How Christian Were the Founders?

Were the Founders Christians or not? Was the United States supposed to be a Christian Nation, or not? Evangelical and conservative Christians say yes, Atheists say no, and historians say it's more complex than that. But in my opinion, they all miss the simple truth, which is that there are two different questions that they're trying to mix together.

Evolution in Texas: Survival of the Fittest Creationists

In another example of religious evolution in action, Texas and other conservative states continue to be an embarrassment to America, as the ultra-conservative faction of their religious citizens push their long, destructive campaigns to inject religion into our school systems. The good news is that this time, Texas stood up to the creationists more than in the past, by rejecting the strong anti-science language that creationists were trying to put into textbooks.

Many atheists, and also many members of mainstream religions, know what a bad idea it is to mix religion and government, especially government-run schools, and have a hard time understanding the incredible tenacity of these creationist zealots. But it's not really much of a mystery.

When you look at religion from an evolutionary point of view using memetics (the evolution of culture and ideas), this sort of behavior is both expected and predictable. Evolution shows that traits that work are the ones that survive. Truth is not very relevant. And the sad fact is that churches and religions that fight education and knowledge are the ones that last longer.

The "science" and "history" of the Bible has been in large part shown to be wrong, yet it is still the foundation of Christianity and Judaism. If the biblical-literalism faction opens the door even a crack to this fact, it can only lose credibility. The only way to sustain these religious beliefs is to flat-out deny, even in the face of irrefutable and overwhelming evidence proving, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Bible is wrong.

So back to the State of Texas: Using an evolutionary, memetic view of creationists, it's easy to see what's happening. The churches that cling to the inerrancy of the Bible are survivors. They are the ones that have the most appealing story. The prey on the ignorance of their converts, and fight knowledge at every turn. And it works: They gain membership, and the more liberal churches that accept that the Bible is metaphorical, not scientific, lose members.

If you view this all using cultural evolution and a "survival of the fittest" approach, it's obvious why Texas is still fighting creationism. Creationism is the "survivor" meme in the survival-of-the-fittest battle of the churches.

Courageous Texas Legislators Call Creationism Anti-Scientific

Kudos to two courageous Texas politicians who had the guts to criticize the Texas Board of Education for its regressive anti-evolution, pro-creationism policies. State Senator Rodney Ellis and State Representative Patrick M. Rose wrote an excellent op-ed column in the Houston Chronicle pointing out that if Texas is serious about becoming a center for cancer research, it can't also embrace creationism.

But Ellis and Rose are far too polite. I suppose that's how you get elected.

Imagine this: The Texas Board of Education invites a crystal-ball gazer to its meetings to divine for them which science textbooks to use. The next day, two Texas politicians write an Op-Ed column, in which they ridicule the Board of Education, calling them an embarrassment to the State of Texas, and and demanding the Board member's immediate resignation.

How is this fictional story any different than the Board of Education consulting creationists about science texts? Creationism has no more foundation than crystal-ball gazing. Both are utterly false, disproved by science hundreds of years ago, and have failed every challenge by believers ever since. So why does creationism get respect?

There are many religious questions where I can respect my friends, family and colleague's theistic beliefs. The origin of the universe, the origin of morals, the nature of the human soul, the afterlife – these are questions for which science has good answers, but I can understand why others disagree.

But creationism is idiotic. I'm sorry, but there is no other word for it. I try to be tolerant and respectful, but when someone deliberately ignores tonnes of evidence, and denies the best-proved scientific theory in the history of the world, I just can't respect that.

I hope I live to see a day when a politician in Texas can openly deride and ridicule creationism for what it is, a fraud, the same way he/she might ridicule a crystal-ball gazer, without fear of losing his seat in government.

Tags: creationism evolution Texas school board textbooks atheist atheism