There is an interesting debate going on in St. Petersburg where mayoral candidate Bill Foster is being attacked for his belief in creationism. As Florida’s fourth-largest city, St. Petersburg has tried to attract businesses and industry. His critics claim that high-tech companies are going to get the wrong impression if the Mayor believes that the Earth was created in six days and that man walked with dinosaurs.
Foster once objected to his son being taught evolution in school. Pinellas School Board wanted teaching about alternatives to the theory of evolution, such as the Genesis account and repeated the ridiculous claims that Darwin contributed to the rise of Hitler and the Columbine massacre. We have seen this attack on Darwin by people like Ben Stein and others recently.
Foster, a member of Starkey Road Baptist Church in Seminole, has not backed down from his views during this debate. He insists that Genesis says that the Earth was created in six days and that this is literally true. He argues that man and dinosaurs clearly existed together despite the fact that there is a 60 million year gap between the two species. His proof is that “[d]inosaurs are mentioned in Job, so I don’t have any problem believing that dinosaurs roamed the earth.” Job refers to a “behemoth.”
Foster asks a legitimate question: “How does my knowledge of scientific theory impact my ability to rationally govern the city of St. Petersburg? It’s completely irrelevant.”
When do the radical personal views of a politician become relevant? We have seen Obama, Clinton, and other politicians routinely use their religious views as part of their campaigns. If it is appropriate to use religious views as a positive element in a campaign, it opens the door for its use as a negative element. It is not clear, however, that Foster has used his religious views as part of his campaign. For a prior column, click here.
Foster’s extreme views on education and Darwin may be a concern for citizens given the influence of a mayor on school board policies and candidates. Moreover, do extremist views indicate something about a candidate’s intellect or judgment? Would it be appropriate for a voter to oppose a candidate who belonged to a cult or a controversial faith? What do you think?
For the full story, click here.
BILLY:
what was that all about? are you jane goodall in drag?
Slickone, people will say many things, I cannot control them. The only person I can control is “me”. I need to do a climate and behavior check to see how my behavior is affecting others. There will always be racists(sadly), I can’t control the “less than wonderful” things they say or do. I only have control over “myself” and the only person I can ultimately change is “myself”…
Most people erroneously believe that the ‘sagittal crest’ found in hominids is a male characteristic. In fact more specifically, it is a “size” characteristic. If you had a 500-600 pound female hominid it would have a sagittal crest, this is precisely what I would expect. If you had a non-human primate of the size of a male gorilla,it to would have a pronounced sagittal crest, irrespective of gender. This attachment of the sagittal crest serves as an attachment to the temporalis muscle, which is used for dense chewing of heavy vegetble matter. In regards to the sagittal crest found on the specimen in the Ptterson film, it is really not a female specimen as some primatologists have speculated. The chest sacs are not breasts but rather laryngeal airsacs. It is a male “bigfoot”, but the sagittal crest is not what defines this speciman as a male. Most chimps(Pan troglodytes), never display the sagittal crest as one would see in gorillas or orangutans. This necessary attachment, formed over eons of time, even in animals of lower form..
correction 90’s and 00’s some of us survived.
lil billy,
Be careful. The wolves will descend upon you. Would you equate a remark that “A Jew is a Christ Killer as being racist? Be careful the pill choices are Red and Blue. If you take them both they may turn into purple. But do not forget, CSNY “Hey man can I have some of that purple boogey?” You, need to decide if after the 60’s and 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s some of survived, will you?
Mike A.
Thanks for your affirmation of my affirmation….
I do remember the “so help you god part” in some oaths, but that might be an option, I guess.
The notion of “racism” is a very pervasive theme on many of these blogs… Be careful how you wield the term “racism’, to define people who express divergency of thought..
Tom:
I saw a bunch of signs from that rally and did not see any that even resembled racism (I admit I did not see them all, there were over 200,000 people there by my estimation using 10 sq. ft per person). The signs I saw were against growth of government and tax increases.
But if your idea is that limited government and lower taxes and the rule of law is racist then I must admit that crowd was definitely racist based on the signs I saw.
the idea that someone that believes in creation cannot be a good mayor is a slippery slope in my mind.
For example I like the philosopher Aristotle and think he has some good things to say. But he thought the universe was terra centric and he probably had a few other “quaint” beliefs.
I do not like the existentialists because I think, and I could be wrong about this, that they spend too much time worrying about why when it just is.
Should I not vote for Aristotle because he believed that the sun revolved around the earth and the earth was stationary? He was right about a good many other things. Should I not vote for an existentialist because I think they are more worried with why than with what is?
If we do not allow a person to run for office because we do not like their beliefs then who determines what beliefs are valid and not valid?
