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The
View from the Meadow
Observations
of the Passing Scene
Political
and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
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Creationism vs. Evolution Among GW Bush's most heinous legacies is the continuous perpetration of the concept of Creationism and the erroneous assault on Evolution. The illiterates involved in this movement are continuing their efforts to overthrow established scientific research with simple, religious superstition. These people apparently only read one book Their faith is based on unprovable metaphors, allegories and fables and, yet, they have the audacity to believe they know better than literate people who base their beliefs on verifiable research. Creationists seriously believe that Evolution is just a theory and, falsely, that all theories are unproven. They don't understand that Evolution is a proven theory based on the scientific method and that we live in a state of natural evolution that is in constant change and easily provable. Evolution is the cornerstone of the biological sciences. Creationism is a Hypothesis: an educated guess, that cannot be proven. The concept is based on faith and is simple, inflexible, religious dogma. They believe the Bible is an exact record of Jesus' teachings, but the Bible was not written until three centuries after Christ's death. It was based on the stories that evolved over the centuries and any writer, editor, publisher or translator knows that mistakes are common. And the censorship of various religious organizations over thousands of years caused the omissions and “corrections” that made their versions more compatible with their particular preachings. Among the most easily understood examples of evolution is the flu virus. Each year new varieties develop, so many that it is quite difficult to develop serums that prevent the illness. Each year, our government attempts to guess which of the new viruses will present the greatest threat and develop a serum that will combat it. Each year the virus evolves to combat the latest serums. This also true of bacteria, which evolve to become resistant to current treatments. All living species evolve by adapting to situations, such as climate conditions, available food sources, the need for defense mechanisms, etc. There are identified species of more than 3,700 species of mammals, 8,600 types of birds, 20,000 kinds of fish and more than 850,000 insects. Yet, the Creationists still believe Noah managed to cram all of them onto his Ark. (Estimated size of the Ark: 515 ft. long, 86 ft. wide and 52 ft. in height) Creationism belongs in classes on religion, which should be relegated to churches and religious schools. There are entirely too many religions for today's public schools to cover. Most private religious schools offer an excellent education, but they do not include Evolution, which leaves their graduates suspiciously handicapped intellectually. The ignorance of America's Creationists has become a national disgrace in the eyes of the rest of the world. Their inflexible faith, and a related lack of intellectual curiosity, is a real handicap keeping them from a larger understanding of life and its processes. This is not intended to denigrate the value of religion. The basic teachings of all faiths are similar and the fables offer a moral code that is quite necessary for civilized people that still hold out hope for world peace. Creationists need to understand that truth is verifiable and the stories of the Bible aren't. There are no verifiable reports of an after life – only highly questionable stories by people here on Earth. Heaven does not exist in the clouds above Earth, or it would be in serious danger from airplanes, rockets and satellites. The existence of Hell in the center of the Earth is also unverifiable and highly improbable. If a person understands that the Bible's metaphors, allegories and fables are meant to teach moral lessons a person becomes more capable of understanding the real truths in the Bible. Evolution could actually be considered a metaphor for Creationism. The differences lie in the belief that God created the world in an instant, but what is an instant to God? He exists in eternity. He might view a million years as a human might see a brief instant. The evolutional processes seem long to us on Earth, but we are unfamiliar with the ways in which time might be viewed in the rest of a universe with unknown limits. The worrisome aspects of extremist right-wing Christians are those imposed on Americans by the Bush Administration also adversely affected the freedoms and rights delineated by our Constitution and cherished by Americans. The ban on stem cell research, for example, put America at least eight years behind the rest of the world in a technology that offers the potential for incredible advances in medicine and healthcare. The blind support for anti-abortion legislation completely ignores the extenuating circumstances and serious consequences involved in the right to choose. But the largest issue involved here is the right to religious freedom. There are so many religions that a person is truly naive if they believe their particular beliefs outrank those cherished by the other 6.7 billion people on this planet. This is also contrary to the First Amendment to our Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The Separation of Church and State Churches should not be involved in politics. The concept of the separation of church and state is among the basic precepts of this country. Most of the original settlers came to America to escape countries governed by churches that were intolerant of their particular beliefs. Granting churches exemptions from taxation enables these organizations to be politically active with money that could be better used to help the needy and other worthy causes. Instead, they are using the funds to promote legislation that favors their own causes, to the exclusion of issues that more directly affect the country and its citizens. Churches certainly have a right to promote their ideas however they wish, but they should not have tax payer assistance in this effort. If churches want to be involved in political activities they should be denied the tax exemptions they currently enjoy. Churches and other religious organizations own between 20 and 25 percent of the land in America, which costs the country billions of dollars in tax revenue that could be used to improve schools, provide free health care and repair our infrastructure. The Catholic church's assets alone exceed the combined assets of the country's five largest corporations. It's too bad that more Christians don't practice what they preach and embrace the Golden Rule. Instead, they continuously attack others who don't subscribe to their faith and seek to punish them by implementing laws forcing them to adhere to their beliefs. They need to recognize the rights of other citizens to practice and preach their own beliefs; they certainly employ these rights themselves. Other religious sects are not attempting to squash Christian practices. They just need the Creationists to abandon their hurtful policies and help to rebuild the American Vision under which this country was founded. They will always respect the right to hold conservative beliefs and will actually encourage them to dissent and debate if they agree to stop the political harassment. Religious freedom and the right to free speech are essential to the future of this country. The divisiveness of the Bush Era needs to dissolve quickly into the past. We need a United America that can work together to build the future Americans deserve. Hmm, the issue of the need for a reliable and courageous press also severely deteriorated during the Bush years. But, that's another issue................ Dave Satre
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