Re: paleonet Moral Values Means Anti-Science

[Bill Chaisson/Deirdre Cunningham <chaisson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Re: paleonet Moral Values Means Anti-Science

Dear Paleonetters and all people interested in Science---

 

On Tuesday, George Bush was re-elected President of the United States.  Whether or not you supported him is inconsequential.  What will have extreme consequences to those interested in paleontology and the study of evolution is WHY he got elected.  Despite an unpopular war in Iraq and an underperforming economy, millions of people turned out at the polls to vote for Mr. Bush.  The reason they cited was "moral values."  Most pundits define this as meaning anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage, but it runs a little deeper than that.  It is also anti-science, and for us, anti-evolution.  With 4 Supreme Court Justice nominations looming in the next 4 years, Mr. Bush could appoint very extreme right-wing justices who could effectively put prayer in school, the Ten Commandments in public places and Creationism in the classroom.

I believe that the Constitution's separation of church and state will prevent that.  I see know evidence that who happens to be president has much to do with this.  I suspect that Justices O'Connor and Ginsberg and perhaps even Stevens will "hold on" through a second Bush administration if they think he is going to nominate conservative activist justices.  Furthermore, is there evidence that they Senate would confirm such justices?

The time is now for all of us to come together and realize what is happening.  One THIRD of Americans are evangelical Christians. 

What is the source of this number?

They interpret the Bible literally, which means that they do not believe Earth is 4.6 billion years old, but do believe that the Flood caused the Grand Canyon.  What was once thought of as a "fringe" element in American society has become the majority and, as witnessed on Tuesday, they VOTE.

The media-savviness and political aggressiveness of the evangelical Christian community (and part of the definition of being evangelical is that you must attempt to win new converts) make them see far more numerous than they actually are.

The question isŠ..what are we going to do?  To borrow from two recent campaign ads: there ARE wolves lurking in the forestŠare we going to bury our heads in the sand?

Hmm.  I'm glad that I haven't looked at television for several months.

Bill

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