Becky Ashe still does not ‘get it’

Becky Ashe still does not ‘get it’ (Evolving debate, Feb. 3, Knoxville News Sentinel). Her blind and unswerving devotion to evolutionary theory is obvious and laced with the kind of one-sided arrogance we have grown to expect. She wants to ‘keep the lines of communication open’ yet implies that if only public school teachers had only done a better job of educating people about the scientific process, the debate would be over. (Read: “All who disagree with me are uneducated about the scientific process.”) Her claim that Knox schools do not teach human evolution is insipid deception that only the most naïve would swallow. Either humans are part of the evolutionary chain or not a part of “all life.” She claims to stick with only what science is able to show us but in so doing reveals a prejudice so deeply ingrained that requires one to ignore the most startling discoveries of the past 50 years. Micro evolution, the kind that animal breeders regularly exploit, is a given. The spontaneous generation of life and macro evolution still require great leaps of faith and are coming under increasing skepticism in the scientific community. The true scientist finds himself truly humbled at the staggering complexity of even the most simple cell, a fact not known or even vaguely anticipated in Darwin’s time. I find Ms. Ashe and Prof. Wellman the ones who are woefully lacking in the information needed to have an intelligent discussion. Check out Ben Stein’s movie “Expelled” to get a good look at what a closed mind looks like. This is not the spirit of modern science. It is knee jerk subservience to what some have called “a fairy tale for adults so that they can determine their own sexual mores.” Knox Co. is behind the curve in merely “teaching the assigned curriculum” while castigating opposing viewpoints as adherents of “mythologies.” And then they wonder why so many families jump ship from this lumbering ark of educational intolerance.