09.18.08

OBama/McCain on evolution

Posted in Evolution at 2:30 pm by nemo

Evolution and Creationism

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in case of Edwards v. Aguillard that to require the teaching of “creation science” alongside evolution violated the First Amendment by promoting religion.

Creationism is the belief that God created the universe and everything in it, as described in Genesis. A variant of creationism, intelligent design, essentially accepts evolution but argues that Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms. It looks to an unnamed intelligent force as the creator and guider of life.

Almost all scientists oppose teaching creation and intelligent design because they have no scientific basis.
Both McCain and Obama believe in evolution, and neither candidate wishes to see intelligent design taught as a science.

Obama does not support teaching intelligent design in schools at all. “Intelligent design is not science,” he said at a town hall event in Illinois. “I think it’s a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don’t hold up to scientific inquiry,” he told the York Daily Record.

McCain has not clearly stated his position on the teaching of intelligent design in school. “I happen to believe in evolution,” he has said. “I respect those who think the world was created in seven days. Should it be taught as a science class? Probably not.”

But McCain has not ruled out teaching it in other classes, and he has said that “there’s nothing wrong with teaching different schools of thought.” He says that local school boards, not the federal government, should determine school curricula.

1 Comment »

  1. Stephen P. Smith said,

    September 18, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    Obama said, “I think it’s a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don’t hold up to scientific inquiry.” Is he saying that Darwin’s theory holds up to scientific inquiry?

    McCain said, “there’s nothing wrong with teaching different schools of thought.” So is he saying that it is okay to challenge Darwin’s theory?

    These are very simple questions that deserve real answers! The drive to caricature anyone that does not agree with Darwin’s theory as a “creationist” is coming very close to a cival rights violation. Where is the ACLU with this abuse? Well they are pushing the very caricature that is designed to silence all opposition to the narrow media dictates. Eventually all voices that raise the smallest questions will be selienced!

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