Why Evolution matters

In the post, the Republican Debate, from early May 2007, I noted with dismay that 3 of the candidates raised their hands to say they didn't 'believe' in the theory of evolution. They were Senator Sam Brownback, Governor Mike Huckabee, and Representative Tom Tancredo. Later Mitt Romney issued a statement suggesting he should have raised his hand, but didn't. The first three most likely won't win the nomination, but that's beside the point. The simple fact that three and maybe four of the guys running to lead this country are willfully ignorant shows the level that knowledge holds in the US.

A solid majority of people in the US think humans lived alongside of Dinosaurs. Many think the earth is around 6,000 years old, and God created it. And us.

Why does this matter? Why does it matter that people think there's life in their peanut butter and a Creationist Museum opened up in Ohio? Because dismissing the theory of evolution is the scientific equivalent of dismissing the theory of gravity. It's that sound of a theory. Meaning, one doesn't dismiss evolution as much as simply dismiss well-known facts. And when facts are dismissed, then more problems pop up. For instance, if the majority of Americans believe in evolution, why not believe God is responsible for Global Warming? Or AIDS?

And that's what at issue here. The idea that America can ignore facts. The King of the Republicans, Ronald Reagan noted that "Facts are stubborn things." In the Christian Republican world view, facts aren't important (even though they continue to be stubborn). Just because you don't want to believe that Dinosaurs roamed the earth hundreds of millions of years ago, doesn't mean they didn't. That's the thing about facts: even if you don't believe them, they don't go away.

True, sometimes Science changes them a little. Einstein changed Newton's description of gravity, but that didn't stop things from falling. And there are theories that could alter Einstein's theory of gravity, but again, if you jump up, you'll come down.

So evolution matters because it's part of a larger discourse. American's seem to be getting dumber. According to a poll at National Geographic, we're not that clever in the US:

• Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.
• 6 in 10 young Americans don't speak a foreign language fluently.
• 20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It's the largest country in Africa.)
• 48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It's Hindu—by a landslide.)
• Half of young Americans can't find New York on a map.

And you have three Republican presidents advocating for increased dumbness. That's why it matters.