A theory so obvious that it isn't defended?
The New York Times reports this morning that defenders of Darwin's Theory of Evolution are refusing to testify at hearings on the high school biology curricula in Kansas that have been called by the State Board of Education.
For me this is a great parable on liberal orthodoxies. Among liberals there are some things that are so true that to question them is to be a bigot and a thought-criminal. Today in Kansas, liberals reveal that their true interest is in obedience to established orthodoxies; not in discussion, analysis or debate.
For me this is a great parable on liberal orthodoxies. Among liberals there are some things that are so true that to question them is to be a bigot and a thought-criminal. Today in Kansas, liberals reveal that their true interest is in obedience to established orthodoxies; not in discussion, analysis or debate.
posted by E.L. Lipman | 5/06/2005 07:15:00 AM
Oh please. Please don't make evolution a "liberal orthodoxy." No self respecting biologist is going to argue in front of the Kansas school board about evolution any more than a self respecting astronomer is going to argue with them regarding whether the earth is flat or spherical. I'm sure there are those who don't like physics but instead believe each particle moves due to a precise action of God. (Why do rocks sink in water? Because God wants them to.) But the physics we have is only scientific theory we have to teach. You teach it or you don't teach physics.
Well, evolution is the only current scientific biological theory we have. It doesn't explain everything and students should be taught this as well, but it is our best scientific theory. In fact, it is the only scientific theory on the table.
(Intelligent Design is not a scientific theory any more than "God causes rocks to sink" is. "God did it" may be true, in both physics and biology, but it isn't a scientific theory. Leave that to a class on world religions and let the poor students learn what our best scientific thinking is on scientific questions.)
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