I Evolve, Therefore I Am

It’s 2005, right? We’ve fought a dozen wars, put a probe on Titan, conquered diseases, and even settled that whole Palestinian thing (maybe). So then why on Earth are we still debating evolution?

A lawsuit currently underway in Kansas provides me with enough inspiration to update the blog today. At issue is the Christian Coalition trying to stop the teaching of evolution (read: Anything Darwin proved), and instead focus on Creationism as a matter of fact.

Visitors to this blog in the past will be well acquainted with my views on religion, and while I admit this makes me an impartial commentator, I am still in awe that the Red State mentality is driving so much political fervor these days.

Simply put, religion as an institution relies on the power of faith, and translates that faith into a perspective on how to live your limited life and be promised a reward when you die. No matter how you look at it, religion is just as much a theory as natural selection is, but we have more evidence that natural selection is the force behind evolution than we do evidence that a longhaired man once performed dubious miracles a few thousand years ago and subsequently defied death.

No matter your perspective, the issue here is what to teach our children. While I certainly think that religious aspects of cultural development should be taught in schools, I certainly don’t think they should be presented as a fact that overshadows all other theories.

In 2005, our children have access to an immense source of data, and they are more adept at trolling that data than is the most experienced librarian. Because of this, teachers and parents are having a much harder time trying to shove myths and superstitions at our kids than they were twenty years ago. If kids get confused, they’ll just ask Google. How are you going to argue with the biggest knowledge index ever devised? Who do you think you are – George W. Bush?

I have no doubt that the recent re-visitation of these half-assed theories are augmented by our god-fearing president and a strong Republican government, but now is the time for the Blue States to rise up and use their power against the Christian Right-Wingers. You might not care what’s going on in Kansas today, but in thirty years when those kids start running for office, you’ll easily regret not doing something when you could.

And for the record, I am not anti-religion. I’m pro-fact based reality. Shouldn’t we all be?