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Dear All--
I appreciate all of the responses that have been generated from my
posting. Although I didn't expect to stir up a hornet's nest, I guess I
did! But, let me make it clear: I am not maligning religion, the practice
of religion or people of faith. What I was trying to do was point out that
it was the religious right who put Mr. Bush into office and as it was pointed
out, these people populate the staffs of many cabinet offices. The
religious right is very well organized. They use their churches to
propagandize and organize and it is very effective. They also run
candidates for school boards and recently, in the State of Ohio, are encouraging
young people to become science teachers so that they can populate the
classrooms. I have had several in my classes!
My concern is not just for evolution, but for Science. Whether or not
we should have abortions, or gay marriage is out of the realm of science and
therefore, I leave that up to individuals and their religious and social
beliefs. But Science is different. It is a process of inquiry and
the basis of how we know the physical world. One could reject parts of it,
but then, given that logic, they should reject all of it (and perhaps
become Amish??).
And just a reminder: today is the 25th anniversary of the taking of the
American Embassy in Tehran, Iran. I think that that demonstrates the
extremities to which religious fundamentalism can lead. And we do not want
that to happen.
In Peace,
Lisa Park
-----Original Message-----
From:
paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk on behalf of Cary Easterday
Sent:
Thu 11/4/2004 10:23 PM
To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
Cc:
Subject: Re: paleonet Moral Values Means
Anti-Science
Dear colleagues,
As a follow-up to Alex's message
(below), I have a recent anecdote regarding
creation-evolution literature
in the "Faith Community." I have some
additional comments
below.
While visiting Walla Walla, Washington last week (socially
conservative
region), I found a Christian bookstore along main
street. Since I hadn't
visited a Christian bookstore in years, I was
curious about their
creation-evolution literature selection. I was
hoping to see a balance of
support for both sides, but I only found
literature supporting creationism
and bashing evolutionists as "hiding the
real facts." When I asked a
bookstore staffperson about Christian
literature supporting evolution, they
asked flatly, "How could Christian's
ever support Evolution?" I was taken
aback, but explained that
Creationism is based on faith and Evolution is
based on observation and
testing. They don't have to conflict. The
staffperson suggested
a book that wasn't helpful and then walked away.
I thank Lisa Park for
starting this topic on Paleonet. I share her
viewpoint and
concerns. I also thank James Mahaffy for sharing an
opposing
viewpoint. I would like to know more why Dr. Mahaffy says,
"Please don't
stereotype all evangelicals with young earth [flood model]
anticreationists"
becaue this is exactly how evangelicals are viewed
by many in the blue
states and worldwide. What is the ASA? FYI,
I don't view this topic as an
attack on Christian values. To the
contrary, most of the world views Bush's
actions and policies as a direct
attack on OUR value systems, OUR rights,
and OUR laws, including the US
Constitution, family values, Christian
values, Islamic values, Geneva
convention, etc.
Concerned...but ever hopeful,
Cary R.
Easterday
PhD student, Geology/Paleobiology, University of Illinois at
Chicago (start
Jan 2005)
Moderator, Paleogeoarthropoda and
FossilBugz
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paleogeoarthropoda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FossilBugz
206/650-9747
(cell)
xenoblatta@hotmail.com
----Original Message
Follows----
From: Alexander Glass <aglass@uiuc.edu>
Reply-To:
paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
Subject: Re: paleonet Moral
Values Means Anti-Science
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 17:27:18 -0600
In
answer to the question "what are we going to do"?
Well, first of all
every scientists in America should join and actively
support the National
Center for Science Education (www.natcenscied.org). It
is an
embarrassment to the scientific establishment that
creationist
organizations such as the ICR still continue to have VASTLY
larger budgets
than the one organization that defends evolution and good
science in the
public sphere.
Second, forget about writing another
book on the subject of
creation-evolution what we need instead is ACTIVE
participation in the local
communities. How many of you know the
people who sit on your local school
boards? What do you know about
their views with regards to science and
evolution? Is a "Kansas
Tornado" waiting to happen in your neck of the
woods? There is
absolutely no reason for us to be surprised that
anti-evolutionist measures
continue to make it into local school districts -
the efforts of
anti-evolutionists are relentless and constant. Are you
prepared to
oppose local flare ups or will you be caught off guard when
it
happens?
If you have the urge to write another book write one for
the FAITH
COMMUNITY. The "science" in creationism is largely a front
for underlying
theological, philosophical, and ethical concerns.
Teaching better or more
facts about evolution isn't going to affect
students' attitudes if they
believe that accepting evolution is
anti-Christian and anti-God. Much of
Christianity (including much of
conservative Christianity) accepts evolution
and has harmonized it with
their spiritual world view. Yet the available
literature geared
towards Christian students and young Christian people
continues to be
dominated by anti-evolutionist nonsense. Indeed they are
being
BOMBARDED with it! A visit to your local Christian bookstore
will
tell you that. There are already a slew of great books that
harmonize
Christianity and modern science but they just don't seem to get
marketed to
the conservative faith community enough. Buy a couple of
copies of these
and donate them to your local libraries, your High School
libraries, local
churches etc.
Make yourself available (i.e. say
hello, write them a letter) to your local
churches for talks and
discussions on this subject. You would be surprised
how welcoming
even the conservative denominations can be when it comes to
the subject of
science and religion. Even to agnostics like myself. The
REAL impact
on people's attitudes about evolution will have to come from
WITHIN the
faith community. Put together a nice talk on the nature of
science,
the evidence for evolution, and advertise yourself to local
clubs,
organizations, High Schools, etc. There is great interest in
this issue
among the public right now and we cannot pass this opportunity
up!
At 09:18 AM 11/4/2004, you wrote:
>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)
>
----------------------
Alexander
Glass
Paleobiology of ophiuroids, asteroids, and crinoids
Ph. D.
Candidate
Department of Geology
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
1301 West Green Street, NHB 245
Urbana, IL
61801
United States
----------------
Tel:217-333-4963
Fax:
217-244-4996
----------------
“The willow submits to the wind and
prospers until one day it is many
willows – a wall against the wind.”
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohaim
(Frank Herbert,
Dune)
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