A biology professor at Arizona State University is under attack for an image he showed in class that compared creationism to magic. The conservative group Campus Reform, which targets educators it perceives to have a liberal bias, reported last week that professor Christofer Bang showed the image during a PowerPoint presentation in his Biology 100 class. The PowerPoint slide, titled “Evolution vs. Creationism,” showed the March of Progress illustration of human evolution next to an image of Jesus Christ shooting lightening out of his fingers to create a human. The image shows Jesus saying, “MAGIC!”…. A student told Campus Reform that the picture was offensive: “Quite a few students in the lecture hall were bothered by the picture, and it didn’t contribute to the lecture besides adding spite.”
Cue the butthurt Conservative activists and their righteous outrage over a professor of biology (which, BTW, is a SCIENCE) dismissing creationism as unproven. That creationism IS an unproven theory seems almost beside the point for those outraged over the professor’s PowerPoint presentation.
The fact is that evolution is both valid and scientifically sound, having been proven time and time again by fossil records and other evidence. Creationism is a matter of faith that some people believe: “God said it. I believe it. Case closed.” There’s NO empirical evidence, NO proof, and nothing that provides that creationism is anything but fantasy.
Silly me, but I always thought that a university, being an institute of higher learning, was charged with the task of educating young people in the provable and demonstrable- you know, SCIENCE. Conservative Creationists see no problem with the double standard they advocate- the evolution MUST be evidence-based, but creationism should be accepted on faith.
Conservatives at Arizona State University also expressed their displeasure with the professor on Facebook.
“Liberal scum certainly exists on this campus! While I personally support the drawing on the left, I think it’s wrong and unethical for professors to shame those who believe differently,” one person wrote on the Facebook page for College Republicans at ASU.
“I dealt with nearly the same kind of crap my freshman year at ASU, and the professor did her best to humiliate anyone who disagreed,” another person complained.
“Liberal scum?” Hmm…I wonder just how outraged that unnamed commenter would be if the term “Conservative scum” were to be used when arguing against what one perceives to be knuckle-dragging Creationists? And why is the assumption that the professor was “shaming” those who disagree with him? We’re talking about a biology professor, an educated person of science that lives in a world where the expectation is that theories and assertions be proven and supported with actual evidence? Why do Conservative Creationists live in a world where the only acceptable double standards are their own?
If you want faith, there’s a very simple answer available to you: go to church. If you’re in a science class, you don’t get to expect that the person teaching cater to your religious faith. That’s just not how any of this works.
Another person on the Facebook page said the Founding Fathers were creationists: “Never mind the fact that our founding fathers were highly religious and God-fearing. Ignore the fact that all the delegates at the Philadelphia convention believed in creationism, and that the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence describes the unalienable rights endowed to men by their Creator… Instead of ridiculing the absurdity of Christianity, perhaps Professor Bang should learn a little more about the U.S. Constitution, read the Federalist papers, or take a religion class. At the very least he could cite a verse from Genesis in his next presentation.”
And there we have it: Today’s coffee-spew moment….
It’s difficult not to read that paragraph without being stunned by its abject ignorance and arrogance. First of all, the Founding Fathers were not uniformly Creationists. If memory serves, Jefferson was a deist, and there was an atheist or two in the mix as well. Second, no one, least of all the professor, was “ridiculing the absurdity of Christianity.” The ridiculousness and absurdity lies with the mental midget who believes their religious faith trumps all. Frankly, these sorts of anti-intellectual Christians do a more than adequate job of self-parody without the help of those of us who don’t believe in God.
The assertion that “perhaps Professor Bang should learn a little more about the U.S. Constitution, read the Federalist papers, or take a religion class” is just too stupid for words. The professor is teaching a biology class, and while I can’t speak to his knowledge (or lack of same) of the Constitution, that has nothing to do with the subject matter at hand. Neither the Constitution nor the Federalist papers have ANYTHING to do with the science of biology.
Expecting that the professor “cite a verse from Genesis in his next presentation” is prima facie absurd, because were talking about a Biology 100 course. If you want Genesis, might I suggest finding a Sunday School class? I’d hazard a guess that Professor Bang doesn’t answer to the head of the Theology Department…because he teaches SCIENCE, not belief in an imaginary friend in the sky who’s pissed that a beginning biology class doesn’t include a nod to Conservative Christianity. What’s next? Will we next have to deal with demands that classes henceforth be opened with a prayer and a quote from Scripture?
Is it any wonder why I fear for the future or our republic?
