Friday, 29 August 2008
McCain’s VP Wants Creationism Taught in School
From Wired.com:
In a 2006 gubernatorial debate, the soon-to-be governor of Alaska said of evolution and creation education, “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of education. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.”
Science is not a popularity contest. It is based on ever-accumulating evidence, and the evidence for evolution by natural selection is great enough that to argue against it is akin to arguing against gravity. It is something that we can directly observe in the laboratory. We don’t create vaccines and send people into space by means of popular vote. (Although the public funding for such noble scientific enterprises often has difficulties as a result of popular ignorance.) The value of a scientific theory can only be judged by it’s conformity to reality and it’s predictive power. Creationism, and its latest nom-de-plume of “Intelligent Design”, has not a shred of empirical evidence, fails again and again at making successful predictions, and contributes to a war against reason that we as a species cannot afford to lose; for if we do, we shall surely be sent back into the dark ages.
