Florida Tries to Catch Up

According to this story, Florida's Board of Education will be adding evolution to the state's science standards. See, it is this brand new theory that...never mind. Cutting edge, aren't they?

But wait! They must teach it as a theory, not as a fact! Of course it is a theory. So is gravity. Great Cthulhu's cochlea, people-almost all of science is theory.

The thing I hate the most about the Creationist movement is the dishonesty. Because the popular usage of the word theory translates into roughly the same meaning as the word idea, by making sure to include it in (only) this case they are deliberately misleading their own kids. Don't you want little Sally to do well in college someday? Shouldn't that be a bit more important than making sure nothing challenges the idea that the world was made in six days?

Now I don't care what someone believes. If you want to believe that the Earth was made from the blood and bones of Ymir the Frost Giant-hey, whatever floats your boat. That isn't what this is about.

The Theory of Evolution has withstood the most strenuous attempts at debunking for a century and a half. Why these constant attempts? Because it contradicts a literal interpretation of the Bible.

So does Intelligent Design. ID is the idea that Someone (wink, wink; nudge, nudge) set up everything to indirectly create Us. This isn't what the Bible says. So why bother?

Evolution is a huge part of all biological science. So even if you disagree with it, shouldn’t your child understand it? The sad fact is, in my area I find that few people have the remotest idea what the theory even says. It causes such controversy that it is glossed over to avoid problems.

Ah, well. I just bought Carl Sagan’s book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Maybe someday more people will agree that the darkness is only scary when we think it contains monsters.