Evolution Revolution
I see that Kansas is having "debates" over whether their children should be taught evolution or this creationism crap. I'm not really sure how creationism fits into science. I assume you would first have to accept that the Earth was created in literally six days (thanks ROMA for that clarification...I accidentally gave God an extra day in an earlier post). We've determined that the universe is billions of years old...and God formed it in six days. Sure... Next you have to assume that after God gave the earth light and water and animals, he decided to make "man" in his image. Then man needed a companion, so he took a rib out of man and made "woman." I'm pretty well versed in anatomy and physiology (being a pharmacy student will do that to you), and you may not believe this but men have 12 pairs of rib (that makes 24) and so do women! Amazingly, men don't have 23 ribs. The best part about this whole "theory" (and I use the word theory very loosely here), is that if you truly believe this - we're all inbred. I don't know about you, but I find that a bit unnerving. It sounds a bit like a WV joke. Personally, I think Genesis is a huge metaphor for the formation of the universe. I don't think God said, "Let there be light," and flipped a giant breaker in the sky and low and behold the sun appeared. I just don't buy that. Here's another part that trips me up...when you go into your typical Christian church and you see Jesus hanging on the cross - what color is his skin? My personal experience is that it's white - white as freaking snow. Um...the birth place of civilization is in Iran in a little valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Ever looked at those people? They're not white! Jesus, at best, had to have olive colored skin. Sorry Pat - Jesus didn't look like you! Creationism cannot account for the many different skin tones that exist in the world - but evolution can. Creationism is not science. Simply put, it has no place in a science class. Personally, I think placing it in a science class violates the priniciple of Church and State - which is nothing new, Republicans stomp all over this belief every day.
posted by ahsirt at 8:57 PM
4 Comments:
God didn't make man in his image. Man has made God in his image. Man has projected all of his base traits onto God including vengenace, hatred, selfishness, vanity, and intolerance.
As for creationism, it has absolutely no place in a sceince classroom. Scientists develop a theory to string together pieces of evidence into a cogent thought. When the evidence contradicts the theory, either the evidence is disproven or the theory is revised. Creationists are unwilling to change their theory. So when evidence arives that can't be disproven, they must contort the evidence to fit within their theory. As a result, you have creation scientists who believe the world was created in 6,000 years and that the Grand Cantyon was created in less than a week. You have educated men and women who beleive Noah built a great big boat and put two of every creature from every corner of the globe on the boat - carnivores and their prey - and floated around for 40 days. Kinda makes you wonder what the carnivores ate for 40 days - maybe there were some cool species that we have never known because they turned out to be breakfast, lunch or dinner. Of course, after the cruise, each of the sets of animals went to work repopulating the animal kingdom. And, Noah and his wife had a bit of work to do also. But you can't teach that part of the story in school either...
Just to add wood to the fire, Also in Kansas they are trying to redefine science, and take out all natural theories. (According to Bill Maher)
I asked a collegue how old the world was and he stated that it was about 6000 yrs old. So I asked how do you explain artifacts being discovered that are 150,000 years old? God can just do things! How do you have an enlightened, sane discussion with that type of answer. When you can't explain it--" God works in mysterious ways." When science proves that wrong, but its in the Book.
I've had the enjoyment of observing these said conversations. It is VERY frustrating. I've been cornered into these discussions with this colleague and there is no winning. The scary thing is, there are tons of people out there with these beliefs. These are the same people that are voting ignorantly. The colleague is an adamant Bush supporter. I've discovered that this is for two reasons - W is pro-life and W is an outspoken Christian. I asked the colleague why he was voting for W and his response was, "I like his policies." So I asked him what he thought of the PATRIOT Act. His response was, "I am not familiar with that policy." The PATRIOT Act is probably the most publicized law enacted during W's first tenure. So, knowing that his parents are teachers, I asked him what he thought of the No Child Left Behind Act. He was unfamiliar with this act as well. No wonder Democrats can't win an election. We're portrayed as the Anti-Christ and the majority of W supporters voted for him solely because he is an outspoken Christian! That's a hard obstacle to overcome.
I think the hardest thing to swallow about people who take the Bible as the "literal" truth is that they pick and choose the parts that they want to follow. I don't see anyone practicing the acts set forth in Leviticus. I haven't seen any bulls being burned to produce a pleasant odor for the Lord lately. (Thank God!). My neighbors' rap music is really annoying, can I stone them? That's another thing you don't see anymore - a good stoning. That's a shame, because that's the best scene from The Life of Brain (Jehovah! Jehovah!). Apparently these are small parts that don't really matter.
Not only do these so-called Christians pick and choose which parts they want to believe literally, they also like to rank the sins. While most of us could easily agree that murder is worse than stealing, there is no definitive text on the subject. I don't claim to be a biblical scholar, but apprarently the 10 Commandments are mentioned at least three times directly in the Old Testament. In the most common and reproduce Christian statement of them, murder doesn't even crack the Top 5. Instead, we have four Commandments pertaining to the vainty of God and the fifth admonishing everyone to honer thy father and mother - a good sentiment but higher ranked than murder? And how is it that homsexuality got ranked so high on the list. It didn't even make the Top 10 (Commandments), yet it is apparently the root of all evil. Maybe it was on the thrid tablet that Moses dropped (see History of the World, Part I). Maybe this tablet also contained one other important commandemnt: "Thou shalt not be a sanctimonious, self righteous windbag".
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