Battling or Accepting the Monkey

In the Washington Post today there are two articles regarding Evolution. The first one deals with the school in Dover, PA that is requiring that students not only learn Evolution but also the theory of Intelligent Design. In my opinion, Intelligent Design is nothing more than Creationism that doesn't use the word "God."

The second Post article deals with the mapping of the Chimp Genome. The Chimpanzee genome is 96% identical to the Human Genome. In doing further mathematical analysis based on evolutionary theory, they found that Darwin was in essence 100% correct. We did evolve from apes through mutations that enabled us to climb to the top of the food chain, have more developed brains and become unique as we are today.

Personally, I accept Evolution. There is too much scientific evidence saying the universe is billions of years old and that animals walked the planet millions of years ago and changed over time for me to accept that God created the world in 7 days. This does not mean however, that I am not a Christian or that I reject my faith. I accept science and I have faith. There is a difference between believing something and having faith in something. I believe in Evolution, I have faith in God. Belief is based on evidence, be it false or true. To have Faith I need no evidence, only that which I feel to know it exists. Okay now that's settled moving on.

In the United States today I understand the call for morality in schools and for the need to prevent the society from going to hell in a hand basket. However, the best way to do that is not to force Judeo-Christian ethics down every students throat. I remember in high school one of the main science teachers, when asked about Evolution would say, "I don't believe in it." And she wouldn't teach it. If a question was asked in her classroom that could have a logical evolution answer she would say, "That's the way God wants it." She was teaching this to high school students, some of which wanted to go on to become doctors, chemists, and a whole range of other science oriented careers. Because of her forcing Judeo-Christian beliefs upon her students, many of them were at a Huge disadvantage when they began college studies.

Evolution needs to be taught in the classroom, Intelligent Design and Creationism need to be taught in Sunday school and by Pastors, not State Licensed Teachers. Last time I checked there is still supposed to be a separation of church and state in the country and freedom of religion. Because teachers are licensed by the state, technically, they shouldn't be allowed to teach religion in any way shape or form. Yes, I know there are Catholic and other religious schools that have religion classes offered, however those classes are usually taught by rabbis and priests, you know religious figures.

Now people argue that Evolution can't be all chance and random mutation. The usual idea is that something had to force the primordial soup to create life and then guide it to create the world today. And with that, as a Christian I agree on the starting it part, not so much the guiding it step by step. I'm big believer in the fact that God likes to mess with our minds because he has a sense of humor. Truth be told, I think God created Evolution. He didn't guide it with his hand necessarily, he just one day went, "Okay, let's see what happens when I press this button." And here we are millions of years later. As a scientist, I think a molecular reaction caused evolution to occur and life as we know it to begin. This disconnect is I think where people become misguided, confused, angry over the Evolution vs. Creationism/ID theory. People don't want to believe that a random happening created our existence. It's too cold and heartless. All people want to feel as though we belong, that we are special, that there is a deeper reason as to why we are at the top of the food chain and control the planet and not other animals. Sadly, I don't think this feeling will ever go away. But we as a society need to learn to accept the two ideas in their separate contexts, less we go back to the Dark Ages and fall behind the rest of the world in science and the ability to take care for our people. Evolution is Science and therefore it's basic principles need to be taught in a classroom to all children. Intelligent Design is a religious idea and must be reserved for Sunday school.

As a person who wants to belong and who also believes in science, I kinda like the God randomly pushing a button theory and making the primordial soup start reacting and after that just sitting back and watching the fireworks and saying "Wow." Much like we do on the 4th of July or when we take a moment to watch the ocean wash away our sand castles. One little thing we do can lead to a chain reaction that creates something good and all we did was press a button or fall down the stairs. I think God did the same thing. That's why I can believe in Evolution and also have Faith.