As a supporter of World Can’t Wait, I would first point out
that Brownback is crazy like a fox. He
has sought to distinguish himself from other GOP presidential candidates by
claiming to be in favor of a diplomatic solution in Iraq,
yet in mid-March he said on the senate floor in a speech against a timetable
for withdrawal that “We will need a military presence in Iraq for some
time to come.” And he made it clear that
“some time” means a VERY long time.
His views on evolution are equally deceiving. He said that only faith not science can help
us understand human suffering. But his
“faith” would have the U.S.
continue the suffering of Iraqis for “some time to come.”
He did raise his hand in an almost knee jerk reaction in the
first republican debate when candidates were asked who didn’t believe in
evolution. Now he wants to defend his
support of science and reason. He says
that “science and faith are complementary” because “the spiritual order and the
material order were created by the same God.”
But if one’s so-called reasoning begins with the belief that god is the creator
of everything, then of course one will deny the proven truths of evolution. The scientific method, by definition, cannot
begin with a theological assertion.
The senator from Kansas
wants to appear scientific by stating that he believes in “small changes over time
within a species.” But that’s not
thoroughly scientific at all because science, while realizing that such
adaptations within species do frequently happen, the various species themselves
have evolved from the first life forms to appear some three and a half billion
years ago.
Brownback further confuses the issue by claiming that there
are differing theories of evolution.
Stating that “proponents of punctuated equilibrium [evolutionary change
in a biologically short period of time — many many millennia], as put forth by
such evolutionists as Stephen Jay Gould, hold to a different theory of
evolution”. That’s just plain false!! There is only one theory of evolution within which
many scientists discuss different discoveries which deepen the overall
understanding of the evolutionary process.
But Brownback isn’t committed to objective truth. He has his own “truth” which in fact is
falsehood.
Brownback is a practicing Catholic, which is interesting
since even the Pope accepts evolution. But
he also goes to church with his family at the evangelical Topeka Bible
Church, which is probably
where he gets his anti-evolution ideas.
Perhaps fundamentalist Christianity trumps both the Pope and the
scientific method, but reasonable people will cast their lot with science.
Does the scientific method leave us without human dignity
and inspiration? Quite the
contrary. Andrea Skybreak says in “The
Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism” that the “scientific method, systematically
applied to the uncovering of the actual genuine wonders of the natural and
social wonders of the world, can uncork the imagination, the sense of purpose
and the transformative consciousness and initiative of human beings in ways no
reference to a presumed higher power ever could. Isn’t that an outlook worth striving for?”