RE: paleonet Moral Values Doesn't Necessarily Mean Anti-Evolution

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  Breandan's response is a reasonable and expected one, but I think that it
is very difficult for our colleagues abroad, perhaps particularly those in
western democracies, to understand the climate here. Kerry's stance was not
that of an extreme liberal (by any standards of political ideology), and
maybe that was a wasted effort given the overwhelming rejection by the
electorate of any sort of moderate stance. The vote, I think, was not so much
a vote against liberalism, as much as it was an endorsement of an
ultra-conservative candidate and conservative national agenda. It is indeed
possible that Bush will appoint one or more judges to the Supreme Court. His
choices will be based less on judicial aptitude, and more on political
alignment. Four more years of the Bush administration is an endorsement of
fundamentalist and very right wing Christian politics. 
  I doubt very much that PaleoNet is an appropriate forum for this sort of
discussion, but I would take Lisa's statements very very seriously.

Peter Roopnarine, Assoc. Curator
Dept. of Invertebrate Zoology & Geology
California Academy of Sciences


-----Original Message-----
From:	paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk on behalf of BreandÃ¡n MacGabhann
Sent:	Thu 11/4/2004 10:58 AM
To:	paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
Cc:	
Subject:	paleonet Moral Values Doesn't Necessarily Mean Anti-Evolution

Dear Lisa (and Palaeonetters)

I think you're over-reacting. We are all aware of the creationist element in
the United States, but I wouldn't dismiss all the "moral values" voters as
creationist nutters. Being pro-life does not make you a creationist. (Many
pro-life voters would not vote for a candidate who is not also pro-life, for
example). As an independant (i.e. non-American) observer, it looks like
Kerry's extreme liberal stance put off a lot of (conservative but by no means
rabid creationist) voters who may otherwise have voted Democrat.
As to the question of what we should do about creationism, that's been a hot
topic for a long time, and there's no easy anwer to be had. But in specific
terms, the recent anti-evolution initiatives in the US have failed, and I
don't think we should be any more worried now than four years ago.

Breandan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lisa Park" <lepark@uakron.edu>
To: <paleonet@nhm.ac.uk>
Subject: paleonet Moral Values Means Anti-Science
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 10:18:45 -0500

> 
> 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.
> 
> The time is now for all of us to come together and realize what is
> happening.  One THIRD of Americans are evangelical Christians.  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 question is…..what are we going to do?  To borrow from two recent
> campaign ads: there ARE wolves lurking in the forest…are we going to bury
> our heads in the sand?
> 
> Sincerely,
> Lisa Park
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Dr. Lisa E. Park, Associate Professor
> Department of Geology
> Crouse Hall
> 252 Buchtel Commons
> University of Akron
> Akron, OH 44325-4101  USA
> 001-330-972-7633 (phone)
> 001-330-972-7611 (fax)
> lepark@uakron.edu
> 
> Damnant quod non intelligunt
> (they condemn what they do not understand)
> 
> 

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