; its just a case of supporting evolution NOT comparing it with non-science.
I found the article on Crazy Creationists very intresting. What amazed me the most was your abilty to challenge science and religion. I want to have a word with you on that. Albert Einstein said that:
Religion without Science is Blind
Science without Religion is Lame
What he meant was: A Belief without an explaination is Blind
An Explanation without a Belief is Lame.
The Theory of Relativity States that:
All things in the world are related but the speed of light is a constant.
Although he said speed of light is a constant he never wrote the equation as E=MC but he squres the C. That is why he is a Genius.
Science defines it as :
E=Energy
M=Mass
C=Speed of Light
Religion defines the same as
E=Energy which is SPIRIT
M=MASS which is FLESH or the Physical Body
C=Speed of Light which is the GOD which is the Belief
What is the difference between Money and Currency?
Money is the Belief and Currency is the Power to Relate.
Money is Water but Currency is Blood.
Money attracts but Currency Pulls.
Money is the belief in the Mind and Currency is the Pull one has in the body
If you get these fundamentals correctly then you would be able to see the connection between Science and Religion. You will also understand why the First Principles of Management is called EXISTENCE. What the STATE ABOVE THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE INDIVIDUAL ABOVE THE STATE THEORY means.
Robert,
Interesting post. I see you have attracted the fundmentalists to your ‘comment’ box. The religious right, which is both rich and media savvy, has attacked evolution in a fight back process against the enlightenment. they do not like the answers that thought produces, and find it demeaning that their diety becomes a ‘God of the Gaps’ insofar as that which they believed to be true is subverted by scientific evidence.
What they have true difficulty in understanding is that the DNA revolution means that they share a common set of building blocks with other life forms. For example we share almost all our DNA with the great apes. Point of clarification, we are not descended from monkeys, both monkeys and men are descended from a common anscestor.
Creationist folk wish to return God to a prime position in society. And they will use every dirty trick in the book to do it. Ends and means come to mind.
Yes, failure to make the monky/ape distinction was a school-boy error on my part.