Resistance is Phutile

Creationism.

The growth in popularity of "Creationism" perplexes me. Sure, I know that the majority of religious people refuse to view evolution as the 'how it was done' that doesn't disqualify the 'why it was done'. But I remain baffled when it comes to people actually learning this stuff in favour of evidence based teaching in our schools and universities. Supporters argue there is no reason to doubt Creationism. Well, aside from the abundance of reasons they appear to ignore, they're actually doing a pretty good job of dismantling their own case here. No reason to doubt, in this context, is eclipsed by no reason to believe.

What responsible adult would encourage younger generations to become people who abandon rational thought and consideration of evidence? I don't think we really want to take our society back down it's own path to maturity, to times when logic was the slave of the pious. In yesterday's Guardian, a young law student argued against the plausibility of evolution, citing the Qu'ran as evidence. A LAW student! We can only imagine what indictments she might one day draw up as prosecuting attorney, or ludicrous scraps of "evidence" she might cling on to in court.

I mean no disrespect to any religious types. But if it comes down to a choice between a secular, rational society and a deeply religious one immersed in unsubstantiated belief, I know which I'd choose.

The inclusion of Creationism into the syllabi of some institutions has further been defended as healthy, in that it encourages students to question. After all, why should we swallow without scrutiny the Darwinist history of man, the argument goes. Young minds should apply an inquisitive approach even to such established schools of thought as this. True, indisputably. So why then should those students not also ask the same questions of their own religious-based beliefs? If they did, they'd find that Creationism runs out of answers a lot faster than evolution does.

posted by Phu @ 10:53 am