their most brilliant ideas.
-Corinthians 1:19
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't
go away.
-Philip K. Dick
he good thing about the creationism vs. evolution debate is that
it gets a lot of people talking about evolution. The bad thing,
however, is that, despite all the talk, most people in the world today
still don't know much about evolution. We are more than a hundred
years beyond Charles Darwin's death and astonishingly inaccurate
ideas about evolution continue to come out of the mouths of people
who should know better. For example, President George W. Bush, a
graduate of Yale University, said "the jury is still out" on evolution.
During a 2007 Republican presidential debate, three candidates raised
their hands to proudly declare that they did not believe in evolution.
Somebody, whether it is the world's scientists, science teachers, or
journalists, are failing to communicate to the public just how real evolution is. Someone is also failing to spark a sense of wonder and
appreciation for evolution in young people. Many adults, under the
mistaken belief that evolution is wrong, evil, or irrelevant steer clear
of it and never learn what it really is. Even worse, many people walk around with ridiculous misinformation rattling around in their heads,
thanks to the hard-working people who market creationism. For
example, in the United States, the nation that put twelve humans on
the moon, millions of citizens currently believe the earth is less than
ten thousand years old and that the first human was created magically
from dirt in modern form. How did this happen? Most American citizens spend at least several years in school. America has a very high literacy rate. Access to libraries and the Internet is very high compared
to most other nations. So how can such a developed country end up
with millions of citizens who have never heard of Homo erectus? And
it's not just America. Most people in the world, based on my experiences, know little or nothing about human evolution. Australopithecus
is a major character in the human story, for example, but I have found
that very, very few people have ever heard the name. Perhaps a general failure of science education is partly responsible, but most of the
blame for this points directly to belief in gods.
When someone goes down the path of belief they risk picking up
a lot more than a god along the way. Sometimes ideas that contradict
mountains of scientific evidence come with the territory. The widespread rejection of evolution in the United States is a sad example of
how destructive belief in a god can be to human intellect. Not all, of
course, but millions of believers trust preachers and creationism marketers over the world's top scientists to give them the facts on evolution. As a result, these people know virtually nothing about evolution.
Today some religious leaders charge that evolution is an evil philosophy. This is particularly troublesome for those believers who are
thoughtful and honest enough to want to know the real story of how
life on Earth has changed over the last few billion years. But when a
trusted preacher, rabbi, priest, or imam declares that the theory of evolution is immoral and could possibly destroy families, schools, and
even civilization, many believers understandably shy away from the
subject. This situation would be laughable if it was not so tragic. Here
we have this fascinating-and true-story about ourselves and the rest
of life on earth but it's feared, shunned, and ridiculed by hundreds of millions of people around the world. In many cases believers think
that accepting evolution would anger their god. Many believers follow
this strange line of reasoning faithfully, giving them one more justification to believe in a god. It goes like this: "Evolution is bad and false.
Creationism is good and true. Therefore, my god is real." Flawed and
twisted though it may be, this reason for belief
-Corinthians 1:19
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't
go away.
-Philip K. Dick
he good thing about the creationism vs. evolution debate is that
it gets a lot of people talking about evolution. The bad thing,
however, is that, despite all the talk, most people in the world today
still don't know much about evolution. We are more than a hundred
years beyond Charles Darwin's death and astonishingly inaccurate
ideas about evolution continue to come out of the mouths of people
who should know better. For example, President George W. Bush, a
graduate of Yale University, said "the jury is still out" on evolution.
During a 2007 Republican presidential debate, three candidates raised
their hands to proudly declare that they did not believe in evolution.
Somebody, whether it is the world's scientists, science teachers, or
journalists, are failing to communicate to the public just how real evolution is. Someone is also failing to spark a sense of wonder and
appreciation for evolution in young people. Many adults, under the
mistaken belief that evolution is wrong, evil, or irrelevant steer clear
of it and never learn what it really is. Even worse, many people walk around with ridiculous misinformation rattling around in their heads,
thanks to the hard-working people who market creationism. For
example, in the United States, the nation that put twelve humans on
the moon, millions of citizens currently believe the earth is less than
ten thousand years old and that the first human was created magically
from dirt in modern form. How did this happen? Most American citizens spend at least several years in school. America has a very high literacy rate. Access to libraries and the Internet is very high compared
to most other nations. So how can such a developed country end up
with millions of citizens who have never heard of Homo erectus? And
it's not just America. Most people in the world, based on my experiences, know little or nothing about human evolution. Australopithecus
is a major character in the human story, for example, but I have found
that very, very few people have ever heard the name. Perhaps a general failure of science education is partly responsible, but most of the
blame for this points directly to belief in gods.
When someone goes down the path of belief they risk picking up
a lot more than a god along the way. Sometimes ideas that contradict
mountains of scientific evidence come with the territory. The widespread rejection of evolution in the United States is a sad example of
how destructive belief in a god can be to human intellect. Not all, of
course, but millions of believers trust preachers and creationism marketers over the world's top scientists to give them the facts on evolution. As a result, these people know virtually nothing about evolution.
Today some religious leaders charge that evolution is an evil philosophy. This is particularly troublesome for those believers who are
thoughtful and honest enough to want to know the real story of how
life on Earth has changed over the last few billion years. But when a
trusted preacher, rabbi, priest, or imam declares that the theory of evolution is immoral and could possibly destroy families, schools, and
even civilization, many believers understandably shy away from the
subject. This situation would be laughable if it was not so tragic. Here
we have this fascinating-and true-story about ourselves and the rest
of life on earth but it's feared, shunned, and ridiculed by hundreds of millions of people around the world. In many cases believers think
that accepting evolution would anger their god. Many believers follow
this strange line of reasoning faithfully, giving them one more justification to believe in a god. It goes like this: "Evolution is bad and false.
Creationism is good and true. Therefore, my god is real." Flawed and
twisted though it may be, this reason for belief
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