Friday, September 16, 2005
Belief
So, that's another thing that drives me nuts. When people say "I believe in evolution" or "I don't believe in evolution." It's not a matter of faith. It's a matter of truth, actual scientific truth. When people "believe in evolution," what they actually mean is, evolution is a compelling theory that explains all sorts of observations consistently. When people "don't believe in evolution," what they mean is that they choose to ignore the explanatory power of evolutionary theory, and in most cases, to ignore the observations themselves. There is no belief or disbelief; there is science, and there is willful ignorance.
Imagine if someone didn't "believe" the theory of gravity. That wouldn't change the fact that he or she falls down, or that it is an objective truth that gravity exists. If that someone went around saying that there was no gravity, and that everybody was actually floating around the world, reasonable people would look at the evidence surrounding them and call the gravity denier a fool.
The only difference between a gravity-denier and an evolution-denier is that the evidence for evolution isn't as personally obvious as falling out of bed. You have to read books and look at bones to get a handle on some of it. But it's still objectively true. Believe it or not.
Imagine if someone didn't "believe" the theory of gravity. That wouldn't change the fact that he or she falls down, or that it is an objective truth that gravity exists. If that someone went around saying that there was no gravity, and that everybody was actually floating around the world, reasonable people would look at the evidence surrounding them and call the gravity denier a fool.
The only difference between a gravity-denier and an evolution-denier is that the evidence for evolution isn't as personally obvious as falling out of bed. You have to read books and look at bones to get a handle on some of it. But it's still objectively true. Believe it or not.
