Borg’s Blog

I am troubled by the resurgence of a fundamentalist attack upon the grand theory of evolution. My school is a Catholic institution within the Bible Belt of the great American mid-west. Religion is integral part of our general education core but so is Science. There are many of us in the academy who do not see a natural conflict between the teachings of faith and Charles Darwin. Who can say with certainty evolution is not part of God’s plan?

Consider this film. It is the story of the Scopes Trial. It reveals the debate as one based upon the dark emotions of man rather than reason. Who knows the mind of God? Remember the Greeks considered pride the most serious of sins. Are we not guilty of hubris when we condemn something we don’t understand?

Personally I do not believe man will ever evolve to the point where he will understand the true nature of God to such an extent that he can become judge and jury over His thoughts and deeds. I do believe we have minds with which to question and learn. Failing to do so is not only a waste of intelligence but a sin against the nature of man. To ban the teaching of evolution is just such a sin.

Educators do not seek to tell the clergy what to preach in their churches. What right do the religious possess to influence the work done inside the classroom? Let’s not limit the thoughts of our children. Rather let’s have faith in their ability to think critically and recognize truth.

I received the following message from my brother in response to sharing the film’s link. “Do you really believe in evolution ? It is greatly overrated. Impossible to prove. Requires great faith to accept. I doubt that it even qualifies as a theory.” This is from a learned surgeon who I have respected since childhood. Yet his words hit me like a slap on the face. How could a man of medicine and science be so unaware of the great advances in computational biology and genomics which reveal close relationships between the various species?

That’s the problem with evolution. Its so slow!