Church and State
Today, there are still people who believe that the earth is flat. At least, there is a web page that claims to be the home page of the Flat Earth Society. It lists topics such as "Dispelling common myths about 'proof' regarding round earth theory". It seems a little too tongue-in-cheek and not quite wacky enough to be real. I mean, come on. Using the most basic and cursory scientific method disproves the Pancake-Earth "theory".
However, up until 2001, if you wrote to Charles K. Johnson at a certain address in Lancaster, CA he would send you information about the International Flat Earth Research Society. This one's real; you can look it up yourself. Among the materials he sent were these passages:"The Planets are 'tiny.' Sun and Moon do Move, earth does NOT move, whirl, spin or gyrate. Australians do NOT hang by their feet under the world...this is a FACT, not a theory!" [sic]
"From a life-time of study, of seeking out and proving things, from the study of 6,000 years of recorded history, from observation, from experience, from Common Sense Observation, have concluded the 10 Commandments are in fact good Laws of Living and Behavior for oneself and all in contact with you...truly 'Laws of Physics for Living." [also sic]
"Science is a false religion, the opium of the masses. I myself count it as a begining of Sanity to confess 'the creation proves there was a Creator' so a God or Creator." [sic, again... very, very sic]
Chuck made a lot of people like me sad in 2001 when he went on to that great disk in the sky. Metaphorically speaking. But take heart. There's no need to break out the crepe and mourning weeds yet. There's still a group of people who are his philosophical offspring. They scoff at the scientific method and insist that supernatural agency is provable fact.
They are the proponents of what is rather ironically known as "Intelligent Design"; the belief that the world around them is too nifty to have happened by chance, so God must have made it. And the President of the United States is one of them. During a press conference in Texas on August 1, 2005 he stated that "Intelligent Design" should be taught in tandem with evolution.
Before you start emailing your poorly-worded and atrociously-spelled death threats to me, (although I do get a kick out of them), let me make it clear that I'm not attacking the President for his religious beliefs. As far as I'm concerned, he, and anyone, can believe what they want to. If George Bush believes that the universe was created on the first Tuesday in March, 4000 BC, by a giant, avuncular man with a beard... let him, say I. If he believes, as billions of Hindus throughout history have claimed, that the Immortal Purusa divided himself into parts that became the physical universe, then fine. If he believes that the entire human race was sneezed out by the Great Sky Ox... that's alright, too. In fact, after considering human history, this is my personal belief. His faith is not for me to comment on.
On the other hand, (which you knew I was working toward), he seems to have become somewhat confused about the relative functions of a church, (or mosque or temple or woodland glade or other house of worship), and a school.
A church, etc., is a place of public worship, where one goes to practice ones faith. A school is a place for acquiring knowledge and mental training.
Actually, discussing "Intelligent Design" in a philosophy class or a comparative religions class would make sense to me. It would seem to fit nicely there. Philosophy is a belief or system of beliefs accepted as authoritative by some group. So Intelligent Design and Oxology, would seem to fall under this heading.
Evolution, or the "theory of evolution" as we Oxologists like to stress, is a scientific theory, and that's a horse of a different color. Religion, by its very nature, cannot be proved or disproved. God, (or Purusa or The Great Ox), cannot be scientifically tested for. There is no empirical evidence for or against.
I know, deep in my bones, that The Great Ox lovingly sneezed us into being and that all will be well for me when the Wipeture comes. I also know that if The Great Ox proved himself to me, scientifically, there'd be no need for faith. Everyone would be with him in the Hankylife, whether they really deserved it or not. I certainly don't want to spend eternity with the wrong sort.
Evolution can, and has been, rigorously tested. The fossil record clearly shows how species change over time. So it's just plain old science, like mathematics or auto mechanics. To consider ID a science it would, first have to define what "intelligent" means. Then it would have to scientifically prove what a thing is which is designed by intelligence and how those things are different from things not designed by intelligence. It would have to decide which test scientifically shows the difference between intelligently designed systems and non-intelligently designed systems and then apply that test to living things to see if they met the scientific criteria. Scientifically.
At the moment, the evidence consists of, "Well, just look around you. This couldn't all have happened by chance, could it? I just know it's true."
The Great Ox knows I'd like to see, on a personal level, everyone in America being taught the Big Sneeze Theory."In the beginning The Great Ox sneezed the heaven and the earth.And the earth was without form, and void, hanky-like; and mucus was upon the face of the hanky. And the Spirit of Ox moved upon the face of the hanky.And Ox said, Let there be gesundheit: and there was gesundheit."
Fortunately, although I know this to be true... I can't prove it. On the other hand, neither can you disprove it. Which puts it in a completely different category than mere science. Let the schools get on with teaching your kids about fossils and platypi and Piltdown Man and such. If you want to learn about the really important things, the Church of The Great Ox meets every Saturday at 2:00 PM at Central Park Zoo, weather permitting. Ox Bless You.