1925 Revisited

Intimidation Alleged On 'Intelligent Design'

The only explanation I have for our regression to 1925 is that the "Intelligent Design" creationists are so insecure in their faith that they feel threatened by the introduction of scientific evidence that refutes their beliefs. I suppose if there was significant evidence that everything you believed in was wrong, you'd be wacko and paranoid, too. When they start to think about how ridiculous it is that there's some guy on a cloud hitting homeruns for ballplayers, putting food on people's tables, and driving cars so people get to their destinations safely, it is only natural to start questioning these beliefs. What's he doing? Reaching down with a giant invisible hand? The natural response is denial. Nooooooooooooo, everything I know is NOT wrong!

Why is it so inconceivable to these people that evolution and God can co-exist? There is nothing in the Bible that says evolution DIDN'T happen. Sure, there are some who look at the seven days metaphor and then blind themselves forever so they don't see the overwhelming proof that the Earth is millions of years old, but for a majority of folks, the capacity for thought and reason is not lost on them. I never realized until recently that there really are people, and a lot of them, who literally think the world was created in seven days. It's quite frightening that people can be so irrational, that they can believe in something without ever having contemplated it. Without doubt, there can be no faith, for the very definition of faith implies that doubt must exist. If Truth is that the world was created in seven days and that man came from mud, then the monkey preachers will get what's coming to them in the end. Why not let faith run its course? If you truly believe in the mud man, does it even matter if someone else talks about a monkey man?

I am not an atheist. I only say that "God" is a concept that we cannot ever pretend to understand, something vastly superior to our meager existence and intellects. Just as we cannot fathom the concept of infinity, we cannot grasp the concept of metaphysical existence. Perhaps they are one and the same. Life is a labrynth of circular logic; it is the very reason I created this blog and chose the moniker Daedalus (as in Joyce's Stephen Daedalus, who is based on Icarus' father.)

Man has been trying to put a face on existence since he stopped being a monkey (and who's to say that apes don't believe in some sort of higher being?) I just read a book by Arthur Phillips (of "Prague" fame) called "The Egyptologist." I highly recommend it. It's about an archaeologist with an absurd quest for immortality. (I can't say anymore about it because I might give away the ending, since the book is full of twists.) The ancient Egyptians are fascinating to study- imagine a people who thought that wealth and power were "proof" that the gods favored you and that you had a guaranteed ticket to the afterlife... oh, wait, that sounds familiar. Ancient history is full of civilizations who thought gods were walking among them- Egyptians, Greeks, Babylonians... the list goes on, but the religions do not.

The solution to this debate, in my opinion, is simple. We need to start teaching philosophy classes in high schools. We are the only developed nation on Earth that does not teach our kids the fundamentals of philosophy, a science that teaches people how to think. Within this course, we could include religion. Somewhere in there, we could squeeze in different religious theories, like "intelligent design." By sticking it there, we can have it taught in schools while keeping it out of the science room. By calling it philosophy and teaching several different ideas, we can avoid the problems of "religion in school." Most importantly, though, is that by teaching philosophy, we can teach kids how to think for themselves rather than telling them what to believe.

Bottom line: Science is not something you "believe in."

Tags: Evolution, Intelligent Design, Egyptologist, Arthur Phillips, James Joyce, Stephen Daedalus