19.7.05

Reason to love Reason

Richard B. commented to me about an earlier post (and thanks again Rich) that I was effectively targeting only the most fringe/moronic element of those who object to evolution.

When I ran across this article, I felt somewhat vindicated. The more sane of the Intelligent Design (ID ) people - i.e. the ones who are genuinely serious about a debate on 'design' in nature, and the possibility of divine first cause, but who accept the basic facts of evolution and science, are actually the ones on the 'fringe' of this movement.

The massive base of the movement is still the same old creationists, bitter about all that 'book learnin' that isn't biblically focussed.

(I do wonder what 'faith based mathematics' might look like in their hands, but mercifully, that isn't at issue. Yet.)


Money quote from the Reason article I link to above by Ron Bailey:

"However, the longer I listened the clearer it became that creationism is not about science. It's about morality. Specifically, creationists worry that biological evolution undermines people's moral beliefs, leading to lawlessness, family breakdown, homosexuality, pornography, and abortion. The real heart of creationism is existential dread."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Respectfully, I still disagree that your below post on elephants and fruit flies would make any of the people at this conference flinch.

The theory of evolution as a survival mechanism, and traits inherited through genetics does not inherently contradict the stance these people take on all the dinosaurs being wiped out by the great flood. (After all, how did ducks learn to swim?)

You can point at tulips and dogs and prove both these points within someone's lifetime. But, an elephant without tusks is still an elephant.

God is hiding in the murky places of scientific theory, if you really want to get rid of him, you're going to need to use a flashlight, and take on their more legitimate questions about the theory: not charge the windmills and pronounce a victory.

Yes, morons are morons, but that's never going to change no matter what we might do. People hoping to see their beliefs confirmed by the world around them are not inherently morons, just people.

--Richard