Blinn

RufusAtticus instantly comes to mind.

Kevin Dorner

Read my mind.

lobstertrap

I live in Alabama, the stately neighbor to the left of Georgia, and also part of the Bible Belt. I receive the Birmingham News, and I see writings like these all the time in Editorials section. BUT, of all the newspapers of all the cities in the Bible Belt, the Birmingham News is probably the less prejudiced about non-Christian beliefs. When Editorials are printed on Wednesdays and Sundays, for every pro-Christian article, there is always a non-Christian article to match it.

Kevin Dorner

I suspect that they would print it even if they knew it to be ridiculous. If 50% or more of a region thought that the earth was flat, its newspapers would doubtlessly print flat-earth supporting letters who used the fear of a phony hell to scare children away from a career in cartography.

Most of the newspapers I know of only care about circulation.

Grumpy

Dopey contributions from the "man on the street" are a dime a dozen. I gotta say Cal Thomas' idiocy, <a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=58&t=001304" target="_blank">discussed here</a>, is far more disturbing (but for my observation that I think he was joking, at least partly).

I'd like to add one thing about our friend in Augusta...

The answer is... that is evolution!

[ August 29, 2002: Message edited by: Grumpy ]</p>

Kevin Dorner

This was the line that made me suspicious that he was actually a troll.

[ August 29, 2002: Message edited by: Kevin Dorner ]</p>

Lizard

I hate to destroy your faith in reason, but Cal Thomas is *not* joking. We suffered his aggressive ignorance and vitriol (they do seem to go together) toward anyone left of far-Right n the editorial page of the Kansas City Star until about a year ago, when the new editorial page editor dumped him, along with a local RRR loony.

I suggest writing to him and disabusing him of his ridiculous notions. A number of people I know have already written to him. I say, "Pile on!" This guy needs to know that the whole nation isn't hanging on his words and thinking they are Ultimate Truth.

Better still, if your local newspaper carries his column, write to the editorial page editor and complain. Your letters do matter.

TerryTryon

"If man came from an ape, why are there still apes today?"

One of my pet peeves, and the absolute dumbest argument against evolution. It amazes me that people with such low mentality can even string words together with subjects and predicates that have a semblance to English.

To belabor the obvious, the whole purpose of Darwin writing On the Origin of Species was to address this very issue, i.e., why are there so many species in the world, and why do they vary so much in likeness to one another?

As readers of this forum are well aware, this is almost always the first volley by ceationists of the mentally limited sort. It ranks right up there with, "If there's no god, where did all this [makes sweeping motion with arm] come from?"

I refuse to debate with these pompous ignorami. I say, "You're right at least in one area, the species Homo sapiens did not evolve from an ape. It is still an ape."

"You can call yourself an ape, but I prefer to think of myself as something better."

Of course, at this point, the debate is nothing more than "is not, is too, is not, is too." But hey, that's where the debate started anyway.

Arrowman

Well, Von Braun wasn't exactly a rocket scientist, was he? Oh, wait.....

Still and all - "the father of space science"? I don't think so. And as noted in the "Cal Thomas" thread cited above, he was an engineer, not a scientist (let alone in a field relevant to evolution).

[ August 29, 2002: Message edited by: Arrowman ]</p>

scigirl

Ok I have to disagree with you that it is a "dumb" argument per se, if you think about the way that most people (incorrectly) see evolution - as a ladder up to humans, instead of a branching tree. I think many people see evolution as better models replacing inferior ones - like WINXP replacing Windows98.

I know many well-educated college students that do not accept macro-evolution. One in particular used this argument once, and he's not even religious! Most of them have never had any formal biological training.

On a superficial level, I think that evolution, much like quantum theory or black hole cosmology, is a bit hard to swallow. Couple that thought with the pervasive religious beliefs that deny evolution, and you have intellectual disaster!

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. I admire all of you that fight this battle in the newspapers and school boards. We all appreciate your efforts, and I'm sure in the long run, science and reason just have to win out over religious superstition.

scigirl