Just a Theory

I keep reading this bunk from anti-evolutionists that evolution is “just a theory.” Well gosh, so is gravitation! Anyway, Stephen Jay Gould has put it best:

In the American vernacular, “theory” often means “imperfect fact”–part of a hierarchy of confidence running downhill from fact to theory to hypothesis to guess. Thus the power of the creationist argument: evolution is “only” a theory and intense debate now rages about many aspects of the theory. If evolution is worse than a fact, and scientists can’t even make up their minds about the theory, then what confidence can we have in it? Indeed, President Reagan echoed this argument before an evangelical group in Dallas when he said (in what I devoutly hope was campaign rhetoric): “Well, it is a theory. It is a scientific theory only, and it has in recent years been challenged in the world of science–that is, not believed in the scientific community to be as infallible as it once was.”

Well evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don’t go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein’s theory of gravitation replaced Newton’s in this century, but apples didn’t suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin’s proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered.

Moreover, “fact” doesn’t mean “absolute certainty”; there ain’t no such animal in an exciting and complex world. The final proofs of logic and mathematics flow deductively from stated premises and achieve certainty only because they are not about the empirical world. Evolutionists make no claim for perpetual truth, though creationists often do (and then attack us falsely for a style of argument that they themselves favor). In science “fact” can only mean “confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional consent.” I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.

Evolutionists have been very clear about this distinction of fact and theory from the very beginning, if only because we have always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred. Darwin continually emphasized the difference between his two great and separate accomplishments: establishing the fact of evolution, and proposing a theory–natural selection–to explain the mechanism of evolution.

- Stephen J. Gould, ” Evolution as Fact and Theory”; Discover, May 1981

Just a theory, indeed.

Gay Adoption Ruling Advances Family Equality

Gays can finally adopt. In Europe, that is. Human Rights Watch has an article on a new European Court of Human Rights ruling that says “Sexual orientation should not be a factor in determining the best interest of the child…Prejudice should never interfere with giving children the care and love they deserve.”

The court, ruling on January 22, 2008 in the case of E.B. v. France, held by 10 votes to seven that the French authorities’ refusal of a lesbian’s application to obtain authorization to adopt a child on the grounds of her sexual orientation was unlawful. The court said France had violated Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

“This groundbreaking ruling means governments can’t use sexual orientation to stop someone from adopting a child,” said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Program at Human Rights Watch. “Adoption decisions should be based on the best interests of the child, uncontaminated by prejudice.”

Read the full article here.

Gays are still routinely denied adoption rights in the US, by the way. Europe continues to be miles ahead.

Sundown Towns

I just read an interesting article on sundown towns. These were communities where African Americans were, ahem, encouraged to leave town before sunset. Often, signs were posted near the town borders bearing messages like, “Nigger don’t let the sun set on you in [insert town name here].”

The article is essentially a review of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. By James W. Loewen. These communities should not be forgotten. I have had many conversations with well-meaning people who assert that racism is a thing of the past and that we’re “beyond all that” these days. I beg to differ. Alabama didn’t repeal its anti-miscegenation law until the year 2000, after all. Racism is alive and well in the hearts and minds of many, if not officially enshrined in law. We must continue to fight against intolerance of all stripes if we are to live up to our potential as one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

For more info on fighting hatred, try Tolerance.org.

He Cares

See? He really does care.

Proof!

Does anyone still think the 2006 election was above-board? There’s now real evidence that it was hacked. The evidence was uncovered by the Election Defense Alliance. Their press release says votes were miscounted so badly they skewed Republican by 4%, or 3 million votes.

The 2006 Edison-Mitofsky Exit Poll was commissioned by a consortium of major news organizations. Its conclusions were based on the responses of a very large sample, of more than 10,000 voters nationwide*, and posted at 7:07 p.m. Election Night, on the CNN website. That Exit Poll showed Democratic House candidates had out-polled Republicans by 55.0 percent to 43.5 percent – an 11.5 percent margin – in the total vote for the U.S. House, sometimes referred to as the “generic” vote.

