Creationist Sticker Shock
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"Evolution is a fact, not a theory." --Carl Sagan
"Evolution is a theory, not a fact." --A sticker in suburban Atlanta science textbooks currently being challenged by the ACLU on Establishment Clause grounds.
My money's on the late great Professor Sagan.
When scientists talk about a "theory," such as the "theory of evolution" or the "theory of general relativity" or the "theory of supply and demand," they do not mean "theory" in the common, popular sense of " an explanation that may be right or may be wrong." They mean instead "theory" as "the most comprehensive understanding we have thus far, and although subject to future revision, possessing of no indications that tend to disprove it."
By that standard, there is no such thing as the "theory of creationism," since it has been thoroughly disproven at every single turn. Every new fact uncovered further shows it to be religious mythology (and rather silly mythology at that).
Evolution, meanwhile, does get revised continually (that's the very definition of science), but never discredited wholesale. Anyone who sits and works his through way the paradigm (lots of eggs, cosmic rays, DNA, mutation, little bit of variety in offspring, an asteroid every few epochs, six billion years, etc.) knows -- yes, knows -- that evolution is indeed a fact.
For crying out loud, go to the zoo! Look at the crocodiles, alligators and gharials. Look at the African versus the Asian elephants (and think back to the mastodon skeleton you saw last week at the natural history museum). Look at the gorillas, then look in the mirror. And, of course, look at the beetle display.
Many bloggers have suggested that gay marriage advocates should stop calling gay marriage opponents nasty things like "ignorant bigots." I've never used the word "ignorant" or anything similar to describe those who are anti-gay ("bigot," yes -- but never "ignorant").
But creationists? IGNORANT! IGNORANT! IGNORANT!
More at Deinonychus antirrhopus, while Dispatches has a similar story from Wisconsin.
UPDATE: Dispatches now has a report from the trial, which seems to be going rather badly for the creationists.
MAJOR UPDATE: An even worse situation has arisen in a Pennsylvania town, where teachers are now being required to teach, as part of a "balanced presentation," the especially nonsensical "Intelligent Design" flavor of creationism. Two school members resigned to protest the child-abusive vote -- kudos to them. The local ACLU is evaluating the situation.
On the whole "balanced presentation" fraud, I like the way one scientist phrased it in this article:
For more on Intelligent Design, see my previous post or Tim Sandefur's recent post at the excellent evolution blog Panda's Thumb.
MINOR UPDATE: Heh.
Related Posts:
How Evolution is Like Economics
My Day at the Zoo
Naked Bigotry Update: Tacky Texas Textbook Tactics
"Evolution is a theory, not a fact." --A sticker in suburban Atlanta science textbooks currently being challenged by the ACLU on Establishment Clause grounds.
My money's on the late great Professor Sagan.
When scientists talk about a "theory," such as the "theory of evolution" or the "theory of general relativity" or the "theory of supply and demand," they do not mean "theory" in the common, popular sense of " an explanation that may be right or may be wrong." They mean instead "theory" as "the most comprehensive understanding we have thus far, and although subject to future revision, possessing of no indications that tend to disprove it."
By that standard, there is no such thing as the "theory of creationism," since it has been thoroughly disproven at every single turn. Every new fact uncovered further shows it to be religious mythology (and rather silly mythology at that).
Evolution, meanwhile, does get revised continually (that's the very definition of science), but never discredited wholesale. Anyone who sits and works his through way the paradigm (lots of eggs, cosmic rays, DNA, mutation, little bit of variety in offspring, an asteroid every few epochs, six billion years, etc.) knows -- yes, knows -- that evolution is indeed a fact.
For crying out loud, go to the zoo! Look at the crocodiles, alligators and gharials. Look at the African versus the Asian elephants (and think back to the mastodon skeleton you saw last week at the natural history museum). Look at the gorillas, then look in the mirror. And, of course, look at the beetle display.
Many bloggers have suggested that gay marriage advocates should stop calling gay marriage opponents nasty things like "ignorant bigots." I've never used the word "ignorant" or anything similar to describe those who are anti-gay ("bigot," yes -- but never "ignorant").
But creationists? IGNORANT! IGNORANT! IGNORANT!
More at Deinonychus antirrhopus, while Dispatches has a similar story from Wisconsin.
UPDATE: Dispatches now has a report from the trial, which seems to be going rather badly for the creationists.
MAJOR UPDATE: An even worse situation has arisen in a Pennsylvania town, where teachers are now being required to teach, as part of a "balanced presentation," the especially nonsensical "Intelligent Design" flavor of creationism. Two school members resigned to protest the child-abusive vote -- kudos to them. The local ACLU is evaluating the situation.
On the whole "balanced presentation" fraud, I like the way one scientist phrased it in this article:
"People in the audience say, Hey, these people sound reasonable. They argue, 'People have different opinions, we should present those opinions in school.' That is nonsense. Some people have opinions that the Holocaust never happened, but we don't teach that in history."
For more on Intelligent Design, see my previous post or Tim Sandefur's recent post at the excellent evolution blog Panda's Thumb.
MINOR UPDATE: Heh.
Related Posts:
How Evolution is Like Economics
My Day at the Zoo
Naked Bigotry Update: Tacky Texas Textbook Tactics
Posted by KipEsquire on
8 November 2004
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