Addendum: I used to be of a different mind on this, and the issue of the evolution 'debate.' I was fairly laissez faire about either, until I started watching how the 'debate' took place. In both, you have a miniscule, vocal minority of people, many of which aren't scientists in that field at all, insisting there's still debate, or recycling old points that had been thoroughly refuted ages past. Hell, I still see that solar cycle chart flung around like it's anything other than years old toilet paper, and /GOD/ don't get me started on creationist claims (They haven't changed in over 100 years, some of them, and they were shoddy arguments even then!).
Scientists, however, have done a crappy job of combating these claims. Even though they've been refuted academically (or, were never posed academically, because they were that absurd of claims), a select group of people continue to circulate many of these claims through the popular media. And the popular media, who feels that in order to be 'balanced,' needs to give both sides of an argument, no matter how insane the opposition, is a place where scientists feel very uncomfortable working (by and large). There's no process in which academics learn to take on people in the court of public opinion; they're all far more comfortable in their journals and technical bulletins and the like, as /that/, not CNN or CTV, is the media they're trained in.
Too many of us, therefore, sit by the sidelines and frown unhappily at how things are proceeding. Not enough of us are getting out and saying 'that, sir, is total bupkis, and I suspect you very well know it!'
I have to admit, when I first saw the length, I was thinking I was going to be reading a NYTimes article.
Although we disagree on some points, I will not harp on them. What I will do is back you up.
The issue of evolution/creationism is what sparked my interest. I was raised Christian and believe in the life teachings of the bible. However, I never really involved myself in the debate.
My take on it is practical. Did God create the earth? I believe so. Did it just *poof* here is earth? Who cares? Does that really effect my life today? No. The bible says that it was created in seven days. It also says a day is as a thousand years.
Think about it, the whole bible is about parables. It doesn't necessarily mean that one day IS one thousand years. It means that one day could be a million lifetimes. Does the bible tell us HOW living things were created? No. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? No.
I just don't see the purpose in debating about what has already happened or how it happened. The debate should be on what we do from here on.
Addendum: I used to be of a different mind on this, and the issue of the evolution 'debate.' I was fairly laissez faire about either, until I started watching how the 'debate' took place. In both, you have a miniscule, vocal minority of people, many of which aren't scientists in that field at all, insisting there's still debate, or recycling old points that had been thoroughly refuted ages past. Hell, I still see that solar cycle chart flung around like it's anything other than years old toilet paper, and /GOD/ don't get me started on creationist claims (They haven't changed in over 100 years, some of them, and they were shoddy arguments even then!).
Scientists, however, have done a crappy job of combating these claims. Even though they've been refuted academically (or, were never posed academically, because they were that absurd of claims), a select group of people continue to circulate many of these claims through the popular media. And the popular media, who feels that in order to be 'balanced,' needs to give both sides of an argument, no matter how insane the opposition, is a place where scientists feel very uncomfortable working (by and large). There's no process in which academics learn to take on people in the court of public opinion; they're all far more comfortable in their journals and technical bulletins and the like, as /that/, not CNN or CTV, is the media they're trained in.
Too many of us, therefore, sit by the sidelines and frown unhappily at how things are proceeding. Not enough of us are getting out and saying 'that, sir, is total bupkis, and I suspect you very well know it!'
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Although we disagree on some points, I will not harp on them. What I will do is back you up.
The issue of evolution/creationism is what sparked my interest. I was raised Christian and believe in the life teachings of the bible. However, I never really involved myself in the debate.
My take on it is practical. Did God create the earth? I believe so. Did it just *poof* here is earth? Who cares? Does that really effect my life today? No. The bible says that it was created in seven days. It also says a day is as a thousand years.
Think about it, the whole bible is about parables. It doesn't necessarily mean that one day IS one thousand years. It means that one day could be a million lifetimes. Does the bible tell us HOW living things were created? No. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? No.
I just don't see the purpose in debating about what has already happened or how it happened. The debate should be on what we do from here on.
Onward, to the future!
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