Producing a Potentially Potent Palin Post
Reading some comments around the web regarding Senator Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in case you've been under a rock today, I'm struck by how aghast some people are that she apparently has a favorable view of creationism (right now, I've only found that she supports bringing up both positions in class, but there may be more I'm just not finding). There's a lot of other reasons people might like or dislike her of course, but let's put those aside for now.
Now I'm a creationist myself, though it's not exactly a critical part of what I think of in a candidate (to paraphrase a saying, much better to be ruled by a wise evolutionist than a foolish creationist). But it does strike me that it would cause people to assume she must be dumb or mentally diseased or something. I've run across this sort of "Christians don't believe in gravity" thinking in places before (I recall one time seeing an atheist online insist evangelicals can't do high level math. If he was joking, he was quite a dedicated troll), and reminds me that all of us think so lowly of certain views, be it because of their perceived maliciousness or perceived stupidity, that if we hear someone has that view it renders our opinion of that person to be almost completely negative, with little hope of having our minds changed.
This sort of thinking is not completely groundless, ideas have consequences, specifically, bad ideas have bad ones. And in order to form opinions, we are almost forced to always cast off some ideas as worthless, lest we be paralyzed and buried in various views. But I do think we need to admit that all of us have views that others find ridiculous, and that in the eschaton of all things, we will all have plenty of aspects of our thinking in this life that will have us slapping our foreheads, if not on our knees in repentance. And rare as it might seem, "crazy" ideas sometimes turn out to be true.
It's...very unlikely that I'd vote for someone who openly claimed Karl Marx as his favorite philosopher, nor trust him much as a commentator on history. I'd probably be rather dismissive if that was all I knew about him . But that doesn't mean I would assume he would never have anything worthwhile to say on anything, even on politics. It may be that his unique experience can add insight despite the fact that I disagree with his views and conclusions. Point being: even if you can't imagine why a person believes in the earth being created in six days ex nihilo, that doesn't mean you should assume he or she can't write up a tax reform bill, etc. Unfortunately, certain evolution apologists have attempted to make evolution the key to understanding everything in the universe. I recall Steven J. Gould saying that if God aliens came down and took measure of us, they'd judge us by how well we understood evolution. To deny evolution, and by evolution they often mean a fully naturalistic understanding of earth history, is to be dumb on everything from biology to physics to relationships (how could a young earth creationist possibly have a healthy love life if he doesn't appreciate that his impulses evolved over millions of years from the mating habits of lower primates?).
I suspect a great deal of the consternation with the Palin's creationism connection is based on the idea that she'll encourage people to move creationist ideas into the classroom. This is accompanied by the firm conviction that any creationist belief has no place in said classroom, any more than the flat earth theory. Personally, I wonder if people really "get" that legislating evolution only as the theory for man's origin means amounts to pitting government paid teachers against a large number of parents and churches. You can say it's as ridiculous as the "flat earth theory," but people in america don't believe the flat earth theory, while a large number of americans believe in various understandings of creationism. To act like the tension doesn't exist is to be in denial and seem to be a kind of cultural invader. I believe a great deal of beliefs common in muslim culture are a bad influence, but unless I was approaching it with the mindset of an imperialist, I wouldn't walk into a classroom with the simple attitude of "your parents are wrong and ignorant fools to believe such things." It wouldn't win anyone over, it'd just mobilize people to react against it, which is exactly what is happening with homeschooling and Christian schools.