Friday, April 29, 2005

Creationists qua lynch mob

Lynching is wrong because it circumvents the legal system. Ditto for the creationist movement, which seeks to circumvent the system by which ideas enter scientific acceptance and classroom biology. Even worse, creationism is a lynching after loss of final appeal: Generations of geologists and natural historians tried interpreting the world through a literal reading of Genesis--tried and tried again. But the case for Genesis, literally read, proved not to hold water. The bitter injustice felt by contemporary fundamentalists is unfortunate, but they need to be made to understand that their complaint was given exceptionally thorough and sincere consideration by some of the smartest and most creative people who ever lived. The matter was decided in the midst of much tumult many years ago, and it's time to move on.

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