I was listening to NPR’s Science Friday on the drive home yesterday and the talk was of a gamma ray burst that happened when the universe was only 900 million years old. The speaker then talked about the way the universe has unfolded. He didn’t say it, but I found myself using the phrase, “the evolution of the universe.”
An alarm went off.
Currently, the intelligent-design creationists are using their misguided (to put it kindly) notion to encroach on the teaching of science in Biology classes across the country. Isn’t it just a matter of time before they expand out of Biology and into Physics, Earth Science, and Chemistry? Isn’t the majesty of the hydrogen atom just too perfect not to have been created by the gods? And isn’t the universe only a couple thousand years old?
They will allow us to disagree but then likely require us to teach their mythology alongside science.
The speaker on the program addressed this by saying the following. The universe is thirty seconds old. Any thoughts that it is older than that are due to memories implanted in us, thirty seconds ago by the gods. Prove me wrong.
Well that sounds just like the intelligent-design creationists’ argument. Go figure.
September 17, 2005 at 2:23 pm
creationism shows its true colors by not even considering other creation myths outside of the judeo-christian tradition.
it is just a bald-faced attempt by fundementalist-christians disgused as scientists to inject religon into the most unlikely place of all, the science class.
as an outsider, living in australia, looking in, it shocks me that the US has to grapple with such issues, as the US leads and demands the world to follow. I cannot imagine a world where the Bible demands scientific theory to acknowledge it.
first they came for evolution, I didn’t stop them, then they come for the rest of science.
forgive the spelling mistakes, its just a drunken saturday night rant.
September 18, 2005 at 7:57 am
You’re entitled to oppose both, but it is not intelectually honest to lump in “young earth” creationism with intelligent design as you did in your post. For the most part, intelligent design proponents do not take issue with the standard theories about the age of the earth and the universe.
It is also not correct to label intelligent design as Christian (or Judeo-Christian). While it is certainly true that many Christians have latched onto intelligent design as part of the evolution debate, there is no sense in which the intelligent design idea necessarily identifies the designer with the God of the Bible.
September 19, 2005 at 8:28 am
So much has been said regarding this argumment that I think we’re all sick of dealing with it. The basic flaw in logic in the proponents of teaching I.D. in science class is this: I.D. is not falsifiable. In other words, it cannot be disproven. The theory of evolution could be proven wrong in light of new evidence. Like true scientific theories it is based on actual physical evidence. This is not possible with creationism, I.D., or whatever the hell the religious right want to call it. Leave it in religion class where it belongs.