If you know me at all, you will know that one of my biggest passions is Evolution. I cannot get enough of it. Every time I see an article in National Geographic about Evolution, I am compelled to pick it up. One of my favorites was the 2004 November issue[1], which boldly stated on its cover “Was Darwin Wrong?” When you turned to the front page of the article, the response was “NO!” I own the Origin of Species (and in all honesty have read about ½ of it. Hey! You try reading scientific articles and tell me how well you do! And for you religious fanatics that plan on using this against me, how many of you have read the bible in it entirety? I've probably come closer than you have.) But I don’t need the Origin of Species alone to tell me that Evolution is real, besides our understanding of Evolution has vastly changed since
You will note I have left off the words “Theory of” because I strongly and firmly know that Evolution as a broad concept happens; it is real. Not just a mere idea of how things work, but it is what happens and it is happening today, now, as we speak. And until somebody gives me a living breathing being that appeared out of no where, with no prior ancestors, I will refer to Evolution as such. I will be the first to admit, however, that the details of Evolution are not fully understood and that the Evolution we understand today is not the Evolution that
But that is the beauty of it all! That is the Scientific Process! We observe, we record, we conjecture. And we continue to do so, refining our definitions, understanding the deviations, and adjusting. Science is dynamic, it changes –there are disagreements, but that is the point, discussion, and observation. Science truly is The Great Debate.
Today marks
I think at the heart of this debate, Evolution vs. Creation Theory / Intelligent Design is the fear of change. Evolution clearly states that the world as we know it changes, it has changed, and will continue to change. Judeo-Christian beliefs suggest however “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.”[2] Not so change friendly.
Is change so scary, so devastating to the human psyche that we are compelled to squash it and rub it out of existence? History shows us, that is the typical response, however, even after change humanity and the world continue to exist. So why not embrace change and Evolution which attempts to describe the mechanisms of change? Old habits die hard, I guess.
My biggest pet peeve about this whole debate is that Religion is seeking to destroy Evolution, while Evolution has done nothing to threaten Religion. Evolution and
My other concern is how vehemently people attempt to deny Evolution; is their faith so weak that they fear Evolution will erode it? Perhaps those individuals need to reconsider what faith is.
I know I get very frustrated when I encounter others who do not believe in Evolution; they probably feel the same when they realize I don’t believe in their god. However, Evolution is an ever changing idea, unlike Religion, and I accept those changes with demonstrable evidence. To me personally Evolution has always been something that made sense. Why not? Change happens. So maybe in that paradigm Evolution is like my own religion; and as we know two religions cannot coexist. But at least I have evidence of mine!
[1] http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/feature1/fulltext.html
[2] The Bible, 1 Chronicles 16:30
