I just came to the realization as to why the religious and creationist wackos hate science. We all have heard the phrase, “god helps those that help themselves.” This guiding philosophy has been both the impetus and driving force behind the technology and science of man. The more illiterate among us, myself included, would assume this quote to be a variation on a bible verse but it actually originated from Ben Franklin and his Poor Richard’s almanac. In fact the bible take on helping yourself is far different:
Jer 17:5 (NIV) This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
Prov 28:26 (NIV) He who trusts in himself is a fool…
The answer and direction espoused by these verses is quite clear to a true believer: obedience to god and prayer is the only answer to living your life. This is a fundamental religious dogma that is necessary for religious leaders to maintain control over men. And remember most religion has little to do with god but has so much more to do with men controlling the destinies of other men. Blasphemy you say? Well ask yourself why have there been tens of thousands of different religions created over time? Can they all be right? How do you know your’s is right? The Egyptians were pretty sure they got it right and so were the Mayans and now we scoff at those beliefs. Do you think for a second our religions won’t change too over time as our knowldege grows? True believers don’t want to ask these questions nor do they want somebody else doing the same. Just wouldn’t be kosher to cast doubt on the words men use to speak for god.
Wow, when you analyze rigid fundamentalist bible thinking like the verses above you got to wonder why and how we got to the present stage in our cultural development? The answer is simple. Over the years science has proven to be more effective than prayer in improving our living standards. Prayer takes you only so far and if you believe in free will even the religious among you have to acknowledge that god will only go so far in helping you. I mean if god was going to intervene on a daily basis you think he would have thrown his weight behind rescuing the 12 million people that were being sent to the death camps in WWII. I mean there had to be some good people that died in the holocaust, right? Oh, I forgot that was Darwin’s fault according to Ben Stein and the Expelled crowd, as if hundreds of years of anti-Semitism never existed before. On the other hand, you have sports athlete regularly muttering silent prayers to god for his intervention. I don’t know, you have to take responsibility for your own life at some point and begging god for help is really an ineffective strategy in terms of getting ahead in your life. You can ask for strength but not for direct help!
Science and technology are at the forefront of that do it yourself belief culture and evolution/genetics are just one branch on that tree of thought. Compare ID as a science with biology. Intelligent Design arguments can be basically boiled down to a single argument of irreducible complexity, that is to say that life is far too complex to have been created by time and a series of random events/mutation alone and, finally, that most mutations are not beneficial to a living organism. That’s it, it is more of a negative argument than a substantial alternative theory. So what do they propose to teach in place of evolution? Intelligent Design has little to say about this other than there was some intelligent agent responsible for the creation and direction of life, wink wink…god!
So what can you do if you believe in Intelligent Design? I’m afraid it is more of the old bible formula of prayer and obedience. No sense in studying fossils because god was directing everything and his ways are not that easily discernible by man. I mean all of the extinct species were all in the Garden of Eden anyway at about the same time and wiped out by the flood, right? Genetics, who the hell needs genetics when god is at the steering wheel? And that is the problem with Intelligent Design, as my old genetics teacher once said, “you can’t do much with it.” But don’t worry if we Americans as a people decide to turn our collective backs on the teaching of evolution and genetics you can rest assured the rest of the world won’t feel so obliged and they will gladly fill the void. That will be a sorry day as a great nation and experiment in democracy falls to the dustbins of history.
Erik John Bertel
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