It appears that in Alabama, belief in evolution is now a disqualifying factor for candidates for public office. Alabama gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne is being attacked in the ad below for once saying that evolution “best explains the origin of life.”
Byrne is also being challenged for saying that the Bible is “only partially true.” If you recall, a majority of Republicans running for President last election stated that they did not believe in evolution. For a prior column, click here.
Byrne is notably running against the “ten commandments judge” Roy Moore.
For his part, Byrne quickly promised that he wants creationism and not evolution taught in Alabama schools: “As a Christian and as a public servant, I have never wavered honey baked ham in my belief that this world and everything in it is a masterpiece created by the hands of God,” he said. “As a member of the Alabama Board of Education, the record clearly shows that I fought to ensure the teaching of creationism in our school text books. Those who attack me have distorted, twisted and misrepresented my comments and are spewing utter lies to the people of this state.”
He further assured voters that he believes “every single word” of the Bible to be true.
At least in our politics, we certainly seem to be disproving Darwinistic theories of the survival of the fittest.
He is not alone. There is increasing intolerance for religious figures (here), scientists (here), and others who profess belief in evolution or a non-literal reading of the Bible.
For the full story, click here
Let the people be free to choose. If they want leaders who believe in Creation, fine. If they want leaders who believe in Evolution (laughing hysterically), fine.
Oh don’t get your dental floss in a wad. I know that natural selection does occur.
But birds from reptiles and such?
HAHAHAHAHA
What a leap of faith that one is!
carol, I appreciated your story. In the summer of 1963, my family moved to Huntsville, Alabama because my dad had taken a position with NASA there. We were among the first wave of “outsiders” who moved into the area. We were all struck by the ignorance of the native population. My sisters discovered that the public schools were a good year and a half behind their former schools in Denver in subjects like math. I worked that summer in a local supermarket and when my colleagues learned I was Catholic, it made for some strange conversations. Most believed that Catholics worshipped statues, i.e., engaged in idolatry, and one woman even asked whether it was true that Catholics sometimes sacrificed babies. I am not joking. That was also the year that the Honorable Governor George Corley Wallace stood on the steps of the main administration building at the University of Alabama in defiance of court-ordered integration. By the time I left that place, I was convinced that I had experienced a time-warp. In short, I am hardly surprised that belief in evolution in that state is deemed a form of satanism.
empirecookie,
Either that or a recipe for Easter brunch…
I’m still stuck on the wavering of honey baked ham. Is that some secret creationist code?
Gyges said:
“For shame, evolution doesn’t select for anything.
It involves mechanisms that do, but evolution is the effect not the cause.”
True. We evolve via the process of natural selection.
“I wonder if any of them select for being pedantic?”
Only if it aids survival – and I could make an argument that being careful about nuances of meaning is a survival trait for mathematicians…
Slart,
For shame, evolution doesn’t select for anything.
It involves mechanisms that do, but evolution is the effect not the cause.
I wonder if any of them select for being pedantic?
Buddha,
I don’t work for roaches – they have horrible taste in fjords.
Slarti sleep now….
zzzzzz…..
Buddha:
right about the mice, those little sombitches eat me out of house and home and are everywhere. The cat is worthless, she hunts outside and has a fondness for chipmunk brains and heads. I think she has struck an agreement with the mice, you mice dont come outside and ruin chipmunk territory/habitat and you mice can have the house.
I also find it reasonable that if mice can have a planet built by subcontractors that roaches are capable of the same. I’m certain they do, however, possess a rather flat design aesthetic in comparison.
“Fecundity isn’t everything.”
But it is a lot of fun practicing.
Kevin said:
“Not quite, indeed. It’s one of any number of traits that can result in evolutionary success. So, roaches have been around for far longer than we have, and they’ll be around far longer when we’re gone. There’s not much to be said for “success” that only survives for the wink of geologic time that we have.”
That’s a pretty pessimistic view of the future – intelligence is the only trait that can potentially extend our species’ survival past that of the sun – roaches may be great survivors, but I doubt they’ll ever build a spaceship and they don’t control their environment like we do (for good or ill). Fecundity isn’t everything.
“Not quite. Evolution selects for traits that result in more offspring – if intelligence wasn’t one of those traits, then we wouldn’t have evolved it.”
Not quite, indeed. It’s one of any number of traits that can result in evolutionary success. So, roaches have been around for far longer than we have, and they’ll be around far longer when we’re gone. There’s not much to be said for “success” that only survives for the wink of geologic time that we have.
my bad Emery Folmar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_Folmar
ay
the last year george wallace ran he got a landslide of black votes. running against him was the mayor of montgomery, emery folmer. if you get a chance look him up, also “fleeing felon law”.
Byron,
I knew you weren’t serious, but I felt like tossing that out there anyway…
Kevin said:
“But Mr. Turley, “fittest” in evolutionary terms just means to out-breed the competition. And in this regard, the stupid have always out-produced the intelligent.”
Not quite. Evolution selects for traits that result in more offspring – if intelligence wasn’t one of those traits, then we wouldn’t have evolved it.
“At least in our politics, we certainly seem to be disproving Darwinistic theories of the survival of the fittest.”
But Mr. Turley, “fittest” in evolutionary terms just means to out-breed the competition. And in this regard, the stupid have always out-produced the intelligent.
Slarti:
I was making a joke. Well I thought it was funny. But then my mind is warped today (don’t even say it :)).
The bible belters are eating their own! It is almost comical to see a Republican candidate run from his base!
Byron,
Science isn’t about morality, it’s about following the facts wherever they lead. I think that’s the point that creationists fail to understand about scientists – we can’t reject evolution without rejecting the entire scientific method – which is the thing that we have faith in. Evolution is just a logical consequence of using the scientific method to understand the universe – it’s neither bad nor good. In my opinion any point of view that rejects the scientific method while embracing the products of technology which it made possible is intellectually dishonest. (And don’t even get me started about interpreting the bible literally…)
All you evolutionists ought to be ashamed of yourselves, why who the hell wants to think he/she evolved from lower forms of life?
Have you ever visited a zoo? The chimps are crazy, one look at a chimp urinating on a passersby would be enough to make one think image of God or Little Pierre (famous chimp from the St. Louis zoo many years ago), which one do I prefer? Not exactly the type of question Freud or Einstein needs to answer.
Here is the link if anyone wants to buy his biography.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Pierre-chimpanzee-Zoological-Gardens/dp/B0007EJZFA
I think most people will take the big man in the white beard most of the time, we humans are a bit uppity and don’t like to associate with the lower species (please no Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin references). It is quite understandable why Mr. Byrne would not want to sully himself with primeval slime and the implications thereof.