intelligent design

hi. i was just listening to air american radio this morning and reminded of how frighteningly ridiculous our government has become. it's this whole concept of teaching "intelligent design" in public schools as if it were some alternative scientific theory on par with evolution instead of just a load a bullsh*t. pardon my french, but intelligent design is not a theory. it is an article of faith, and whatever "evidence" these bible beaters conjure up to support their "theory" really just undermines their religious belief if you ask me. the bible never said that it was proposing a scientific theory when it told the story of genesis and the creation of the earth. it was an allegory meant to inspire reverence for the grandness of god's creation. the folks on air america were mentioning how "days" as we know them cannot exist without the sun which was created on one of those "days." makes sense, but that just proves my point -- you can't argue science against faith. they exist on different planes -- one rational, the other spiritual, both valuable.

what scares me so much is that i am reminded of high school. i grew up without any sort of organized religion. when i had questions about where we came from or how the earth came into being, i looked to science. i never knew any other way. i assumed everyone else was like me in that regard. but i was wrong. amazing that growing up in texas my theory that everyone was like me wasn't challenged until high school. i went to a private prep school that claimed no affiliation with the episcopal church next door (despite our weekly "chapel" excursions to said church which included a rote recitation of the lord's prayer...hmm...). once over lunch, i found my friends arguing with one member of our group over evolution. i'm not sure how the topic came up, but i was shocked to learn that 9 out of 10 of my friends did not believe in evolution. they were attacking my one friend, w, pointing at a glass of water and saying things like, "so you believe we came from this???" i couldn't believe what i was hearing! you mean you don't? you think that the first man was made out of clay and women were made from this guy's rib??? they then went to go get one of our history teachers to prove their point. i thought, phew, at least she'll knock some sense into them. but, no, she didn't... more shocking than my barely post-pubescent friends believing that evolution was questionable, but our history teacher believed that there was geological proof of genesis. geological proof of genesis!!! what? where? how? i thought all geological evidence proved that the earth was billions of years old?!? it was this moment when i decided to leave texas for good. there's no way i'm raising my children in a state where more than 50% of intelligent, well-educated folks think evolution is questionable because there's "evidence" for genesis.

anyway, you can imagine the fear that set-in when i first learned that individuals within our federal government thought that "intelligent design" should be taught as an alternative to evolution in our public schools. i realize that i just ended any hope of having a reasonable discourse with folks on the other side of the debate -- you know, beginning by calling "intelligent design" bullsh*t and all...

next post will be a fun one... i promise!