Pleasing All Of The People All Of The Time

Obama Can Try, But It's Never Been Done Before
(That's One Reason to Love Him!)

Read the Economist's take on Obama's Speech for the National Prayer Breakfast and you'll know that while he's trying to be inclusive, some Christofascists aren't amused at his attempt. In the next few days, we'll see all the negative screeds come out of the woodwork.

The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another - or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state.

There's certainly one position that can be argued:

“No matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate,” he said.

I certainly would question it. So very many radical fundamentalists make hate THE ONLY tenet. We see it in radical fundamentalist Islam, and fundamentalist Christianity. Enter a church in the middle of Rev. Rod Parsley's* sermon: you'll FEEL the hate! It will be covered in velvety tones of "concern" but hate will be there virtually screaming at you. Certainly, if you were a Muslim or a homosexual, you'd feel it so much, it would have you retching within minutes.

Yes, I'm sure the pundits and the relgionists will find fault with Obama's attempt at inclusion.

Just a thought.

* A Rod Parsley book was titled: Culturally Incorrect: How My Hate Affects Your Future. The title was changed to: Culturally Incorrect: How Clashing Worldviews Affect Your Future.

Creation, Darwinism, Intelligent Design and STUPIDITY

Well, There Is More Than
One Way Of Looking At The Subject!

Creationism – The belief that the creation story in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible book of Genesis is literally true. This is why the Creation Museum in Kentucky spent a whopping $27 million on animatronic dinosaurs.

Creation Science – Attempts to uncover scientific evidence to show that the biblical creation story is true. “Young Earth Creationists” believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old. "Young Earthers" are the same as "Flat Earthers" - immensely stupid people. Ask any archaeologist, anthropologist, geologist or paleontologist what they think of Young Earthers and the most polite reaction you will get is a rolling of the eyes.

Darwinian Evolution – The theory, first articulated by Charles Darwin, that life on earth has evolved through “natural selection,” a process through which plants and animals change over time by adapting to their environments. Contrary to popular belief Darwin was a religious man. He just wrote what he himself observed in nature.

Intelligent Design* – The belief that life is too complex to have evolved entirely through natural processes and that an outside, possibly divine, force must have played a role in life’s origin and development. Intelligent Design has long been a wedge used by Creationists to help get their beliefs taught in the public school system.

Social Darwinism – A belief that Darwin’s theory can be applied to human society. It has been discredited, but laissez-faire capitalism still depends upon it.

Scientific Theory - A statement or principle, honed through scientific observastion, that explains a natural phenomenon. Ask scientists about "theories" and most will tell you that they are arrived at after an enormous amount of empirical evidence is displayed. The cant "Evolution is just a theory, not a fact" is WRONG. There has been more proof of evolution since Darwin's day than any other scientific theory. Newton proposed a law of gravity. It is in essence a theory. Yet religious nay-sayers never attack the theory of gravity.

Theistic evolution – A belief held by some religious groups that God is the guiding force behind the process of evolution. A link between two arguments that is more highly plausible than God just zapping everything into existence almost instantly. When you come to think of it, isn't the "creation" of evolution the most creative and practical thing God could have created?

* Schema depicting Intelligent Design as it pertains to history and society:

Darwin Day: Celebrate ALL KINDS of Evolution!!!

One man's (me) take on how everything evolved.
Well, almost everything. O.K., mostly man.
Without all that religious stuff.