Democracy of Hypocrisy
Ways with words and words with ways
Gary Goodyear
So some reporter asked Gary Goodyear about his stance on evolution and suddenly a persons own beliefs is public domain. As everyone has heard, the science minister basically flip flopped on the question by first saying
Follow up:
I didn't answer the question because it's not relevant to the portfolio, it's not relevant to what we have to do, (to) what Canadians are worried about
but then went on to clarify it by stating
We are evolving to our environment
I'm going to go out on a limb here and believe that Goodyear probably got a nice phone call from Harper urging him to answer the question because usually one does not sway from their beliefs unless it backfires on them and they suddenly change their tune.
Now, from what I am reading on different sites, people have their panties in a bunch over this and some of it is just plain ridiculous. First off, I would ask why is it anyone's business? I don't care what he believes, as long as he isn't pushing his beliefs on us, which from what I have gathered, he hasn't. Is it so difficult to comprehend that a Christian holds a position that involves the field of science? The theory of evolution is about as easy to prove as it is to prove the theory of creationism, which one cannot prove or disprove so why the fuck is this stuff even being brought up? The Globe and Mail must be hard up for stories if they need to resort to this age old game, blarghhh. Enough of the overreaction to his inability or whatever to admit something that he obviously doesn't believe.
Enough with this type of "journalism".
| Print article | This entry was posted by zerodivision on 03/17/09 at 09:10:32 pm . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
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03/17/09 @ 10:45:29 pm
The theory of evolution is about as easy to prove as it is to prove the theory of creationism, which one cannot prove or disprove so why the fuck is this stuff even being brought up?
You don't know what you're talking about. Clearly. Evolution is proven. And that's the problem. The Minister responsible for science can't even bring himself to believe in science.
If you seriously believe that evolution and creationism are somehow epistemically equivalent, you need to go and learn about evolution. Google around; books -- and thousands of webpages -- are easy to find.
03/18/09 @ 01:22:03 pm
I agree with ADHR. Scientific theories are falsifiable. One can imagine evidence that would refute a statement like, "modern apes share a common ancestor". For (a contrived) example, we might discover that a large part of the bonobo genome does not occur in any other ape, but does appear in some other lineage. We might conclude that somehow foreign DNA crossed lines, perhaps thanks to a viral intervention, and that bonobos did not derive entirely from the same common ancestor as other apes.
The statement that "an omnipotent and omniscient being created all the kinds of animals we know about 6000 years ago, along with everything else. Apparent evidence to the contrary was created at the same time," can never be falsified by any evidence. It is not only unprovable, it be cannot be *disproven*. It is not in any meaningful sense a theory at all. It is just an unfounded belief.
This is but one of the many differences between scientific thought and religious thought. Trying to draw a parallel is intellectually irresponsible,
Do you "believe in" geology? Do you think it is an imposition to ask a Christian this question? 200 years ago, geology was today's biology. They were just starting to put together a global geological history. Alarmingly, there was no evidence supporting a Great Flood, but there was lots of evidence for the Earth being billions of years old. Crazy scientists were trying to tell us that the very continents floated around on vast "plates", and that once in the past, they were all connected in one massive, primal "super continent". More heresy from godless scientists!
As you know, very few people today rail against "geologic theory" on the basis that it's "just a theory" that "can never be proven". Quite the contrary, it is a marvelous theory that has been consistently proven. Among people who actually understand biology, evolution is no more controversial or "unproven" than calculus is. When these people hear Goodyear spouting off, they get very worried! They are exactly the people that Goodyear has the most effect over, and he clearly has no understanding whatsoever of what it is they do.
03/18/09 @ 02:38:00 pm
Where is evolution proven? Scientists almost totally agree on something and that is proof? Science cannot prove we're here by creation, but neither can science prove we're here by chance or macro-evolution. No one has observed either. And if it has been observed, I haven't obviously heard about it.
As far as Goodyear, why should the question have even been asked? What does it matter what he believes. Or is it that only atheists should hold the position of science minister? He isn't peddling his Christian beliefs onto the scientific community now is he? So again, wtf does it matter to you what he believes?
03/18/09 @ 03:07:22 pm
The original article is unsigned. Was seven star the author?
When you start using terms like "macro-evolution" and "chance" in relation to evolution, I start to realize that we're not even speaking the same language. Perhaps you could define what it is you mean by "evolution", and I will attempt to find your proof.
03/18/09 @ 03:12:20 pm
Addressing the original post once again, the complaints about Goodyear holding the office of Minister of Science have nothing to do with his religion. Lots of Christians have no conflict with modern scientific discoveries. Unfortunately, Goodyear appears not to be one of those. No, the complaint is that Goodyear does not believe in established biology, not that he believes in God.