It has been a year
since George Bush the second was given his marching orders; yet one of the lies
he and his cronies propagated still echoes in the world and – what prompts
this (hopefully short) essay – my head. Where it came to the story
of intelligent design
and the teaching of evolution in schools, these
political animals insisted that schools should teach the controversy
.
Their position is dishonest, deceptive and delinquent.
I grant that, in any given subject within which there is a meaningful
controversy, those teaching the subject should teach it. The case
of intelligent design
, however, is not a
case where there is any controversy in
science. There is a real political controversy – should we allow
the school system to lead pupils astray because those democratically elected to
control it are obliged to answer to those, among the electorate, who refuse to
listen to what science has to say ? That is a very real question to address, in
classes addressing the question of what democracy should be and how it should
work. There is a real religious controversy over whether we should
take a literalist reading – of an ancient text that any philologist would
immediately recognise as the collected folk-tales of a tribal culture –
even when that text says things manifestly contradicted by the evidence
available in the world around us. Should we accept the world we inhabit as a
decisive source of information from any deity in which we chose to
believe ? Should we accept the evidence of that world above the
sacred text that has been handed down to us from a long tradition of
authority ? In schools that do teach pupils about religion, this
is a legitimate controversy and should be taught as such. So, by all
means, talk about ID in civics classes and any religious education you provide:
but, as there is no scientific controversy, do not make science
teachers waste their time over it.
The proponents of intelligent design
demand that schools teach their
propaganda, as a matter of teaching the controversy
. Do they take the
time to invite those, who understand both their theology and the science, to
come and teach the controversy
in their Sunday schools ? Where I
grew up, those who taught me christianity also taught me – honestly and,
to the best of their ability, faithfully – what science had to say about
the matter; but, then, they didn't feel that there was any substantial conflict
between the two. Are those who do see a conflict willing to turn over
their religious education classes to someone who can faithfully teach the
controversy
?
Wow ! I did manage to keep it short.
Written by Eddy.