My former home state, which last century brought us that great sideshow popularly known as the Scopes "Monkey Trial," is at it again with some legislation that some say echo that famous trial.
The Tennessee House and Senate have now passed legislation proposed by Chattanooga politician Bo Watson which he says will protect teachers who are "helping students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories.” And this bill passed by wide margins, 70 to 23 in the House and 24 to 8 in the Senate.
In these parts creationism is very popular. That was an understatement. The God of Abraham is such a vital part of southern culture that anything which seems to be in conflict - the science of origins in general, unfortunately - is not well received.
And it isn't that the Bible Belt is made up of mostly uncouth hicks who have no science knowledge at all. Sure, we have lots of those folks among us. But the water has been greatly muddied by the philosophical idea of Intelligent Design masquerading as science. That has largely replaced the older alternative of Creation Science.
Personally, I don't think science class is a good place for debates. And the true intent of this legislation is all too obvious.
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4 comments:
Sometimes I despair for this country.
Well, I wonder how this will affect my boys. At least we watch lots of science programs.
I just read a book "What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee." The author makes an important point that much of the resistance to evolution is the feared meaning behind it: we may be nothing more than animals and not special in any way with no meaning to our lives. Of course, evolution doesn't have to mean this, but if people fear it does, then the actual facts don't matter. It's more important that we feel we matter and that our lives have some sort of meaning.
@ Exrelayman,
Old thinking dies hard, I suppose. And politicians are quick to capitalize on issues like religion.
@ DoOrDoNot,
Harry Emerson Fosdick was a well known liberal Baptist preacher of last century, and one whose writings were inspirational to me when I was finding my way out of fundamentalism. He made a good point along the lines of your comment when he wrote:
"The fundamental interest which leads Mr. Bryan and others of his school to hate evolution is the fear that it will depreciate the dignity of man. Just what do they mean? Even in the Book of Genesis God made man out of the dust of the earth. Surely, that is low enough to start and evolution starts no lower. So long as God is the creative power, what difference does it make whether out of the dust by sudden fiat or out of the dust by gradual process God brought man into being? Here man is and what he is he is. Were it decided that God had dropped him from the sky, he still would be the man he is. If it is decided that God brought him up by slow gradations out of lower forms of life, he still is the man he is."
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