The Wisdom of Darwin

Modern Conservative ^ | February 12, 2009 | Gina L. Diorio

[thinkingIsPresuppositional]

In anticipation of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth today, yesterday, Gallup released a new poll revealing that only 4 in 10 (39 percent) Americans actually believe the theory of evolution. Meanwhile, 25 percent do not believe the theory, and 36 percent have no opinion either way. Not surprisingly, the poll also shows the percentage of individuals adhering to Darwinian evolution spikes considerably among those with advanced education degrees.

For example, while 21 percent of those with high school educations or less believe in evolution, 41 percent with some college and 53 percent of college graduates hold to the theory. Furthermore, a full 74 percent of those with postgraduate degrees believe the theory.

Why is this spike predictable?

Not because scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports Darwinian evolution and students learn this evidence throughout their educational careers but rather because compelling scientific evidence that sheds doubt on accepted evolutionary theory is censored in the classrooms.

Consider, for example, the case of Baylor University Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Robert Marks, whose Evolutionary Informatics Laboratory website the university took offline citing complaints – anonymous ones, of course – linking the lab to intelligent design, the theory that “certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.”

Or note the case of former Iowa State University Professor Guillermo Gonzalez, who was denied tenure and lost his job because of his opinions regarding intelligent design – opinions expressed in his book, The Privileged Plant: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery. It should be noted that at the time of the controversy, Gonzalez had published more peer-reviewed articles than any other ISU faculty member who was granted tenure that year except one.

Then there is the case of Caroline Crocker, a PhD in biology who argues, “There really is not a lot of evidence for evolution,” and who believes she lost her teaching position at George Mason University because she taught her students the problems with evolution – problems she encountered while pursuing her PhD in biology.

Indeed, while many scientists advance evolution as undisputed fact, the reality is quite different. Hundreds of scientists holding advanced degrees in fields including physics, biological sciences, genetics, neuroscience, molecular and cellular biology, and more have publicly stated their skepticism of “the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life.” (See Dissent from Darwin.)

Contrary to popular belief, the prevailing view among many of these scientists is not that evolutionary biology should be eliminated from classroom teaching but rather that it should be taught fully – which means teaching the scientific evidence that negates the theory as well as research that supports it.

Indeed, to this end, many states are considering Academic Freedom legislation, which would protect the rights of teachers and students to explore scientific views critical of Darwinian evolution. Additionally, while today has been tagged “Darwin Day,” many are opting instead to celebrate Academic Freedom Day.

Darwin himself wisely said, “A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.” Darwinian evolutionists themselves should espouse this view instead of – ironically – censoring scientific advancement in the name of “evolution.”

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Gina L. Diorio is a full-time freelance writer. Please visit her website at www.LibertyWritingSolutions.com.

[ari-freedom]

Darwin...Obama...we must...not... entertain opposing views...

[Darth Dan]

Is that a picture of “Obambies”? ;)

[BillT]

Let's see; the longer you stay in education the more your teachers ONLY give you evolution as the only theory. Yeah this makes sense, what else do they teach you that is wrong?

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[Ol' Sparky]

The wisdom of Darwin? His theory is as laughable as the flat-earth theory centuries and the global-cooling theory of the 1970s. The Cambrian Explosion -- showing species appearing suddenly and fully-formed -- prove what a fool Darwin was.

Darwinism is only maintained by those desperate to reject the idea of an intelligent creator and is done so based on premises that unprovable and unfalsifiable.

It's disgusting on a conservative website this propaganda is being posted.