Set The Wayback Machine

I read in the news the other day that Tennessee is making an effort to bring back the good ol' days. A bill sponsored by Senator Bo Watson "seeks to inform and encourage a debate about the merits of current scientific thought and theory." The debates he hopes this legislation will inform and encourage include those around global warming and evolution vs. creationism. 


I don't know, you can find that to be a good idea if you want to but I think this world has gained a lot more traction, progress, and "good will toward men" from encouraging scientific growth and thought then it has from trying to hang on to faith and superstition as a means to make the world a better place. I don't mean to say that faith is bad. Not at all. People of faith have been the voices of the oppressed and the moral beacons for mankind for all of modern history. It's just when government tries to slip into the same size suit it doesn't fit. Religion and faith are never one size fits all. And when a government tries to put on the faith garment it just ends up making a whole lot of people sore and uncomfortable.


I understand evolution is a theory. I understand science is not perfect. I understand that many hypotheses once thought sound have subsequently been dismantled. But I surely wouldn't support any attempt at undermining or otherwise stepping away from the process. Legislation like that in Tennessee undermines progress and panders to a sector of society that fears the future, a future in which standards and expectations rooted solely in faith are being challenged by the force and progress of human discovery.


Faith has immense value in the lives of millions. But that's not to say your faith has value in my life. Tennessee has led the way on this one-- straight back to Dayton, Tennessee, 1925. Good job, Bo. Sherman, set the Wayback machine…...