News
One of the greatest scientific achievements of the human mind “ranks with Copernicus’ discovery that the Earth is not the center of the universe” ... “compares with Einstein’s formulation of the laws of general relativity” ... “is as important as the Watson-Crick model of DNA which set off the genetic revolution.” This is the language used by historians of science to describe Charles Darwin’s principles of evolution. These principles underlie and inform every facet of the biological world. They are the foundation on which all of biology and medicine are built.
“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,” said renowned American biologist T. Dobzhansky, a devoutly religious Christian.
The evidence for the current model of evolution is so voluminous that it fills whole libraries and so strong that among the hundreds of thousands biological scientists around the world it is extremely difficult to find one who does not regard the principles of evolution as fundamental. These principles are taught as part of the biological curriculum in schools in all parts of the world. Evolution is the underlying theme on hundreds of television shows about the workings of nature and is accepted as fact by most people on the planet.
There exists, however, one glaring exception to the otherwise universal celebration of these discoveries about how the biological world operates: the Christian fundamentalists of the United States. And herein lies one of the great enigmas of our time. How is it that in the most advanced scientific country in the world, we have at the same time one of the most scientifically illiterate general populations on the planet?
According to a recent poll nearly half of all Americans believe that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time, making us a laughingstock of the educated world. In every survey of scientific literacy conducted in recent years, Americans rank at the bottom of the 40 westernized nations compared, placing us at about the same level as several Third World nations which spend only a fraction of what we do on education. Our collective preference for ignorance is mirrored in the newspapers we read which have daily columns on astrology but none on science, except in a few of the better big city journals.
This enigmatic and sad state of American science education is skewered nicely by a new book, “Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters” by Donald Prothero, by far the best and most readable discussion (written for non-scientists) to appear in many years. Dr. Prothero pulls no punches in laying much of the blame at the feet of the Creationists and the Christian far right, a large and increasingly vocal part of our population, especially prominent in the Grand Valley. Even though these folks (who like to style their views as “Intelligent Design”) have lost every single court battle in attempts to force their religious agenda on the public schools, they have been very effective in using political intimidation, community pressure and right wing politicians — notably among the Bush administration (the most anti-science presidency in memory) to dumb down the teaching of the biological sciences in our public schools.
In many high schools across the country the subject of evolution is barely mentioned because teachers are endlessly intimidated by local fundamentalist parents and not supported by their politically nervous administrations who lack the will to face the constant political battles raised by the well financed religious extremists.
I have been told by bright young students that the teaching of the principles of evolution is nearly nonexistent at Grand Junction High School because of parental intimidation. I hope that rumor is wrong and that I will be corrected. However, the bottom line is that we are creating yet another generation of students who, with the notable exception of a few gifted individuals who take charge of their own education, are largely ignorant of the facts which their peers around the world take for granted. The scientific advances of the future and the concomitant economic prosperity will be in the hands of those who understand the tools of science.
The fundamentalists argue that their literal interpretation of the Bible is the only one and that anyone who accepts evolution is an atheist. In this stance they grossly insult many millions of other Christians who accept evolution as the method which God chose to populate the planet. For the Catholic world the issue is clear, as Pope John Paul II announced that “Evolution is compatible with Christian faith.” The same is true of most mainstream Protestant and Jewish denominations as demonstrated by the Clergy Letter Project signed by nearly 12,000 (as of August 2008) ministers, priests and rabbis who accept evolution and do not view it as incompatible with religious belief.
As for me the term “intelligent design” always brings forth a big chuckle as I contemplate my own body with those useless tonsils which caused me so many problems as a young college student, with this functionless appendix which may become lethally infected, with those nipples which have no possible function in males, with the wisdom teeth some of which never appeared and others which caused much grief, with the tail bone vertebrae which still result in a functional tail with musculature in a small number of humans but which are otherwise merely a remnant of our evolutionary past as with all of the other vestigial organs mentioned above. So much for “intelligent design!”
