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Attacking Evolution

Entry 248, on 2005-11-12 at 22:10:33 (Rating 4, News)

The Creationists are at it again! The Kansas school board is attacking evolution. They are insisting that misleading messages are attached to evolution teaching. When teaching science, it is important to send a realistic message to those being taught. There is absolutely no scientific alternative to evolution, so why suggest there is? Look through some scientific journals and see how many references there are to intelligent design. That's right, none. Why? Because its not science!

And disguising Creationism under the new name Intelligent Design isn't fooling anyone. Its possible to build a philosophy around the idea that an intelligent creator is necessary to explain some of the complex aspects of the Universe, but the current version of ID isn't that. Its just an excuse to push mindless Christian fundamentalism on impressionable school children. Its just insidious religious propaganda.

There are areas in science where the evidence supporting evolution is inconsistent, or where some of the fossil record is missing. That's entirely expected. A complete fossil record is just not possible. We're talking about hundreds of millions of years here! But no area of science is ever 100% supported by the evidence. There are always gaps and questions to be answered. This is true of other well accepted theories like gravitation, as much as evolution. Maybe we should have statements in school saying that maybe gravity doesn't exist!

Many people outside the US think that, not just the more "fundamentalist" states like Kansas, but the country as a whole is a joke. Why is it that so many Americans have these strong religious beliefs? Why do they vote for presidents like George Bush? The only conclusion is that many of them are stupid. Of course, there are very intelligent, thoughtful Americans. Even though the US is slipping a bit from its dominance of world technology and science, its still the most important source of innovation and research. But if these sorts of trends continue, will it last? It would be sad to see America lose its lead in science and technology because of self-serving religious groups destroying sensible scientific teaching.

Comment 1 (143) by Anonymous on 2005-11-17 at 03:26:25:

My position is completely opposite, but as a result, much of the science taught in schools would be eliminated. Obviously it is unconstitutional to for a government body (such as a public school) to have anything to do with a religion, so the teaching of god creating the universe is illegal. But it should also not be permitted for any theories to be taught as fact. Thus, what is now called the "theory of evolution" could not be taught since most of the theories making it up are theories and have not been proved or disproved.

On the other hand, I disagree. Evolution does not even describe how life came to be or what life is. Evolution conveniently leans on a theory describing that, but there ya go - another theory. Science cannot explain the existence of the universe (and I beg you to differ - by the way, aside from the big bang being physically impossible, the current version of the big bang theory states that the universe will cease to exist within the next 12 or so billion years), so why should it explain the existence of anything? It can't even explain the existence of mass or energy, and if you just take these two basic things for granted, how can you ever consider explaining the existence of something more complex?

Comment 2 (147) by OJB on 2005-11-17 at 09:44:02:

You seem to be making the same mistake as many other people: believing that the word "theory", in the scientific sense, implies a large degree of uncertainty. In this context the word means an explanation of a phenomenon supported by significant evidence. There is simply no alternative theory to evolution. I'd be pleased to hear anything you might know of, including the evidence, of course!

The Big Bang is physically impossible? Wow, most of the world's astronomers sure are going to be surprised by that! I'd like to see the evidence for your rejection of the Big Bang. There is nothing in the theory that I know (and I've been a serious amateur astronomer for many years) which suggests the Universe will cease to exist in 12 billion years.

Quantum theory seems to explain the nature of mass and energy fairly well. Again, I'm not sure what you are referring to there.

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