Creationists are Trying to Push Forward a Regressive Agenda on Darwin Day

By C Barnett --
12 Feb 2016 --

Creationism, despite proof to the contrary, refuses to go away.

Science educators are trying hard to make people understand the beauty of science, and one of science's celebratory days is Darwin Day on February 12. The day was named after Charles Darwin, the British naturalist. Even after his landmark work on natural selection, it seemed that anti-evolution camp was apparently still going strong. Darwinian theory opponents have tried – and was successful in passing laws that will allow the teaching of an “alternative” theory of evolution. These opponents successfully passed such laws in Louisiana and Tennessee. Two other states, Iowa and Oklahoma, are considering the passage of similar blatantly pro-creationist bills.

Creationists are Trying to Push Forward a Regressive Agenda on Darwin Day[/tweetthis]

However, rebuffs from US courts have compelled anti-evolutionists to conceptualize a policy sufficiently vague to avoid the rigors of a legal court, and at the same time be adequately specified so that politicians of a conservative hue will try to uphold their agenda. Creationism is thus changed to “Intelligent Design” and advocates now speak of “academic freedom” and “Science Education Acts.” No mention is made of a designer or creator. Worse is the pairing with actual issues like human cloning and climate change.

One of the many fossils that proves evolution – in 60 seconds.#DarwinDay https://t.co/xRisGUexdL
— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) February 12, 2016

Such intermingling of cloaked religion with actual events marks an attempt to bypass prior legal decisions. This suggests that singling out evolution is clear evidence of going against science and consequently unconstitutional. Creationists also have the additional motivation of having a shared dislike of the climate change research by religious and economic conservatives.

It is a sad affair that presidential nominees are also playing into the Creation game. Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio both played the Creation card when queried whether they question evolution. Among the general populace, approximately 65 percent believed in evolution. About 31 percent rejected evolution completely. The latter believed that humans existed from the start.

#DarwinDay Today we honor #CharlesDarwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882), the English naturalist and geologist! pic.twitter.com/rX5LOYobBU
— John Moffitt (@JohnRMoffitt) February 12, 2016

Between science and creationism lies a middle path. The Clergy Letter Project makes an effort to project that it is possible for religion and evolution to co-exist. About 14,000 clergy members have signed one of for Clergy Letters. These letters support teaching of evolution with science classrooms as core part of human knowledge.

Thousands of members from he Christian clergy, including Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics and Lutherans have stated that modern biology and religion are completely compatible. This movement has been joined by Buddhist, Unitarian Universalist and Jewish clergy.