Saturday, November 12, 2011

Has Freedom Been Expelled?

 I haven't written lately. My last post was over a month ago, and even going onto the blogspot website made me feel guilty because I promised myself I would keep up with it and with life's hustle and bustle I haven't really been true to that promise. However, today I HAD to write.  I was exposed to something so disturbing to me that I felt I had to share. Disclaimer: this is going to be long and a little bit messy. My thoughts are banging around like pinballs. Moreover, I am not a scientist, but am explaining much of this as I see it and understand it.  If I am incorrect or have misunderstood something, please share.

Josiah and I had breakfast this morning, and then afterward, before he went to work, he put in a documentary by Ben Stein in the DVD player titled "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." The documentary was about the "war" between scientists that believe in the Darwinian theory of evolution vs. those who hold intelligent design theories and the lack of objectivity on the behalf of the scientific powers that be.

Here's the deal folks: I don't know how biased this documentary actually was. Just like a Michael Moore documentary, I don't know how much of this information was skewed, edited, and put into a box to fit an agenda.  It didn't seem that way to me, but you never can tell. However, I do know that he interviewed some professors and scientists at some of the most prestigious universities and respected institutions...and some of the stuff that came out of these people's mouths were jaw-dropping, "Slap my momma!You did not just say that!" statements. The anger of these people at the mere mention of the theory of Intelligent Design was shocking. Furthermore, I found some stuff out about this history of the things our children are being taught, and the moral and ethical standards of their founders...and I wanna vomit a little.

First, let's just deal with a couple definitions, shall we? 
  1. Intelligent design does not mean creationism.  Creationism is a religious tenet of Christianity and Judaism based upon the creation story in the Old Testament (or the Torah).  Intelligent design, on the other hand, is a scientific theory stating that the complexity of life and the order found in nature points to some sort of intelligent designer.
  2. Evolution does not necessarily mean Darwinism. They are not interchangeable terms.  Darwinism is the belief that all life descended from one common ancestor; basically, from that one ancestor came all other species.  This is also called macroevolution.  Microevolution, on the other hand, deals with the small changes that occur in a species over an extended period of time.
From everything I've been able to find, microevolution is a fact, and no one is denying it.  Conversely, macroevolution, the appearance of NEW traits (not adaptations) or new species, is merely a theory.  Furthermore, while I've been able to find much "evidence" of common descent (or what scientists have placed in the box and turned into evidence of common descent) I cannot find any clear clear evidence of new species or traits in species (once again, please let me know if I'm wrong here people).

In addition to this, scientists have absolutely NO CLUE how life originated.  A single-celled organism huh?  Where's the factual basis for that?  And where did this amoeba-like thing get it's life from?  "No one knows." Who said that?  None other than leading Darwin expert and noted atheist Richard Dawkins.  Know what else he said when asked about how life may have begun?  He stated that some OTHER species existing in the universe who also evolved by "Darwinian means" may have "seeded" life here on this planet.  So, he gives credit to the theory of Intelligent Design, just not to God.  He would rather think aliens did it because, yeah, there's plenty of evidence for that theory.

So, you're probably thinking, "*yawn* old news, Alissa.  Why is this important?"  It's important because folks are getting FIRED from major universities for even mentioning the theory of intelligent design...losing tenure kind of fired. I don't mean that they've decided to teach it instead of evolution or even given it equal credit.  They've mentioned it and been fired.  Can someone please explain to me why students are getting raped and universities are covering it up, but someone mentions a scientific theory that may or not be related to God and they are canned?  Anyone?  Anyone?

So, we're supposed to have freedom of speech, but you go to question a scientific theory that has holes in it like swiss cheese in a mouse colony and the scientific community will shut. you. down.  Not comforting.  What's worse? Kids are being taught this stuff like it is absolute fact and like no other plausible theories exist.  They point to the fact that no evidence has been found that ID is correct.  Um, hello!  That's because if the theory is mentioned people are being blacklisted. These people have made Darwinism there religion folks, and anyone who mentions another theory is accused of scientific heresy.  Anyone remember Galileo?

If there is actually no scientific evidence for ID, then why do they view it as so dangerous.  It's just a theory right?  If these scientists investigate are allowed to investigate it and they find nothing, where is the harm in that? Why are they all so terrified? 

It killed me to sit there and listen to scientists who say they used to have some sort of faith, say that they now see it as utterly useless.  One of them stated that you shouldn't take religion away from people because it comforts them "like knitting" (seriously, he said knitting) and that religion is fine as long as it is kept in its proper place: "something fun that people get together and do on the weekend." Nice. I'm so glad he could put my faith in perspective for me.

One of the most heart-wrenching things I heard during the almost 2 hour long film, was part of an interview with Will Provine, professor of History of Biology at Cornell University. He talks about how he grew up as a Christian, but never heard of evolution because he was raised in Tennessee. Then, he took biology in college and it was just a short jump to atheism.  I wonder about poor Dr. Provine. Did he ever really have faith?  Or did he just go to church and recite what he was taught? He goes on to say that once we grasp the truth of Darwinism, we will find that there is no purpose in our lives.  No free will. No imminent morality.  No ultimate foundation to ethics.  He says:
If you believe in evolution, you can't hope for there to be any free will. There is no hope whatsoever in there being any deep meaning in human life. We live, we die, and we're gone. Absolutely gone.
 All I can say is may the good Lord help us all...because in light of this, we really need it.

**If anyone would like to watch the film in question, it can be found on youtube in its entirety here.**