Creationism, for those of you who have better things to do with your lives than staying current on Bible-humping passed off as science, is the “theory” — which is not a theory at all, but a religious belief — that God farted out the universe about 5,000 years ago and Adam and Eve were real and the Bible is literal and Jesus rode on dinosaurs and all of the scientists who are all, like, “Well, dude, actually, there’s all this evidence …” are a bunch of commie pinko fascist atheist socialist haters because the Bible says so, so there, shut up, heathens. Yeah. That’s creationism. And now the brain trust school board in Springsboro, which already tried teaching creationism and it did not go so good, is flirting with the idea again because maybe it won’t be mind-numbingly stupid the second time around. (Spoiler alert: Yes too it will.)
Most Constitutional scholars- and most Americans with even a minimal grip on reality- will argue that the separation of Church and State is sacrosanct. Au contraire, mon ami; there’s a class of people who will quickly and easily (if not correctly) argue that the 2nd Amendment is sacrosanct and inviolable. Immediately after doing so, they’ll argue that the separation of Church and State is an anti-American plot devised by those who hate Jesus. Now the school board in Springsboro, OH, is contemplating falling behind the “teach the controversy” school of thought and allowing creationism to be taught in its schools.
Because shouldn’t we let children make their own decision? Yeah, right; like it’s about choice or freedom of religion and/or thought….
There’s one basic- and REALLY big- problem with this theory, of course. Evolution is an actual theory backed by boatloads of actual scientific evidence- you know, the stuff you can prove, right? Creationism is a fantastical notion believed by a lot of people who really, really, REALLY believe…despite the absence of anything even faintly resembling scientific evidence. Creationism may be passed off as “science” (Jesus said it, that proves it) by some- including 20% of Pennsylvania’s SCIENCE teachers, f’rinstance- but it isn’t even faintly redolent of science.
There are those who argue that teaching creationism would demonstrate that our schools don’t discriminate against ideas. That said, this argument is really just a smoke screen for the fundie community’s efforts to turn our public schools into branches of local Christian churches. How committed are the proponents of creationism, a “theory” with absolutely NO scientific evidence to support it? Evidently serious enough that they have an entire museum devoted to the fantasy of creationism. And it’s in Kentucky; whodathunkit, eh??
I’ve written a lot about the creeping influence of ignorance, reaction, and hyper-religiosity. Combine them and what you have is a recipe for idiocracy. Our country is run largely by people who care nothing for intellectual rigor or the life of the mind. They care even less about those who don’t share their religious and ideological leanings. The separation of Church and State? Whatever; that’s for losers, Liberals, and those who hate Jesus.
This isn’t about teaching our children about different “theories” of how our world came to be. It’s a thinly-veiled crusade by fundamentalist Christians who see nothing wrong with using public schools as surrogate churches, the better to indoctrinate children to be faithful Christian soldiers. They’re oblivious to the truth that America is NOT a Christian nation, but a secular nation with a Christian majority- a difference both unsubtle and crucial. Then again, the zealots care for the Constitution only insofar as they can manipulate it to their advantage. Some of these folks live in mortal fear of “creeping Sharia,” the idea that the Quran would be the final (and only) legal authority…but they have no problem with working to create a dominionist theocracy, where their interpretation of the Bible would govern public life.
It’s What Jesus Would Do, knowhutimean??
I’m not afraid of God, because I don’t believe in Our Friend in the Sky ©…but His followers scare the Hell out of me.
