Did You Freaks Really Vote For This Guy?
Posted by Rich | Filed under Politics
So our President, who clearly won his last re-election with an overwhelming 51% majority, today said he believes schools should discuss “intelligent design” alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life. I just want to make sure everyone is clear on the differences between the two theories:
Theory of evolution - can’t say for certain because we haven’t been there to watch for billions of years as things evolved, but the principles that support the theory are testable and have been rigorously examined.
Hypothesis of intelligent design - can’t say for certain because we weren’t there to watch as God touched the tiny cube of matter when the Big Bang happened, but the principles that support the hypothesis are not testable, have never been rigorously tested, and thus are completely non-scientific.
I’m not thoroughly familiar with Intelligent Design (ID), but if it simply stated that science might assert that there is a God, then I have no problem with it as long as the proof was clear and scientific in its method. There are scientists who believe in God, and others who don’t. Their merits as scientists should have little relation to their personal deistic beliefs.
Unfortunately, Intelligent Design is a device that intrudes into scientific inquiry, and becomes a sieve for data and public debate. I personally don’t believe that the existence of God is provable, or else we would need no faith. Science seeks to prove — by observing, recognizing and measuring. Let the proponents of ID prove scientifically that their hypothesis has merit and then we should debate ID’s inclusion into popular culture and scientific thought.
Something about the current Intelligent Design debate depresses me. Large swaths of my scholastic childhood was staffed by nuns, brothers and priests in a Catholic school, and never once did they suggest that evolution was an improvable theory, or cast doubt on scientific inquiry. I grew up thinking that the Scopes Trial was resolved. Obviously, I was wrong.
The worst part is that few people in America care. We seem to catch statements coming from “our president” that indicate his complete disdain for science and rational thought and we collectively put our heads in a place where we can never find the truth.
