Evolution, creationism "debate" is finished
Picture this: a kid in Tennessee enters the fourth grade. Shy but prescient, he wanders around, getting used to the place. He hangs up his backpack, tentatively greets his classmates and sits down at his desk.
An old fogey of a would-be professor shuffles in, coughs in the crevice of his tweed jacket and addresses the class: “ My name is Mr. Williams and I will be your Alchemy and Astrology teacher for the coming year. ”
He then goes and carefully draws the symbols and formulations for antimony, borax, aqua vitae and cinnabar, and starts talking about different kinds of horoscopes. The child takes notes studiously, absorbing every word the old fool speaks at their face value.
Now, would you be surprised if I told you that Alchemy-level nonsense was being taught, right now, in American public schools?
There are exactly two states that allow the teaching of creationism (also known as “ lying to children ” ) in public education establishments: Tennessee and Louisiana.
Tennessee has always been kind of iffy on the subject of scientific fact. Almost 90 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial, teachers have once again been given free reign to let their religious views permeate the classroom.
As for Louisiana, a law allowing the widespread inculcation of junk ideas was signed and passed in 2008 by the then and current governor, Bobby Jindal.
Since then, 78 Nobel Prize winners in scientific fields have signed a letter petitioning for the law ’ s repeal. Thousands of other scientists have joined in on that call.
Here ’ s the thing: the question of whether or not evolution is the best explanation for the variety of life on earth is not political or religious.
The protestations of God (or, at least, his many self-appointed interpreters) cannot change the fact that humans are 98.8 percent genetically identical to chimpanzees. The clear, and in my opinion, beautiful progression of the fossil record will not suddenly disappear, no matter how many elected Republican school officials are set on creating mysteries where none exist.
If we ’ re not being facetious about the issue of creationism (or, if you insist on using its other name: “ Intelligent Design, ” ) we have to face the central fact of the matter: it is untrue.
I could go through each article of evidence for the theory of evolution and almost embarrassing lack of evidence for spontaneous creation (and am prepared to if challenged).
But that ’ s not my central point. The real message I ’ m trying to get across here is that scientific consensus is not a conspiracy.
I can ’ t tell you how many times I ’ ve heard from friends that scientific “ cabals ” (word choice!) are making this “ evolution ” (in air-quotes) stuff up for nefarious purposes.
"Cabals," to repeat that strange term, are centered around secrets. The scientific community would not be able to function if it didn't have a culture of free-flowing ideas. By definition, there can be no secrets in any scientific field devoted to discovering truth.
The logic of evolution is there, and while some details are still being debated, the general principles of the process are as grounded in fact as you can get. (The proofs are only a Google search away...)
And yet, the astounding 40 percent of U.S. citizens that believe in creationism apparently still think that the scientific community is, at its heart, an intrinsically biased, if not atheist, think-tank.
That ’ s the conclusion I am forced to come to, because it is simply not possible to be a creationist unless you believe the following:
1. Virtually all biologists and the vast majority of other scientists are either extremely stupid or lying to you.
2. Our physical and behavioral similarities to other life forms, including our close cousins like great apes, are mere coincidences.
3. The left-over and completely useless parts of a human body (the appendix, wisdom teeth, the tail-bone) are things that a perfect creator would keep in his final design, rather than superfluous vestiges from our “ lowly origin. ”
I feel like I ’ ve gone on enough about this. Anyone, of course, is free to believe in whatever they choose. That ’ s their right.
But, please, do some research on the issues before you take it upon yourself to start lecturing kids on science.
After all, as two states firmly attest: it's very, very easy to lie to children.