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November 29, 2004
Evolution And Faith
My current column this week for Las Vegas CityLife was inspired by reading Richard Dawkins's excellent book A Devil's Chaplain, which includes many of his essays on evolutionary biology. I happened to be reading this when I came across yet another story about idiots attempting to get evolution classified as an unprovable theory in high school science textbooks. Being the meek, quiet person that I am, I immediately pulled out my mental M-60 and laid waste.
Today I received a letter from a reader, laying many of the usual arguments against evolution and in favor of creationism before me. He seemed to be asking for a response, so I gave him one. I tried to be genuinely polite and did my level best to answer as many of his questions as I could (how can intelligence arise from non-intelligence, how'd the human eye come about, etc.). I am not a biologist, and I probably gave him some faulty answers, but I also gave him some places to look for more authoritative answers. I hope he'll check out these sources (Dawkins, Darwin, etc.)
I'd like to quote from the end of my response, though, as I think it sums up a lot of my thoughts on the whole faith vs. science issue, without a lot of my usual swearing and rambunctiousness. It follows below.
[Most of letter truncated because you don't really care about Northern English moths and chimpanzee DNA.]
What offends me is not faith; nor is it faith in something when all evidence points to the contrary. Please, believe that the Biblical version of humanity's origins are true if you like. Believe that the world grows from the navel of Krishna, if you'd rather believe that. If it comforts you, fine. It's not my place to force you to believe or disbelieve anything.
What bothers me deeply is when your faith or anyone else's gets in the way of teaching this country's children how to think rationally. Faith, almost by definition, is irrational. Creationism is faith-based. It is an irrational explanation for how we came to be here. Why would you even bother teaching your children about science at all, if you're then going to tell them that science is right about everything except the things you believe for no good reason other than, well, you just do? If you really want to teach your children the value of faith, take science away from them altogether; let them grow up with a medieval understanding of the world and our place in it. Tell them that the stars are really potholes in the floor of Heaven -- and why not? Science tells us that's not true, but science also tells us that Genesis isn't true, so clearly science gets things wrong. Tell your children that thunder is the sound of angels playing drums. Science tells us that thunder is the sound made when lightning displaces air molecules, but so what? Religion tells us that the Earth is at the center of the universe. Tell your children that.
The whole point of science is that it is consistent; any scientific experiment can be replicated by anyone who cares to undertake it, and any theory is based upon sound experimentation and/or observation. The same is not true of religion; God does not speak to everyone, and He doesn't even say the same things to the people who do claim to hear from Him. If he did, there wouldn't be three major Western religions and a dozen more Eastern ones.
I am sorry if my column offended you, but please understand: I am deeply offended by the notion that myths invented in the Bronze Age by superstitious desert nomads should be given exactly the same credence as the work of people like Darwin and Einstein and Euclid and Hawking and Newton. Our world is being driven further and further into irrationality by people who cannot reconcile their faith with reality, and therefore decide that it is reality which is lacking.
Look at the insanity in the Middle East: people who are totally identical in genetic makeup and who live almost identical lives are murdering one another because some of them believe in one invisible magic spirit and some believe in a totally different invisible magic spirit. Hell, not even that -- they're committing mass murder because one of them calls the magic spirit one thing and another calls him something else. Occasionally, for variety, they fly planes into our buildings because we don't recognize the power of their magic spirit. How many die in Northern Ireland because some of the Irish think Mary ascended to Heaven bodily and some of them don't? Is that not an absolutely idiotic thing to kill and die for? How about murdering someone who uses a different name when they pray to essentially the exact same God you do? Is that not barbaric?
And yet, that is faith: and how dare anybody suggest that someone's faith might just in fact be misplaced; that whatever it is they have faith in might just be irrelevant or in fact nonexistent. The problem with faith is that nobody's willing to simply have it, and let other people believe what they want; everybody wants to share their faith. It is considered perfectly okay for you to mock my perfectly rational ideas about evolution, but if I point out that your position depends upon the notion of a magic superhero in the sky, you'll probably take offense. Why? Why are irrational beliefs somehow less subject to scrutiny and dissection than rational ones? Why can't we simply point out in school that some people believe that God made the world in seven days, and that's fine, but there's no actual evidence to support that, other than some poorly translated writings that were cribbed from oral traditions that were already hundreds of years old before the first written copy of Genesis ever appeared?
Our children receive enough nonsense and misinformation on a daily basis; I think we should at least leave science class as the one -- maybe the only -- place where critical thinking and rationality aren't thrown out the door.
I hope that I've explained my position and answered some of your questions. And thank you again for taking the time to write.
