Just when I thought there was no way that Kansas could redeem itself, it seems that they have. The Kansas State Board of Education ruled today that teaching creationism as science (aka intelligent design) is basically like teaching your kid that Jesus was the first President of the United States. Despite what George Bush might think, George Washington was actually the first President of the US.
Intelligent design is not science. Science would be much easier to perform if all the other problems were as easy to solve as saying "God made it that way." Such thinking has not at this point yielded a cure for any disease or solved our dependence on foreign oil from those evil Muslims. The main reason intelligent design could never be considered science is that it dismisses the burden of proof that comes with any scientific problem. Oh, and that whole lack of emperical data thing, as well.
Supporters of intelligent design use arguements that in order for evolution to have occurred without divine intervention would be like a tornado going through a junk yard and assembling a Boeing 747. God then, to use Richard Dawkins analogy, is literally the ultimate 747. What will immediately cause a blood vessel to pop in every single Darwin-hater's brain, is when you ask them "Who made God?" If God is the ultimate, all-knowing, all-powerful being, far superior to anything that exists on Earth, then why doesn't the same standard of proof apply to how God came to be? If evolution is to be denied based on it's lack of probability, I would imagine that the probability that God just came to be is quite a bit less. And we are in science class, so "Have faith." is not an appropriate answer.
You can see the problem with trying to bring religion into the scientific arena. The standards of proof in science are much higher than they are in Sunday School. Religion should not have to answer such questions, but religious people are subjecting it to such scrutiny when they pass it off as science.
Do us all a favor. Believe whatever you want to believe. Just don't try to teach your religion as science, unless you're prepared to subject your religious beliefs to the same high standards that science has been meetings for centuries.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
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3 comments:
Faith is the antithesis of reason.
Its nice to see that some people in my former home state come around and kick the nutjobs that ran the KS Board of Education out. If its Ok to teach that God made earth, it should be ok to teach that Allah or Yahweh did it, too. Or maybe God will destroy the Earth and only Shiva or Ra can save it. No need to be amiguous about what created life, a "mysterious force beyond human comprehension" could be the "flying spaghetti monster", or "God", or "Jimmy Cracked Corn and I don't care"- settle that argument in philosophy class. Let the little kiddies learn about planets and rocks, and how plants turn Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen, maybe disect a cat.
They always lied to us about where the dissecting cats came from. 'They were donated for science!' Yeah, right. There's probably an entire industry for that, and they probably have conventions in Vegas every year.
We got lied to so much when we were younger, it's no wonder why some people still believe in fairy tales like religion. At least it's a lie that gives some people hope.
It's also a lie that has led to millions of unnecessary deaths, but hey ... what can ya do?
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