Blogging AGAIN. This is messed up but since I missed class last week, I missed any discussion that would have clarified the problem. Week 8 was for blog group 1. Week 9 both groups blogged Genetics problems. Since Blog group 1 did week 8, it should have been group 2 week 10, but group 1 went again and a few of us group 2's also went. I don't want to miss points so guess I better blog this week TOO.
There is a vast amount of evidence from all realms of science (chemistry, genetics, geology, etc) that support evolution. There is more evidence than any one person could ever study in one lifetime. I have heard one student tell Shawna that scientists that believe in evolution just started with the wrong set of assumptions. Unfortunately, that is the kind of sound bite that evolution denyers can easily spout. The body of evidence on the evolution side could take years to absorb and is not so easily distilled into compelling sound bites.
We seem to be stuck in a period much like that of the time of Galileo. Galileo was kept in house arrest for supporting the Copernican idea that the earth went around the sun. This idea was against the thoughts of the church at the time and he was tried by the inquisition. And yet religion continues today even though almost everyone agrees that the earth moves around the sun. We know the laws of gravity that create the orbits of the earth, the moon, and our satellites, space shuttles and space stations. Though the "church" felt threatened by these ideas in the 1600's, the church is still here and it no longer denies modern astronomy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Marcia I agree that there is a vast amount of evidence available that supports the theory of evolution. I'm not sure I agree that we are stuck in a time such as Galileo's. You stated Galileo went against the thoughts of the church at the time. I do not believe evolution supporters do such today. I would like to think that we are civil enough to have our own belief while maintaining an open mind which creates an open society for different ideologies. What I'm trying to say is that the church's beliefs and the theory of evolution can be kept separate today.
ReplyDeleteHey Marcia....I'm as confused about who is blogging as you are! I had been meaning to email Shawna for clarification but did not yet do it, so I guess I'll be blogging as well and maybe we can get it cleared up in lab tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kaelin. I agree. I am sorry I sounded strident. Most religious people are open minded about science. Most modern churches have accepted or at least entertain evolution as a mechanism with perhaps God as a guiding force. I am not trying to sound critical of all people of faith.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are still people in the US who are bringing lawsuits against our school systems for teaching evolution. Some people home school their children, not to give them a better education, but because they do not want them to be taught evolution instead of creationism. Other people are pressuring our National Park System to remove signs that talk about ages of rock that are greater than 6000 years old. There are still people who deny all of modern geology and the concepts of plate techtonics and instead insist on the geologic processes that happened during Noah's flood. I have been on a Sierra College Geology field trip where one woman said that the "rocks" we were looking at could not possibly be petrified trees, because the earth isn't old enough to create petrified trees.
Yes I do think most people allow others to have their beliefs. Certainly there are no Galileos under house arrest today and we are not living in a theocracy. That is the good thing. Our country was founded by people who wanted freedom of religion. This gives us all the right to believe as we wish.
I don't quite think that scientists are out to get religion or visa versa. Obviously there are some bad apples on both sides of the argument, but for the most part people are very tolerant these days. I don't think that "the church" is really bashing on evolution so much. I think that it is just a result of some people who believe that everyone else must be on their train of thought. Otherwise you had some very nice thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI'm still confused about the whole who's blogging thing myself even though it's halfway though the next week.
ReplyDeleteI do disagree that we seem to be stuck in a time like Galileo's. In Galileo's time, the catholic church was the government, and was overinflated with power. Galileo had a new idea about the way the world worked, and the catholic church leadership arrogantly refused to admit that they weren't infallible (should have).
"You're wrong."
"No we're not, look here."
"You're reading it wrong. If-"
"No we're not. You're under arrest."
I think today we're all about the new ideas, and science and all sorts of cool things, and the catholic church has TV ads begging people to come back. Kind of a change from the way things were.