Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The next stone thrown

In the battle of Intelligent Design. Again, it strikes me as odd that these people fighting can only seem to see two possibilities in the development of the world as we see it.

The Discovery Institute has made a statement that the NOVA program, Judgement Day, Intelligent Design on Trial, if shown in classrooms across the country, violates the First Amendment. To support their argument, they refer to the following exchange from the program:
"Q: Can you accept evolution and still believe in religion? A: Yes. The common view that evolution is inherently anti-religious is simply false."

Apparently, the Discovery institute believes that a statement that one can believe in "religion" while believing in evolution supports one religious viewpoint. I'm not quite sure I follow. The First Amendment, as I understand it, exists to keep one religious tenet from controlling the means of the country, such as keeping Buddhism from becoming the state religion, etc. I don't see how saying one can believe in evolution and still believe in religion as a whole violates that principle.

It's funny, but sad, that compromise on beliefs is so hard to reach. If you want your children to believe in Creationism, then teach them that at home, or at Sunday School. But if I don't want my kids to learn that, or your version of that, then respect that and leave that to be my personal decision. Keep it out of schools, and I think everyone is better off.

1 comment:

Cassie said...

You know the christian and darwinism symbols you see on cars? I saw one from the church of the flying spaghetti monster the other day. I immediately thought of you.