Reactionary

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Evolution is a fact

In the Republican presidential debate on MSNBC, three of the candidates expressed something shocking. Asked if anyone on the stage “does not believe in evolution,” Sen. Sam Brownback, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Rep. Tom Tancredo raised their hands. That alone should spell an immediate end to their respective candidacies. It indicates their minds have been so poisoned by religious literalism that they have lost touch with reality.

There is no debate within the scientific community regarding the validity of the theory of evolution by natural selection. It is unfortunate that a handful of religious extremists have created the illusion, in the public sphere, that there is anything to discuss as far as science is concerned.

I submit that this is a clear case of faith having overstepped its bounds. Your faith should not require you to deny overwhelming empirical fact. As prominent Harvard biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Edward O. Wilson have insisted, there is no necessary conflict between religion and science, presuming the former deals with the “why” and the latter with the “how.”

Matt Henderson
Millersville, Pa.

My favorite part of this letter is the quote at the end that’s paraphrased. How anyone with any iota of sense and modern education can be a creationist is beyond me. Juxtapose that with the latest news of a supernova that was just observed blowing up 240 million light years away. I won’t say anything more on the subject even though it’s annoying as anything. People who seem to want to justify their beliefs are usually the ones who want to believe something that isn’t upheld by anything resembling reality. It’s when misguided self-important fools like that try and muscle their beliefs into the headlines and national debate that it becomes my problem and that makes me very upset.

Posted on May 8th, 2007 under General, News •  Print •  Email • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback