The aeons long war between logic and superstition has escalated in recent years, however something I have read recently tells me that we are at a crucial stage in this silent conflict, and logic, and empirical evidence are in trouble, and they need our help.
Land Of The Free
Despite the wishes of the founding fathers, America is a Christian nation. The mention of religious freedom in the Declaration of Independence, highlights the fact that no one religion should be dominant in American society.
This of course is not the case today, emblazoned on all American currency today, are the words; In God We Trust, changed from E pluribus unum in 1956 by the deeply religious, President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Today there are a few voices pointing out that the change was unconstitutional, and that it breaks the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. However in various polls in recent years, the In God We Trust motto is supported by around 90% of Americans.
Post-Truth Manipulation
Imagine for a second, that you bump into me on the street, and I scream in your face "The sun's a ball of ice!"
In that scenario, depending on where you were, you would walk past me, or simply back away slowly whilst smiling and not breaking eye contact.
Now imagine that you are going shopping for groceries, and just as you are about to go into the store, you notice a small group of people, who start to scream at you; *"Wake up! The sun is a ball of ice."
Hmm, you are beginning to wonder what is going on, however you have managed to avoid me and my nutty friends, so no harm done.
Then later that night, you settle down in front of the TV and you hear on the news that they want to start teaching children that the sun is a ball of ice. The newsreader says that campaigners for the theory, say that it should be taught alongside the theory that the sun is in fact a ball of helium and hydrogen, along with a few other trace elements.
God Needs To Lose The Midterm
In 1998 a bunch of Republican candidates were asked if they believed in the theory of evolution. Just under half said they did. They asked the same candidates four years later, and the number had fallen to just a few.
By 2002 only Jeb Bush would publicly admit that he believed in the theory, but added a caveat that it shouldn't be taught in schools. He later amended his statement to say that opposing world views should be taught.
Let me pause here briefly, to state that I have absolutely no problem with anyone believing whatever they want, I would rather people went on evidence and logic, but hey, I'm not going to talk anyone down for being religious.
However the very definition of faith, which even most religious people adhere to. Is that you are believing in something that is completely non-provable (as opposed to not yet proven), using reason, critical thinking, and the scientific process in general; fair enough.
Schools; and education in a wider sense, should surely be about the passing on of provable facts. By doing so, we equip the generation after us with the right tools to create their own discoveries and inventions.
Imagine if there were two schools of thought for how electricity worked; one whereby you believed the empirical evidence regarding the movement of electrons, voltage, electromagnetism and so on. The other school of thought, believed that there were little tiny planets in wires, and that receiving electric shocks were all about your state of mind.
Obviously natural selection would take care of the second group, however you get my point, we couldn't let the wire planet people influence how we taught students, yet we tolerate a similar scenario within biology.
The worst thing about this, is that the Republican candidates 'beliefs', do not actually represent the nation's. Around a third of Americans accept the theory without question, although more than half of those feel it must have had a divine helping hand (small steps).
Put Up Or Shut Up
It is time for America (for I know no other nation where such a situation exists), to just come out and say it. The theory of evolution is scientific fact, it is as sound as the theory of relativity, thermodynamics or any other you care to mention; and that is what we will teach in schools.
We respect your belief in the bible story of creation; however until that can be shown to be provable in any way shape or form, we will not be teaching it in schools.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHOULD RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS BE LEFT OUT OF THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM? MORE TO THE POINT, DO YOU BELIEVE CREATIONISM SHOULD BE TAUGHT AS AN EQUAL THEORETICAL POSSIBILITY AS EVOLUTION?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!