Evolution vs. Creationism
Given that I'm a biologist, you can imagine where I come down on the debate about teaching anything other than evolution in science classes. However, I figure there are plenty of folks out there who may not know the amazing amount of data we have supporting the theory of evolution by natural selection (and keep in mind here folks that scientists use the word "theory" differently than lay people, theory= long standing idea with LOTS of data backing it up; theories are not just educated guesses -those would be what we call hypotheses). Recently the National Academy of Science released a free publication summarizing some of the most interesting data and how our understanding of evolution has led to dramatic developments in fields such as medicine and law enforcement. I've put a link to the booklet over on the right side of this page. It is currently free to anyone who wants to download it.
For those who want the movie version you should check out NOVA's special on the court case in Dover over teaching intelligent design. The film is in two parts and is called Judgment Day. If you watch this, keep in mind the fact that the Dover school board really screwed up when they mandated that i.d. be taught by including language of a religious nature in their documents on the subject. As a result, the Discovery Institute (the organization fighting to have i.d. taught in science classes) basically abandoned any attempt at defending the school board. Instead they are waiting for a school board that is smart enough to keep religion out of their documents for their big court battle on the issue.
2 comments:
very well worded. it has been very disconcerting for me to discover how many of my acquaintances believe in i.d.
As far as I am concerned, they are more than welcome to believe in I.D. but they should understand that it is religion and NOT SCIENCE and should not be taught as part of a science curriculum.
True science does not require belief and the theory of evolution by natural selection does not require belief. The idea has been tested and verified repeatedly since Darwin first proposed the basic concepts. Most of the supposed I.D. scientists out there (if they really are trying to be scientists and are not just nut jobs who believe that cavemen rode dinosaurs as is presented in the creationist museum -yes really) are all largely relying on the low probability of all of the events occurring that would bring basic simple life to evolve to the life we see around us today happening.
There is a very simple response to that which is that, regardless of how improbable it seems, it happened at least once since we are living proof of it. Every bit of evidence that we discover or that new technology makes available to us conforms to the prediction that life evolved by natural selection.
We have yet to find a single piece of contradictory evidence. Oddly enough I have yet to find a "scientist" advocate of i.d. who has figured out the probability of all of these discoveries matching the predictions of evolution by natural selection by just random chance.
Go figure...
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