Background
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First, a little bit of scientific history trivia. Who was Galileo Galilei? He was a mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, born on February 15, 1564. He is widely thought to be the father of modern scientific thought, because he was among the first to reject aristotelian "pure theory" philosophies in favour of empirical methods. He experimentally disproved many of Aristotle's theories. Like Kepler, he was a vocal proponent of the Copernican theory of a heliocentric solar system (ie- the Earth revolves around the sun, not vice versa). On February 26, 1616, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine ordered Galileo to refrain from "teaching or discussing Copernicanism in any way" due to its contradictions with Scripture. Galileo tried to argue that the Bible should be interpreted allegorically whenever it is contradicted by physical evidence, but to no avail. Weeks later, the Cardinal publicly declared that the heliocentric solar system theory was "false and erroneous." Galileo was denounced to the Inquisition for "blasphemous utterances", forced to recant, and then sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life. He died on January 8, 1642. Galileo is now a legendary figure in science history, but the Church was not impressed. He dared contradict Scripture with mere mathematics and observation! In their eyes, nothing could have been more ridiculous than a man attempting to contradict Scripture with mathematics and observation. Fast forward to August, 1999. The Kansas state board of education removes Darwin's theory of evolution from the statewide educational curriculum. Opinion polls reported by CNN suggest that an astonishing two thirds of Americans believe that creationism should be taught alongside evolution theory as equal but separate theories! These same polls suggest that as many as forty percent of Americans believe evolution theory should be replaced by creation theory! Kansas is by no means the only example. A Louisana law requiring that creation theory be taught alongside evolution theory was not struck down until 1987. In March 1999, the Tennessee state assembly voted on a bill that would require schools to fire teachers who "present evolution as a scientific fact". In February 1999, the school board in Hall County, Georgia ruled that teachers must present theories "other than evolution" to their students. Beginning in the 2000 school year, all science textbooks in Alabama must carry a disclaimer stating that evolution is a "controversial theory", which is only supported by "some scientists." School boards in Washington State and Ohio are considering the adoption of a "textbook" called "Of Pandas and People", which espouses creationist theories regarding the development of our biosystem. Ahh, the joys of allowing politicians to judge scientific validity ... If Galileo Galilei were brought forward in time to August, 1999 in Kansas, Tennesee, Georgia, or many other states, he would marvel at the technology but he would probably find the political atmosphere to be all too familiar. There is as much evidence for the theory of evolution as there is for a heliocentric solar system, but that hasn't stopped creationists from quite literally dedicating their lives to attacking evolution theory and in some cases, science in general. Just as their predecessors in Galileo's time did. |