purple people eaters

Miss P writes:

And on the 7^th day he rested…I think NOT, Caitlin my dear!   Today's topic: Evolution…  ;)

It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition.

- Isaac Asimov

I saw this quote and thought I'd alter it for our fearless blogger…

It is the blogger who will catch the boredom of her favorite office workers, and mix and beat it down and bake that shit into a fabulous fruitcake.

-          Penney Powell 

Cait betta gets ta bakin'!

So come one and all fellow bored office workers and let us eat!!!

:-)

I love it.  If only she knew how little my culinary skills have progressed.  At least I can "cook" with words, because my baking skills are severely lacking!! (you know, I think i should learn to make a fruitcake.  Then I could just, you know...hand them out at Christmas.  A fruitcake from Fruitcake?  No?  Not funny?  Whatever.)

Evolution...that's a can of worms.  Once again, I'm at odds with so many on this one.  But not necessarily for the reasons you might think. 

I don't have any answers.  I don't know which way to cast my lot--some would say that it condemns me to hell to consider anything other than creationism, that even questioning the idea that God created the world, Adam and Eve, Garden of Eden, Genesis-fishcakes.  To question creationism, to listen to the reasoning of science means, to some, that I'm siding with Darwin, that the ability to question and reason and think things through and not blindly accept the religious right's propaganda...I am condemning myself to hell for even considering the idea that Darwin could be right.

I don't know.  But I do know this.  Why on EARTH would we choose to only educate our children on one side of the issue?  Is that what we really want for the future?  To only see one side of an arguement?  To teach them that questioning and exploring the possiblities and making an informed and educated decision...on anything, not just about this particular topic...is the way to go?  Do we want to hide the truth?  Or possible truths? 

I found this statement in reference to Evolution Sunday 2007 (which, incidentally, is this Sunday.)

    We believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern     science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a     foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and             upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this         truth or to treat it as "one theory among others" is to deliberately embrace             scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe         that among God's good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and     that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator.     To argue that God's loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full         employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an         act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the     science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core     component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that     religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of  truth               The Clergy Project

To reject science and research because of religious beliefs is to reject medicine, to reject technology, to reject moving forward. One of my favorite books of all time is Brave New World.  Is it any surprise to anyone who has read the book that I firmly support seeing all sides of an issue, to open your eyes and your minds and learn, explore, dream, and experience? Freedom to choose how to live our lives and to make educated decisions--to question your own beliefs and why you believe the things you do...why would we want to take that away from schoolchildren?  To turn them into mindless automatons who can't think for themselves.

Was there a "clockmaker" who wound up the earth and let it run its course?  Did God create the world in a week?  Did we evolve from sea anemones (ok, I just really like the word "anemone")?  No one can answer that with certainty.  That's a matter of faith.  But to know that there are other beliefs and other ideas than your own...that is a doorway to understanding.

On a personal note, I've enjoyed this tete-a-tete with Miss P, and thanks so much to everyone who has read and commented.  I'm sorry to see the week end!  I'll keep writing more often if you'll send me stuff...otherwise, I'll write when something moves me.  Like sea anemones.

Much love!