Saturday, January 19, 2008

TGIF (ramblings on Huckabee, evolution and my truck)

TG also I have a 3-day weekend. Plan on taking the truck to the shop on Monday. (I called yesterday and it will be open.) Meanwhile I took the truck out tonight and bought a load of groceries (it started here and at the store, too, so I didn't have to call a cab to get home, as I did last time). Am making a brisket (on sale) in the crockpot for tomorrow's lunch, which will include wild rice and spinach. (Meat is getting awfully expensive.)

Regarding Huckabee and all that. I was the best biology student in my high school (Coral Gables); I got the the highest score on the Advance Placement biology exam, when I was a sophomore. (I was in a program called "Motivation in Depth for Gifted High School Science Students.") (I went on to get a degree in literature.) What good biology student doesn't accept evolution? At the time, however, I was readily able to reconcile my acceptance of evolution (it's not a "belief") with my own Methodist upbringing. I just thought that God was the prime mover in evolution. How simple is that? I don't see why "good" Christians can't accept evolution.

This refusal to accept evolution is a fairly recent development, however, as the fundamentalist sects--in their failure of imagination--have more and more come to demand a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible. I find this sad. The Bible is a great work of poetry as much as anything, and should be read and appreciated as such. It should not be reduced to some kind of practical manual for living. (I don't think God would approve!)

According to what I've read, this push to make the Bible into a lowly, uninspired user's guide has led to a de-emphasis on science education in the United States. That's a shame. If our children don't receive a good education in hard science, as a nation we won't be able to compete in the world and will surely suffer for it.

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