By contrast, the election results showed Democratic House candidates won 52.7 percent of the vote to 45.1 percent for Republican candidates, producing a 7.6 percent margin in the total vote for the U.S. House — 3.9 percent less than the Edison-Mitofsky poll. This discrepancy, far beyond the poll’s +/- 1 percent margin of error, has less than a one in 10,000 likelihood of occurring by chance.

By Wednesday afternoon the Edison-Mitofsky poll had been adjusted, by a process known as “forcing,” to match the reported vote totals for the election. This forcing process is done to supply data for future demographic analysis, the main purpose of the Exit Poll. It involved re-weighting every response so that the sum of those responses matched the reported election results. The final result, posted at 1:00 p.m. November 8, showed the adjusted Democratic vote at 52.6 percent and the Republican vote at 45.0 percent, a 7.6 percent margin exactly mirroring the reported vote totals.

I would really like to live in a free democracy. I wonder what that’s like.

Speak Up!

Tolerance.org has a good pdf of proper responses to everyday bigotry. It’s called Speak Up! and it’s worth a read.

Science, Evolution, and Creationism

The National Academies of Science have produced a very thorough book on science, evolution, and creationism. It’s called, appropriately enough, Science, Evolution, and Creationism. It’s freely available for online reading or downloading. I’d like to highlight a few things from the Frequently Asked Questions.

One question asks what’s wrong with teaching critical thinking or “controversies” with regard to evolution? Part of the answer is:

There is no scientific controversy about the basic facts of evolution. In this sense the intelligent design movement’s call to “teach the controversy” is unwarranted. Of course, there remain many interesting questions about evolution, such as the evolutionary origin of sex or different mechanisms of speciation, and discussion of these questions is fully warranted in science classes. However, arguments that attempt to confuse students by suggesting that there are fundamental weaknesses in the science of evolution are unwarranted based on the overwhelming evidence that supports the theory. Creationist ideas lie outside of the realm of science, and introducing them in science courses has been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts.

Another question asks whether it would be “fair” to teach creationism along with evolution. Answer:

Different religions hold very different views and teachings about the origins and diversity of life on Earth. Because creationism is based on specific sets of religious convictions, teaching it in science classes would mean imposing a particular religious view on students and thus is unconstitutional, according to several major rulings in federal district courts and the Supreme Court of the United States.

I found the whole book very interesting and thorough. Go read it!

Happy Religious Freedom Day!

Happy Religious Freedom Day! Every January 16th, we celebrate the diversity of religious thought in the US. Religious freedom, to me, means the freedom of a wide variety of people to hold and express (in appropriate situations and contexts) an incredible variety of religious beliefs, or even no belief at all.

Religious Freedom Day celebrates the fact that the US has no “official religion.” The founders saw what happened in Europe when religion and politics mixed, and wisely drafted a constitution that erected a Wall of Separation between them.

So today, celebrate our religious freedom. Don’t let politicians (Mike, Mitt, W, I’m looking at you!) turn their offices into pulpits. Be glad you aren’t required to defer to a religion that is not your own. Happy Religious Freedom Day!

The Great American Election Charade

I found this over at the Crisis Papers. It’s a very good description of the way our elections are just so much manipulation. Here’s the opening:

In the United States of America, the public selects the candidates of each of the two parties. Several candidates of these parties offer themselves to the citizens of a number of states, the free US press presents the policy positions of the candidates to the public, and the free broadcast media conduct debates in which the issues are openly discussed. Then the states hold primaries and caucuses, in which delegates are chosen by the voters, whereupon the delegates choose the parties’ nominees at open national party conventions.

And little George Washington really did chop down his daddy’s cherry tree.

It gets even better. Check it out.

May I Never Move to Taylor County, Florida

Taylor County, Florida, just decided to oppose evolution. They want evolution “presented as one of several theories as to how the universe was formed.” First off, they misunderstand the term “theory” as it is used in science. Second, they do not seem to understand that evolution describes how organisms change over time through inheritance and adaptation, not how the universe was formed. That’s physical cosmology, not evolution.

Taylor County, you are ijits.