You Can Love Jesus and be Reasonable

"In an era when we're trying to cure cancer, where we're trying to prevent pandemics, where we're trying to keep Science and Math education on the cutting edge in the United States, to introduce and teach bad science [intelligent design] to 9th grade students makes very little sense to me. Garbage in, garbage out. It doesn't benefit any of us." - Judge John E. Jones, III. (brackets added for context)

This week on PBS's NOVA was a documentary called "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial." I was walking downstairs to get some water when I saw Oscar watching it. I didn't know what it was, but as I hear it, I started telling Oscar all I knew and understood about the controversy. It was cool to hear them repeat the same issues I brought up. I didn't plan to watch it, but as I watched a bit I just stayed put for the rest of the show. I've had a lot of conversations with Mark about this topic and because of that he taught me a lot of the background. I've also talked to real people who don't believe in evolution due to buying the view that life as God created it is inconsistent with the message of the Bible. Don't you love the line, "You don't really believe we came from monkeys do you?" Maybe my God is so amazing he could create a process that created this amazing life and this universe, but yours can only make the end product.

For anyone who missed it, PBS has posted the full video of the show. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html

It was very fair and covered both sides. I almost felt like it covered the creationist side too much. You don't give equal time to gravity doesn't exist in a documentary about gravity...but to be fair it was not about evolution, but about the controversy, so in this case I'm ok with the extensive coverage. So I thought I'd write an entry about my experience, but Mark stole my thunder and wrote an awesome detailed article about the documentary which really summed it up well. So check out the Martian Cat Problem and read his entry titled: cdesign proponentsist
"The title of this post is a transitional form - it is the missing link between creationism and intelligent design."

Due to this impressive coverage I won't discuss this topic as deeply. Like Mark, I too am not a fan of "getting your science from Kirk Cameron (Mike Seaver from Growing Pains)."

Here is my favorite part of Mark's article/the documentary:

"Judge John E. Jones, III, ruled that "it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school classroom," the school was ordered to pay the parents' legal fees, the city voted out the entire school board, and Pat Robertson told them not to turn to God if a disaster strikes Dover. All is right with the world!"

I really respect Judge John Jones because he was a conservative appointed by Bush and has strong religious views in his own right. So I tried to view the documentary with an open mind, almost like if I was a creationist. Even if I was one before hand, reason would have to win out after watching the facts presented so clearly and fairly. Then again I showed Jesus Camp to some people and they saw the children's rabid hate filled love for Christ as inspirational, not a sick cult like manipulation of innocence.

I remember when I read Inherit the Wind about the Scopes Monkey Trial when I was younger and thought, wow, there was a time when people actually thought like this, then I found out that that time just like racism, isn't just in the past.

God blessed us with the gift of reason