Whenever I hear someone making a semi-legitimate attempt to defend the idea of creationism as an answer to the great question of humanity’s existence, I cannot help but laugh, then cringe inwardly. That being said, I was most intrigued when I ran across an article published in The Huffington Post on Friday evening. Titled “Backwards America,” it details the dangers which might present themselves in American society should Darwin’s theory of evolution be cast to the sidelines. While I found the tone of its author, a Cornell University student by the name of Cody Gault, to be more than a tad preachy and, quite frankly, needlessly combative, he does raise a number of excellent points about the dangers of embracing mysticism masquerading as science over logic and reason.
Considering that a mere twenty-eight percent of American high school biology teachers present evolution as scientific fact, as well as the harsh reality that more than a handful of our country’s prominent elected officials have publicly rejected the notion of it outright, it is glaringly obvious that his fears are well founded. In order to answer the question of why this lunacy is taking place, one must first identify its chief aggressors, who are — surprise, surprise — the sworn enemies of intellectual thought in the fundamentalist Christian-dominated religious right. As Gault says in his piece, if critical thinking and healthy skepticism are allowed, then millions of otherwise impressionable young fundies may decide that the answers to their questions about life could be found in modern science as opposed to zany interpretations of several-thousand-year-old texts.
Regardless of our respective religious beliefs, or lack thereof, it is imperative that we as a nation come together in the realization that the nonsensical should not be elevated to the status of the plausible for the sake of allowing an increasingly small sect of zealots to live in their collective land of make believe, all the while forcing their ludicrous, baseless belief system on the rational majority. Should one choose to deny what is real for the sake of adopting utter nonsense which would not even suit the most outlandish of fairy tales, then that is his or her right. However, when he or she forces said rubbish on others, then that becomes a severe problem. By acknowledging creationism in a manner which equates it in any way, shape, or form with evolution is only exacerbating this problem, and dealing a terrible blow to the fabric of American society in the process.
I understand that some might experience a rather difficult ordeal in handling the truth, but, as Crowded House aptly put it way back when, “don’t dream, it’s over“. Seriously, folks. The folklore simply had to come to an end at some point.Powered by Sidelines