I thought galbinous_caeli was pretty clear when he said SHUT UP!

But no.

http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/news_1409c6849421611600e3.html

There was a part of my barber visit yesterday that I forgot to include, and this article forwarded by reminded me of it.

There was a news report on the tv about this asinine lawsuit over labeling science textbooks. Actually, the lawsuit is not asinine, it is asinine that we have to have the lawsuit. The lawsuit is trying to correct some stupidity, whereby they single out evolution as questionable science with a sticker on science textbooks.

Anyway, the receptionist was watching the same program on her TV, and she came over to us and gave a rant about evolution. “If it’s a theory, then why are we teaching it?! We should only teach facts!”

I looked over at the book I had brought with me, Stephen Jay Gould’s last book, Full House. And I looked back at her. A feeling of extreme tiredness came over me, as the enormity of trying to teach a receptionist in a barber shop the meaning of science in the space of the last half of a haircut hit me full in the face.

And then the scissors jammed, so I was spared the pressure of creating an impromptu persuasive lecture.

In hindsight, I could have simply said “Because most of science is a theory. Gravity is a theory.”

But there’s more to it. I would have felt compelled to go into what makes up a scientific theory.

“In science there are facts, and there are theories devised by looking at the facts and hypothesizing what would explain the facts. A good, robust theory, like evolution, explains the facts without contradiction. The Theory of Evolution is supported by facts from paleontology, biology, archaeology, physics, and a host of other disciplines. It is a very, very robust theory, and gets more robust with every passing year.

“Creationism, and that semantic abomination Creation-Science, are not science. Two of the reasons they are not science are a) it is not a theory that was hypothesized based upon looking at facts, it is a belief based upon a collection of writings written several thousand years ago by men who claim to be acting on behalf of a supernatural being and b) the idea of a supernatural creator is by definition outside of the realm of science, which studies the natural world.”

Folks, it is possible that a omnipotent, supernatural being created the universe twenty seconds ago exactly as it is. But Science Doesn’t Care. Unless there’s evidence for it, something we can look at in the natural world that shows that the universe was created 20 seconds ago, then Science leaves it to Religion or Spiritualists to investigate, or believe in, or commit mass suicide over.

“We believe in creation, first of all, not because of scientific evidence, but because of our faith in Jesus Christ and in His Word the Bible.”
-From The Creation-Science Research Center website.

“God put the dinosaur bones in the earth to test our faith.”
-Matt Horgan, during a performance of Improvolution at Dad’s Garage.

I could go on and on. Other people have. Piles of books exist.

Religious people, stop attacking the theory of evolution. It’s rude. It has nothing to do with you. It is just an idea. Don’t be scared of ideas. You don’t have to give up your own. You can keep them. I swear.

It’s discriminatory to attack evolution. There are plenty of other theories that contradict the Bible. Why not pick on them for a change? How about physics! Physics says you couldn’t fit a pair of each animal on an ark! Attack PHYSICS! Put a sticker on a PHYSICS TEXTBOOK!

“This textbook contains material on Matter. That objects with a volume larger than the interior volume of a container cannot fit in a container is a theory, not a fact, regarding the properties of matter. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.”

*sigh*

I’m going to go back to designing circuits now.