Sincerely,
Joshua Ellis
Evolution And Faith
My current column this week for Las Vegas CityLife was inspired by reading Richard Dawkins's excellent book A Devil's Chaplain, which includes many of his essays on evolutionary biology. I happened to be reading this when I came across yet another story about idiots attempting to get evolution classified as an unprovable theory in high school science textbooks. Being the meek, quiet person that I am, I immediately pulled out my mental M-60 and laid waste.
Today I received a letter from a reader, laying many of the usual arguments against evolution and in favor of creationism before me. He seemed to be asking for a response, so I gave him one. I tried to be genuinely polite and did my level best to answer as many of his questions as I could (how can intelligence arise from non-intelligence, how'd the human eye come about, etc.). I am not a biologist, and I probably gave him some faulty answers, but I also gave him some places to look for more authoritative answers. I hope he'll check out these sources (Dawkins, Darwin, etc.)
I'd like to quote from the end of my response, though, as I think it sums up a lot of my thoughts on the whole faith vs. science issue, without a lot of my usual swearing and rambunctiousness. It follows below.
[Most of letter truncated because you don't really care about Northern English moths and chimpanzee DNA.]
What offends me is not faith; nor is it faith in something when all evidence points to the contrary. Please, believe that the Biblical version of humanity's origins are true if you like. Believe that the world grows from the navel of Krishna, if you'd rather believe that. If it comforts you, fine. It's not my place to force you to believe or disbelieve anything.
What bothers me deeply is when your faith or anyone else's gets in the way of teaching this country's children how to think rationally. Faith, almost by definition, is irrational. Creationism is faith-based. It is an irrational explanation for how we came to be here. Why would you even bother teaching your children about science at all, if you're then going to tell them that science is right about everything except the things you believe for no good reason other than, well, you just do? If you really want to teach your children the value of faith, take science away from them altogether; let them grow up with a medieval understanding of the world and our place in it. Tell them that the stars are really potholes in the floor of Heaven -- and why not? Science tells us that's not true, but science also tells us that Genesis isn't true, so clearly science gets things wrong. Tell your children that thunder is the sound of angels playing drums. Science tells us that thunder is the sound made when lightning displaces air molecules, but so what? Religion tells us that the Earth is at the center of the universe. Tell your children that.
The whole point of science is that it is consistent; any scientific experiment can be replicated by anyone who cares to undertake it, and any theory is based upon sound experimentation and/or observation. The same is not true of religion; God does not speak to everyone, and He doesn't even say the same things to the people who do claim to hear from Him. If he did, there wouldn't be three major Western religions and a dozen more Eastern ones.
I am sorry if my column offended you, but please understand: I am deeply offended by the notion that myths invented in the Bronze Age by superstitious desert nomads should be given exactly the same credence as the work of people like Darwin and Einstein and Euclid and Hawking and Newton. Our world is being driven further and further into irrationality by people who cannot reconcile their faith with reality, and therefore decide that it is reality which is lacking.
Look at the insanity in the Middle East: people who are totally identical in genetic makeup and who live almost identical lives are murdering one another because some of them believe in one invisible magic spirit and some believe in a totally different invisible magic spirit. Hell, not even that -- they're committing mass murder because one of them calls the magic spirit one thing and another calls him something else. Occasionally, for variety, they fly planes into our buildings because we don't recognize the power of their magic spirit. How many die in Northern Ireland because some of the Irish think Mary ascended to Heaven bodily and some of them don't? Is that not an absolutely idiotic thing to kill and die for? How about murdering someone who uses a different name when they pray to essentially the exact same God you do? Is that not barbaric?
And yet, that is faith: and how dare anybody suggest that someone's faith might just in fact be misplaced; that whatever it is they have faith in might just be irrelevant or in fact nonexistent. The problem with faith is that nobody's willing to simply have it, and let other people believe what they want; everybody wants to share their faith. It is considered perfectly okay for you to mock my perfectly rational ideas about evolution, but if I point out that your position depends upon the notion of a magic superhero in the sky, you'll probably take offense. Why? Why are irrational beliefs somehow less subject to scrutiny and dissection than rational ones? Why can't we simply point out in school that some people believe that God made the world in seven days, and that's fine, but there's no actual evidence to support that, other than some poorly translated writings that were cribbed from oral traditions that were already hundreds of years old before the first written copy of Genesis ever appeared?
Our children receive enough nonsense and misinformation on a daily basis; I think we should at least leave science class as the one -- maybe the only -- place where critical thinking and rationality aren't thrown out the door.
I hope that I've explained my position and answered some of your questions. And thank you again for taking the time to write.
Sincerely,
Joshua Ellis
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