Saturday, December 03, 2005
Dover and Creationism
The citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania have been perturbed by a conflict in the public school regarding Creationism. The school board decided to have Creationism mentioned in the biology class as an alternate belief system to Darwin’s theory of the origin of species. Some parents sued the school board, arguing that Creationism is not a science but a religious belief and should not be taught in a biology class. Nobody objects to Creationism being taught in a course on comparative religion. The parents who sued won their case. Then there was an election in which eight members of the school board were voted out of office.
All of this conflict and confusion in a small community in Pennsylvania would be of no interest to the rest of us except for a remark by a prominent Protestant cleric. After the election in which the proponents of Creation “Science” were voted off the board, the cleric declared that the people of Dover had better look out. Look what the Lord did to the people of New Orleans to punish them for their sinful ways.
My first and second and third thoughts were, gee, what a fool that cleric is! I wonder why he has such a large following. Then I mused about our President, who is said to believe that God wants him to be President. Therefore, he doesn’t have to listen to anyone for advice; God will let him know what to do. Is that also a foolish belief?
It came to me in a flash that the cleric and the President are right. God does want George W. Bush to be our President. God is angry with us and punishing us for our sins.
All of this conflict and confusion in a small community in Pennsylvania would be of no interest to the rest of us except for a remark by a prominent Protestant cleric. After the election in which the proponents of Creation “Science” were voted off the board, the cleric declared that the people of Dover had better look out. Look what the Lord did to the people of New Orleans to punish them for their sinful ways.
My first and second and third thoughts were, gee, what a fool that cleric is! I wonder why he has such a large following. Then I mused about our President, who is said to believe that God wants him to be President. Therefore, he doesn’t have to listen to anyone for advice; God will let him know what to do. Is that also a foolish belief?
It came to me in a flash that the cleric and the President are right. God does want George W. Bush to be our President. God is angry with us and punishing us for our sins.
