If Charles Darwin were alive, he’d be 200 years old today, and there has been an enormous outpouring of ink commemorating the great man’s bicentennial. From reader JK comes a link to a Pew Research Center article on the degree to which acceptance of his “dangerous idea” — in many people’s opinion the most important scientific insight ever had by anyone — is still obstructed by religious belief (and in particular, Protestant and Muslim belief). Here.
Related content from Sphere- View a Random Post
-
Contents
-
Categories
- Alison
- Apophthegmata
- Books
- Cape Cod
- Chess
- Darwin and Biology
- Dualism vs. Materialism
- Foreign Affairs
- Free Will
- General
- Global Warming
- Haiku
- Inner Work
- Jihad
- Language
- Marginalia
- Martial Arts
- Mind and Brain
- Music and Recording
- Politics
- Pretty Good Posts
- Reason and Philosophy
- Religion
- Rubbish
- Science
- Shameless Filler
- Society and Culture
- Sport
- Technology
- Tomfoolery
- Uncategorized
-
Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- July 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
9 Comments
I think if religious folks would honestly think about this issue for a bit, they would realize that Monkey developed into Man is not so hard to believe in light of the Bible stating that God created Man out of good ol dirt. Which makes me think that this struggle here in the U.S. has very little to do with any actual conflict between the central ideas of evolution and christianity.
JW, there are lots of reasons that the modern theory of evolution is threatening to conservative religious dogma.
It diminishes the central role of Man; it seems inconsistent with a benevolent and omnipotent god for there to be so many dead-end and pestilent species, and for the arrival of Man to have been so delayed and apparently so contingent; it directly contradicts the literal Genesis story; it appears to undermine the simple-minded account of morality that so many religious believers cling to; it provides a persuasive account of life that has no need of any gods at all; and so on.
Seems, appears, diminishes…yes. Absolutely. Which is why my guess is that this struggle is not a rational one at all.
And I’m not even sure it directly contradicts the literal Genesis story in so far as it states that the animals came first, *then* humans.
Well, no, JW, it obviously is not a purely rational matter; that’s sort of the whole point. There’s that little issue of “faith”.
The Genesis story also claims, among other things, that Man appeared on the scene as a direct creation of God, not as the biological descendant of nonhuman primates. That’s enough contradiction right there.
Well, “fuel to the fire” as Granny always warned me against.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29040024/
One thing Malcom. If you were to come across a bunch of people arguing over whether blue and yellow paint *can* be mixed to produce another color that is wonderful to have (before they actually tried it) wouldn’t you simply chuckle and try to explain to them what the situation was, and if they are not willing to budge, simply not take them seriously and walk away?
That’s precisely how I would *like* to view this whole situation. Of course the reality of the matter is that people are willing to tolerate behavioral extremities over the conflict, which makes it difficult for me to just walk away.
Genesis also presents two contradictory accounts of the order in which things were created, an internal inconsistency that some dedicated folks have been at pains to explain away — usually through clever reinterpretation of Hebrew verb tenses.
Kevin
Thanks Kevin, I started to mention that but simply figured that, well.
By the way, I didn’t find out (lack of reply) but the “test” you provided was extemely (after some consideration) very helpful.
Back to something not provided in the link I provided above, there is this pesky problem of bacteria adapting resistances to antibiotics. It used to be that (mind, I personally never experienced this) if a sailor for instance, caught a case of the clap in some locale a simple shot of pennicillin would clear any resistance the sailor may’ve had to emptying his bladder. Now (I hear) that once “single shot” isn’t what it used to be.
God works in mysterious ways.
here is a related link- from common dreams – a fine site indeed…
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/13-1