Darwin Visits MWCC: Academic Apathy & Creationist Jibberish Abound
By: Cheyne Ordonio
Issue date: 3/1/10 Section: Opinion
Consider me among the godless un-American atheists bent on imposing a secular tyranny upon the world. Darwin is my Jesus, and Evolution is my God. I'm being sarcastic - somewhat - but the topic of Evolution is among my favorite subjects, ranking just below the rise and fall of the American Dream. So when I heard that Charles Darwin, or at least a man dressed like him, would be having a mock interview in the library, I jumped at the chance to report on the event. What I learned goes deeper than the biography of Darwin and into the very heart of this institution. Prepare to be offended…
He is one of the greatest scientific minds to ever bless us with his knowledge. What began as Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection has changed over time to become today's Modern Evolutionary Synthesis. It involves more than mere natural selection and adaptation, but also genetic drift, genetic flow, and mutation. It is now the only unifying theory of biology, but sadly, just six students thought such insight was important enough to show up for. Two left after grabbing a piece of cake. Two others either got bored or had more pressing matters to attend to. One fell asleep on the couch. And, the last student showed up just to argue, in Sarah Palinesque, creationist like incoherent sentences, that Darwinism is a secular religion (oxy moron) devoid of facts or merit.
I, on the other hand, was intrigued. I had no idea that Darwin studied theology, or that he was married to his cousin (so much for genetic variation). I also learned that another scientist, Alfred Wallace, was reaching the same conclusions as Darwin and almost beat Darwin to the punch in releasing his theory to the world. Unfortunately, my intrigue gave way to intellectual alarm when the gentleman dressed as Darwin opened the floor to audience questions.
"Isn't it possible that you can look at evolution as a religion since there are no actual foundation or support for evolution and much of what Charles Darwin discovered is provable and completely explainable by genetics alone?" asked the creationist student. "In the Galapagos, for example, information he collected is actually explainable entirely by genetics, has no foundation outside of genetics, genetics actually contradicts evolution, so does the law of thermal dynamics. So, isn't it possible to say that evolution is in itself a religion; asking you to take on faith what is yet to be proven?"
He is one of the greatest scientific minds to ever bless us with his knowledge. What began as Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection has changed over time to become today's Modern Evolutionary Synthesis. It involves more than mere natural selection and adaptation, but also genetic drift, genetic flow, and mutation. It is now the only unifying theory of biology, but sadly, just six students thought such insight was important enough to show up for. Two left after grabbing a piece of cake. Two others either got bored or had more pressing matters to attend to. One fell asleep on the couch. And, the last student showed up just to argue, in Sarah Palinesque, creationist like incoherent sentences, that Darwinism is a secular religion (oxy moron) devoid of facts or merit.
I, on the other hand, was intrigued. I had no idea that Darwin studied theology, or that he was married to his cousin (so much for genetic variation). I also learned that another scientist, Alfred Wallace, was reaching the same conclusions as Darwin and almost beat Darwin to the punch in releasing his theory to the world. Unfortunately, my intrigue gave way to intellectual alarm when the gentleman dressed as Darwin opened the floor to audience questions.
"Isn't it possible that you can look at evolution as a religion since there are no actual foundation or support for evolution and much of what Charles Darwin discovered is provable and completely explainable by genetics alone?" asked the creationist student. "In the Galapagos, for example, information he collected is actually explainable entirely by genetics, has no foundation outside of genetics, genetics actually contradicts evolution, so does the law of thermal dynamics. So, isn't it possible to say that evolution is in itself a religion; asking you to take on faith what is yet to be proven?"
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