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February 29, 2004
One Culture War
Kudos to at least a few Montanans. My biggest problem with the whole creationism/intelligent design vs. evolution debate is that if evolution is successfully challenged by scientists and a new theory (or even creationism) emerges in its place, I'll gladly put my trust in evolution aside and accept the new CW. Scientific thought is fluid anyway and we accept and incorporate today what the best research and thinking has provided us up to the present time.
On the other hand, with creationism you're dealing with a belief that by design can not be proven wrong. It's a belief that I personally have nothing against. If the religious right wants to get behind religion classes in public schools that teach about (key word: about) the beliefs of numerous world religions and not just Protestant ones, then there is your venue for "teaching" about creationism (although most of the people who care already send their kids to Sunday school anyway).
Defenders of evolution need to understand how the debate is being framed. Ultimately it is not about teaching a range of views for creationists. They aren't interested one bit what 'scientists' with opposing viewpoints might say about evolutionary theory, unless that opposing viewpoint endorses creationism or ID. They aren't even interested in creationism alongside evolution. Their goal is not to teach scientific theory that contradicts Biblical teaching at all.
And defenders of evolution need to realize that while they themselves are trying to have an honest debate about something they think is verifiable, such as who is the tallest person in the room, the religious right is having the debate about something entirely subjective -- who's the prettiest.
Posted by Chris at February 29, 2004 03:32 AM
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