In the beginning...

Lately I find myself on a religious ranty kick.

I ran into a neat story yesterday talking about how 1/4 schools in the USA still teach creationism as some part of their curriculum. After some circular discussion, it got me thinking... I wonder if by "teach" they mean mention as an alternative method of the universe being created or whether they mean full-on "let's teach this as if it's definitive fact".

As a matter of course, religion aside, I generally call bullshit when people try to tell me how the universe was created. "It's scientifically proven fact!" they cry. "Bullshit" I call.

Here's my thing: I could care less what logical or religious construction that you personally follow to make sense of the universe that we live in. My gripe is that you can't use "science" to explain the unexplainable any more than you can use "faith". Science is great at coming up with theories which are used to advance knowledge - that's the big benefit logically speaking. The great thing about the present Big Bang Theory (BTW, love the show as well) is that you can use it to explain many things that happen in our universe. However, it's not definitive fact, it's a theory. Do we know that the universe is expanding from our frame of reference... sure, I can accept that. Do we know how the details on how the universe came into creation? No.

Technically speaking, I don't know anything beyond my experience as an individual if you want to get right down to it. Who is to say that today doesn't exist in my mind alone and everyone is made up? In short Occam's razor changed my life.

Personally I think there's as much benefit in teaching creationism as speaking about how the Catholic Church used to espouse that the Earth circled the Sun. That is, it's a great example of how organized societies (i.e. churches) can combat knowledge, deride people who disagree with them, and artificially force thought down a path. But the same parallel holds with "Science".

Heck if people want to believe that God created some dinosaur bones then no harm, no foul, as long as you present all the information on the different views then I have no gripe. Or present the scientific theory of today as theory and explain that many times we revise our theories as time goes on.

Stating that the Big Bang Theory is fact is no more true than claiming that I have an excess of humours in my spleen. In short, I call bullshit. :)


Snakes, I hate snakes by *pachocanadian on deviantART