Warning: curl_setopt() [function.curl-setopt]: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION cannot be activated when safe_mode is enabled or an open_basedir is set in /home/geekcul1/public_html/brashonline.com/wp-content/plugins/affiliate-mage/classes/rss_php.php on line 134
Warning: curl_setopt() [function.curl-setopt]: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION cannot be activated when safe_mode is enabled or an open_basedir is set in /home/geekcul1/public_html/brashonline.com/wp-content/plugins/affiliate-mage/classes/amazon.class.php on line 1
Creationism and the Atheist
The current issue of controversy affecting science teachers, as I’m sure you’ll be aware, is that of the best way to explain the mechanics of biology in a politically correct manner; how should we accommodate the beliefs of others while necessarily educating our students. Granted, the issue is not as debatable anywhere to the extent it is in the USA, but with the rise of neo-conservatism and religious intolerance, arguably antagonised by outspoken atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens, we are faced with a growing number of those who wish Creationism to be taught in schools. I’ll briefly explain the two sides of this feud. The theory of evolution was proposed by Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century – it claims that all species evolved over a period of millions of years from microscopic primordial sludge to the complex and intricate life-forms we find today. The evidence is colossal – fossils, the distribution of species, the similarities between members of species, study of DNA – and without any significant flaws. Hundreds of palaeontologists, geneticists, evolutionary biologists and even philosophers (e.g. Daniel Dennett) have polished, refined, and extended the theory. The premise of Intelligent Design states that God created everything that exists now in exactly six days. Practically every branch of science can disprove this. However, the theory’s advocates suggest that God intentionally placed misleading evidence to test our faith; dinosaurs did in fact walk with humans, and denial of that is a heresy. The third view, theistic evolution, is basically identical to the naturalistic approach I’ve always favoured, although followers of the belief claim that God started it – Richard Dawkins would call this a “God of the Gaps” fallacy. These positions have been in conflict since Darwin and possibly before; and since it took the Catholic Church 400 years to apologise to Copernicus (“this progress gives rise to both wonderment and fear”) I don’t hold much hope for religion and science to harmonise. In researching this topic I found several interesting articles; one, http://darwinconspiracy.com, declares to have successfully refuted Darwin’s argument: the claims it claims to have produced render anything other than Genesis absurd. So what are these proofs? I’ll take an example to give you a taste of the level of scientific thought employed: ‘If evolution is truly based on survival of the fittest, what about all those helpless babies?’ What indeed. Since it is obviously impossible for a species to have evolved over generations that doesn’t protect its young, babies are nurtured by their parents; and anyone who’s read The Selfish Gene will know that babies are far from innocent, in their striving for preferential treatment.
The problem with creationism as illustrated by the aforementioned website
“God knew that there would come a Theory of Evolution and He made certain to create life on Earth in such a way that there would be major discrepancies between real life and the false theory. God is the Master of timing and this is the time He chose to bust Darwin – and this website is an agent for Him to do so.” The kind of ludicrously inconsistent denial expressed in the above sentiment is, and I don’t believe that it is unacceptably controversial for me to say this, typical of creationists. The writer claims that God was so insecure about his work that he foresaw a scientific essay and moulded a planet round this essay so as to render it untrue – he did this so people would acknowledge that Earth was his creation, and ‘bust’ Charles Darwin. Further, he is working through the website’s administrator. Logic like this is unavoidable when you are trying to convince others that the world is six thousand years old, that during the week of October 23rd 4004 BC God made light, then he made the sun, and later every animal the writers of the Bible could have encountered and nothing more. Do we really want to expose our children to the kind of anti-scientific prejudice that currently is limited to the most ‘intellectually deprived’ areas of North America? Even mentioning that the ID theory exists can mislead some that it is actually a feasible alternative to Darwinism; the fact is that evolution is taught in science classes as opposed to any other theory because, and solely because, there is a huge amount of evidence in its favour – consequentially, if we are to teach other theories like creationism, which have absolutely no scientific backing, then every single piece of superstition ever written should be discussed: how else could we discriminate?
About the Author
I’m an English student from England. I write things occasionally. Influences include: Thomas Hardy, John Irving, Philip Larkin and Fernando Sorrentino. Favourite quotes: “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” “either this man is dead or my watch has stopped” and “don’t do that I’m asleep”. My website’s at: http://sites.google.com/site/outputemporium/