munnki
31 Jan 2010, 07:43 PM
When I take a moment to wonder why I ended up on this forum. I think of several things. This (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/21/religion.highereducation) article summarizes quite neatly the main reason.
A growing number of science students on British campuses and in sixth form colleges are challenging the theory of evolution and arguing that Darwin was wrong. Some are being failed in university exams because they quote sayings from the Bible or Qur'an as scientific fact and at one sixth form college in London most biology students are now thought to be creationists.
Earlier this month Muslim medical students in London distributed leaflets that dismissed Darwin's theories as false. Evangelical Christian students are also increasingly vocal in challenging the notion of evolution.
In the United States there is growing pressure to teach creationism or "intelligent design" in science classes, despite legal rulings against it. Now similar trends in this country have prompted the Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific academy, to confront the issue head on with a talk entitled Why Creationism is Wrong. The award-winning geneticist and author Steve Jones will deliver the lecture and challenge creationists, Christian and Islamic, to argue their case rationally at the society's event in April.
This and a comment I made, perhaps unthinkingly, which revealed to me the depth of my feeling about this issue. A colleague in work asked me why I disliked Religious Studies as a subject on the curriculum. I responded "because I think it could encourage toleration of religious belief". There was literally a stunned silence at the meeting due to my comment. I thought about it as my colleagues reacted. I stand by it today. Too much is given to people based on their false mythologies of the universe. Now we stand, at least according to this article and others I've read, at the edge of the abyss - and we are in danger of jumping in.
I don't for a moment advocate violence against such people. Nor even impoliteness. And I am, despite my sometimes colorful language, a polite guy. I just don't see why nonsense worldviews should be given free rein.
This is why I try to spend at least some time in the company of humanists and atheists - because this nonsense is very harmful to our health.
At least that's my point of view.
A growing number of science students on British campuses and in sixth form colleges are challenging the theory of evolution and arguing that Darwin was wrong. Some are being failed in university exams because they quote sayings from the Bible or Qur'an as scientific fact and at one sixth form college in London most biology students are now thought to be creationists.
Earlier this month Muslim medical students in London distributed leaflets that dismissed Darwin's theories as false. Evangelical Christian students are also increasingly vocal in challenging the notion of evolution.
In the United States there is growing pressure to teach creationism or "intelligent design" in science classes, despite legal rulings against it. Now similar trends in this country have prompted the Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific academy, to confront the issue head on with a talk entitled Why Creationism is Wrong. The award-winning geneticist and author Steve Jones will deliver the lecture and challenge creationists, Christian and Islamic, to argue their case rationally at the society's event in April.
This and a comment I made, perhaps unthinkingly, which revealed to me the depth of my feeling about this issue. A colleague in work asked me why I disliked Religious Studies as a subject on the curriculum. I responded "because I think it could encourage toleration of religious belief". There was literally a stunned silence at the meeting due to my comment. I thought about it as my colleagues reacted. I stand by it today. Too much is given to people based on their false mythologies of the universe. Now we stand, at least according to this article and others I've read, at the edge of the abyss - and we are in danger of jumping in.
I don't for a moment advocate violence against such people. Nor even impoliteness. And I am, despite my sometimes colorful language, a polite guy. I just don't see why nonsense worldviews should be given free rein.
This is why I try to spend at least some time in the company of humanists and atheists - because this nonsense is very harmful to our health.
At least that's my point of view.