Billy Graham, now 87, recently gave an extended interview to Newsweek reporter Jon Meacham. The interview contained a few surprises that brightened my day. First, Graham indicated that Christians need not be Bible literalists: The new interviews with NEWSWEEK, however, reveal a more intriguing figure than either his followers or his critics…
I’d like to do another riff on the science and religion thing, so bear with me. I largely don’t bother going on about this issue anymore, except in those instances where there may be an audience of undecideds.
One of the things about Americans in small groups is that by and large we will listen and we will weigh what we hear before making up our minds. It comes down to the slickness of the rhetoric or the overwhelming honesty of an argument. That’s on us, we who bother to make such arguments. It helps to remember that we do this for those who haven’t made up their minds yet.
Evolution vs Creation Science. The arguments are settled, the science is in, there’s no real dispute except on the Culture War Front. Evangelicals simply don’t like the program. When the truth destroys a cherished myth, print the myth. An old newspaper adage from the 19th Century.
We’ve been having this crap now for a couple of decades at least, in Kansas back in the 90s, and the issue is well-enough known and the stakes thoroughly understood by enough folks on both sides that anyone moving to circumvent the Supreme Court decision (Edwards vs Aguillard, 1987) is doing so with the knowledge that they are being duplicitous. They have decided that, as they cannot win their case on the basis of fact and reason, and since they believe they are right and everyone who disagrees with them is wrong, any tactic …
This link is to the district court ruling in the Dover, PA trial about so-called Intelligent Design. It is worth reading in full, especially in light of the recent survey publish in Science about our understanding–lack of, actually–of biology. Basically, the judge threw out the claim by the defendants, that evolution is “merely a theory” and that Intelligent Design is somehow legitimate science.
This, of course, settles nothing in the long run. The true believers who pulled this stunt to begin with will not be persuaded, nor will they long shut up. That’s fine, that’s their prerogative, and it’s as should be in this country. My hope is that this will not be the last shot fired in defense of science and reason, against irrationalism and spiritual chicanery.
The critics of Judge Jones’ decision have come out screaming that he has overstepped his authority. He has written a pretty scathing and detailed decision. I can certainly see that he has hopes it will be used in other districts, as a means to settle this–at least legally–where and when it crops up. I personally see his response as fairly restrained, considering the clear frustration behind it. He has invoked the ground state complaint of the conservative–it has been a waste of tax payer money.
The profoundest irony, politically, is that Jones is a George W. Bush appointee. The right-wing Jesus faction of the Republican Party must be seized with apoplexy at this. One of their own–one anointed by their own prophet-in-power–has …
Most American citizens believe that voters elect our state and federal legislators. They would be wrong. Elections are rigged by the massive amounts of money that fund them, and legislators are bought and sold in accordance with their campaign fund contributors. This money does not come from you or me. We could never hope to contribute enough to sway an election, we just don’t have enough to compete. The money comes from corporations. How do I know (besides from the minimal reports politicians must file)? I know from the end result, from the laws that result.
Imagine yourself a working mother or father. You work hard everyday. You earn your paycheck, and like nearly everyone, it is spent when you get it. If you are a poor family, maybe your optional luxuries include pizza out one night. If your family is a little better off, maybe it means a real dinner out. Then a little ‘hitch’ arises. The electric bill comes in, and because it has been so hot, it is more than anticipated. Or maybe the car needs new brakes. Or maybe, heaven help you, someone gets really ill and you have bad or no health insurance.
So you borrow money. You go to the payday lender down the street. You know the kind, they are popping up all over the place. Despite this kind of lending being legal (or thought up) only for the past couple of years, there are already more payday lending stores in this country …
[Note: I wrote this piece in 2003, shortly before the U.S. invaded Iraq].
The trouble with writing these opinion pieces is they require such intense emotional energy to write. It’s a very exhausting business. But then, so is life these days. We all go about our lives quite admirably, but the low hum of threat, the “war and rumors of war” is wearing on us all.
The intense emotion that I’m experiencing these days is sadness, produced by the news, produced by the innocence of so many of our students who are willing to fling themselves into the fray in the name of God, president and country. It’s all too reminiscent of those equally innocent boys who threw themselves, during my parents’ lifetimes, into the defense of God, king and country. One way or another, those boys were not innocent for long.
What amazes me is how surprised some of us are by all this, and I’m including myself in the “us.” I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, my parents survived two world wars in Great Britain and described the horrors of the second in vivid detail. I think, though, it’s only been since September 11, 2001, I’ve truly understood what my parents experienced. The stories they told me when I was a child enthralled me, kept me spellbound as they recounted them to me. But I, too, was innocent. The stories were family saga, not reality, shrouded in the mists of mythology for me.
My parents described the adventure …