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Evolution and Creationism

The document discusses the scientific evidence for evolution and contrasts it with anti-science views of religious fundamentalists known as creationists. It argues that creationists wage organized campaigns to discredit evolution and prevent people from learning the science, insisting that life forms have remained unchanged since creation rather than evolved. However, the document states that scientists have uncovered extensive evidence of evolution over the past century and it is now considered a fundamental fact of science. Nonetheless, creationist views persist in influencing legislation in countries like the US. The document calls for engaging in discussion of these issues to understand both the science of evolution and the political agenda behind creationism.

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valeriana calani
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34 views4 pages

Evolution and Creationism

The document discusses the scientific evidence for evolution and contrasts it with anti-science views of religious fundamentalists known as creationists. It argues that creationists wage organized campaigns to discredit evolution and prevent people from learning the science, insisting that life forms have remained unchanged since creation rather than evolved. However, the document states that scientists have uncovered extensive evidence of evolution over the past century and it is now considered a fundamental fact of science. Nonetheless, creationist views persist in influencing legislation in countries like the US. The document calls for engaging in discussion of these issues to understand both the science of evolution and the political agenda behind creationism.

Uploaded by

valeriana calani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Evolution and Creationism

What’s Real

The evolution of life on this planet, and contrasting this to


the anti-science rantings of :
the religious fundamentalists who wage organized campaigns
to try to
discredit the science of evolution and prevent people from
learning about
it. The most extreme of these religious fundamentalists (also
known as
“creationists”) insist that life never evolved at all, and that all
the different
life-forms we see on this planet today—all the plants and
animals, including
human beings—are completely unrelated to each other, share
no common
ancestors, and have remained unchanged from the way they
supposedly
appeared at the beginnings of the earth, launched by the
hand of a supernatural

of life on this planet, and contrasting this to the anti-science


rantings of
the religious fundamentalists who wage organized campaigns
to try to
discredit the science of evolution and prevent people from
learning about
it. The most extreme of these religious fundamentalists (also
known as
“creationists”) insist that life never evolved at all, and that all
the different
life-forms we see on this planet today—all the plants and
animals, including
human beings—are completely unrelated to each other, share
no common
ancestors, and have remained unchanged from the way they
supposedly
appeared at the beginnings of the earth, launched by the
hand of a supernatural
Creator. The truth is that scientists have been uncovering
plenty of
evidence and proof to the contrary for more than a century
and a half, and
today the overwhelming majority of scientists all around the
world have
absolutely zero doubts about the basic facts of evolution.
Evolution is actually
considered to be one of the very best-established facts in all
of science,
and as much of a sure thing as the fact that the earth is not
flat or that it goes
around the sun. A great many of the advances of modern
science have been
accomplished on the basis of our understanding of evolution,
and would
not have been possible without it. Evolution is such a crucial
core concept
for the understanding of all of life that many scientists like to
quote the
famous geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky who once
remarked: “Nothing
in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution.”
And yet, despite all the scientific consensus, the creationists
and their
anti-scientific rants will simply not go away. The question is
why? And in
countries like the United States some of the nuttier
proponents of creationism
even sit in the halls of power, influence legislation, and are
welcomed
advisers of presidents. Again, why is that? These are
questions we all need
to engage.
I would argue that we all need to know at least the basic
scientific facts
about evolution and understand also how the religious
fundamentalists
who want to keep the people ignorant and confused about
evolution are
driven by a reactionary social and political agenda. And we
need to learn to
recognize what is fundamentally wrong and unscientific in the
arguments
of creationists, no matter what form they surface in—and this
includes the
arguments of the new crop of Intelligent Design Creationists
who acknowledge
the fact that some evolutionary change has taken place, but
continue
to insist that much of the diversity and complexity of life
could not have
come into being without the involvement of some kind of
“Intelligent
Designer” at some point in the process.
It seems to me that the best and most visionary of
revolutionaries are
always thinking and wrangling about many different kinds of
“big” social,
cultural, philosophical and political questions, even right in
the midst of the
most intense struggles. It’s never a good idea for the focus of
our thinking
and actions to become so narrow that we fail to grapple with
a variety of big
questions—including in science and the arts—especially if
we’re interested
in figuring out how to fundamentally change the world.
I am hoping to spark some lively debate and discussion of
these important
questions among (and between) a wide variety of readers of
this
newspaper. We live in a society where professional scientists
and non-professionals,
those with formal education and those who have been
offered
little or no such education, are usually kept apart and rarely
get to interact
and learn from each other. We don’t have to accept these
divisions. With
its unusually diverse readership, this newspaper is in a
position to play an
important role in overcoming such divisions.

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