Dr. J. Eugene Fox is a retired professor of biochemistry and a medical scientist who spent two years in Washington, D.C., as director of the cell biology program for the National Science Foundation. The Grand Junction resident writes a column twice a month for the Grand Junction Free Press.
“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,” said renowned American biologist T. Dobzhansky, a devoutly religious Christian.
The evidence for the current model of evolution is so voluminous that it fills whole libraries and so strong that among the hundreds of thousands biological scientists around the world it is extremely difficult to find one who does not regard the principles of evolution as fundamental. These principles are taught as part of the biological curriculum in schools in all parts of the world. Evolution is the underlying theme on hundreds of television shows about the workings of nature and is accepted as fact by most people on the planet.
There exists, however, one glaring exception to the otherwise universal celebration of these discoveries about how the biological world operates: the Christian fundamentalists of the United States. And herein lies one of the great enigmas of our time. How is it that in the most advanced scientific country in the world, we have at the same time one of the most scientifically illiterate general populations on the planet?
According to a recent poll nearly half of all Americans believe that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time, making us a laughingstock of the educated world. In every survey of scientific literacy conducted in recent years, Americans rank at the bottom of the 40 westernized nations compared, placing us at about the same level as several Third World nations which spend only a fraction of what we do on education. Our collective preference for ignorance is mirrored in the newspapers we read which have daily columns on astrology but none on science, except in a few of the better big city journals.
This enigmatic and sad state of American science education is skewered nicely by a new book, “Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters” by Donald Prothero, by far the best and most readable discussion (written for non-scientists) to appear in many years. Dr. Prothero pulls no punches in laying much of the blame at the feet of the Creationists and the Christian far right, a large and increasingly vocal part of our population, especially prominent in the Grand Valley. Even though these folks (who like to style their views as “Intelligent Design”) have lost every single court battle in attempts to force their religious agenda on the public schools, they have been very effective in using political intimidation, community pressure and right wing politicians — notably among the Bush administration (the most anti-science presidency in memory) to dumb down the teaching of the biological sciences in our public schools.
In many high schools across the country the subject of evolution is barely mentioned because teachers are endlessly intimidated by local fundamentalist parents and not supported by their politically nervous administrations who lack the will to face the constant political battles raised by the well financed religious extremists.
I have been told by bright young students that the teaching of the principles of evolution is nearly nonexistent at Grand Junction High School because of parental intimidation. I hope that rumor is wrong and that I will be corrected. However, the bottom line is that we are creating yet another generation of students who, with the notable exception of a few gifted individuals who take charge of their own education, are largely ignorant of the facts which their peers around the world take for granted. The scientific advances of the future and the concomitant economic prosperity will be in the hands of those who understand the tools of science.
The fundamentalists argue that their literal interpretation of the Bible is the only one and that anyone who accepts evolution is an atheist. In this stance they grossly insult many millions of other Christians who accept evolution as the method which God chose to populate the planet. For the Catholic world the issue is clear, as Pope John Paul II announced that “Evolution is compatible with Christian faith.” The same is true of most mainstream Protestant and Jewish denominations as demonstrated by the Clergy Letter Project signed by nearly 12,000 (as of August 2008) ministers, priests and rabbis who accept evolution and do not view it as incompatible with religious belief.
As for me the term “intelligent design” always brings forth a big chuckle as I contemplate my own body with those useless tonsils which caused me so many problems as a young college student, with this functionless appendix which may become lethally infected, with those nipples which have no possible function in males, with the wisdom teeth some of which never appeared and others which caused much grief, with the tail bone vertebrae which still result in a functional tail with musculature in a small number of humans but which are otherwise merely a remnant of our evolutionary past as with all of the other vestigial organs mentioned above. So much for “intelligent design!”
Dr. J. Eugene Fox is a retired professor of biochemistry and a medical scientist who spent two years in Washington, D.C., as director of the cell biology program for the National Science Foundation. The Grand Junction resident writes a column twice a month for the Grand Junction Free Press.