That to me is worse than whether someone believes in creation theory. Well maybe it is a good idea there are many more people that believe in God than don’t. They could all get together and change the constitution to prohibit anyone other than Christians from holding elected office.
The NAZIS were very good at making the trains run on time and were good administrators and record keepers and good scientists. They were mostly pagans. I think we can all agree that we would not want a NAZI running our town. But an atheist that believed in the constitution and the rule of law, would be a welcome addition to any town.
I do believe that a persons philosophy of life does impact how he/she makes decisions and what they put value on. A philosophy of life is a much deeper consideration than whether one believes in creation or not. A belief in creation does not mean their life force is rotten.
It could mean that or it could mean that they are not scientists and that someone has shown them what they think is “proof” beyond a reasonable doubt. And if being able to properly understand scientific issues is a requirement for elected office then I think we can count out most lawyers unless of course they have undergraduate degrees in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering or other such degrees.
Many people I know are good Christians and they made and make good life choices, I know some atheists that are miserable wretches and have made horrible life choices and vice versa. I would rather have the person that had lead a good life and had made sound decisions running my town whether they be Christian, Atheist, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu.
But doesnt this decision belong to the towns people? They have a right to vote for him or not vote for him.
Sick one,
The point is discrimination itself is irrational. Just because one can use an argument of inferiority to oppress another doesn’t make the argument right. The zealots use belief in God to discriminate against those who do not see things thier way. It’s been used throughout history and I realize discrimination of Jews goes way, way back. I brought out the Nazi example as a recent case of discrimination to justify oppression. Religion has been used for centuries to oppress those who are not like minded and I believe a Creationist Mayor would not be able to run a city without discrimination, he would be conflicted between ideology and law. And of course to someone like this the laws of man will always be subordinate to the laws of God.
My belief is that Mr. Foster’s religious convictions are grounds for concern. The problem is not simply that he is a creationist, but that he is a theocrat. His history reflects a desire to impose his religious views on the public through the process of determining and implementing policies that strictly reflect those views. He is a junior C Streeter and I would strongly oppose his candidacy were I a voter in St. Petersburg.
FFLEO, no one can be forced to swear an oath on a bible. In fact, to my knowledge bibles are not used anywhere for the purpose of swearing witnesses in court. The oath in Florida provides for the witness to raise his or her right hand and to respond to the following: “Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
Creationism and evolution co-exist. Every time I created another human being in the image of God, I have watched that human being evolve.
I don’t mind a creationist running for mayor and will defend the right of Christians to participate in politics. Foster is playing the victim with this when he says that we don’t want him because of his religion. That’s really not the issue. The issue is his behavior. He pressured the school board to act on his views. He voted NO on a city human rights ordinance. He raised taxes 46% and lies about that. He works with the racist Glen Beck 9/12 group and lies about that. He would give away a valuable public area to shut down protest.
If you are happy to see Florida vote for good people like Obama and not for Bush then you should help elect Kathleen Ford so thaat one of the largest cities in the state will have good leader.
Visit http://www.kathleenford.com/
Have you seen the racist attacks on our President? Last Saturday Republicans came to Washington to hate Obama. Foster has them waving his sgns but denies any knowledge of them.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/12/912-signs/
All speculation, not based on any system of empirics’..
All other forms of humanoid, anthropomorphic life is open to much discussion in regards to cogntive skills and ability to reason and love. We know that even primitive man had a large brain case and possessed a skull that “probably” housed a well developed brain that had “associative areas’…
“Of course they can, why would their ideas on how the universe works be relevant to how they perceive today’s reality.”
I beg to differ.
How would a creationist react to a crisis caused by, lets say, some strain of H1N1 influenza virus?
Obviously he wouldn’t “believe” that the virus is changing hosts due to adaption, because he don’t “believe” that organisms can adapt and change.
His explanations would likely involve some act of God.
So his solutions would be different too: prayers to appease the enraged deity, and witch hunts to purge the society from the elements who caused this holy wrath.
Ones “ideas on how the universe works” determents the solutions which one uses to deal with said universe.
Modern man, Homo sapien sapien, is “modern man”. Modern man has powers of discernment and the ability to respond to his fellow man with “love”. This we know…
Roland,
Can a crationist be a good mayor? OF COURSE NOT!?. . . . This type of rationalization lead to blacks being deemed 3/5 human in the 1600s and Jews subhuman in the early half of the 20th century.
So sorry to burst your bubble. Do you have access to a computer? Sure you do, ok, no google up this and see what you get:
jewish recrimination.
Since the beginning people have found reason to either discriminate or enslave. Read the Bible it is even in there.
At what point was man able to respond to God, his Creator? I believe that once man had evolved to a point where his cognitive skills gave him powers of discernment, he was then able to decide whether he wanted to serve God or mammon…