In honor of Charles Darwin's birthday on Feb. 12th, I want to spend some time discussing just what is Darwin's theory of evolution and, in another article, addressing some of the criticisms of this theory.

As Darwin Day approaches, we are facing an increasing assault by right wing extremists on Darwin's theory. Kansas is one of the big battlegrounds, of course, and it is depressing watching the battle unfold.

A recent issue of Science covered the upcoming Kansas state school board elections and let me tell you, it really is embarassing to read about this shit happening in 2006 America!

Newsweek has done a story on the evangelical movement to reduce global warming and protect the environment, which I think speaks to a vital opportunity.

From the article:

[Richard] Cizik, who first arrived in Washington in 1980 as a foot soldier for the Moral Majority, is a self-described "Reagan movement conservative" and Bush supporter, who opposes abortion, gay marriage and embryonic-stem-cell research. He promotes those positions as vice president of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the lobbying group that represents 30 million American Christians and more than 50 denominations. But in recent years, Cizik, 54, has also been at the forefront of a Biblically inspired environmental movement known as Creation Care, which holds that Christians have an obligation, described in the Book of Genesis, to "replenish the Earth" as God's stewards. "This is not a Red State issue or a Blue State issue or a green issue," Cizik says. "It's a spiritual issue."

Not long ago I wrote a diary on the validity of global warming. I followed that up with a description of how the right wing in America is attacking science, with an emphasis on the "Intelligent Deception" movement. I now want to put the former in the context of the latter and discuss the "Lobby of Denial," a concerted effort to interfere with genunine science in studying climate change.

Intelligent Design as a scientific theory is an impossibility. Science requires any theory to be subject to one rule: it must be falsifiable, in other words to be science a theory may be wrong.  Intelligent Design, with its reliance on magic, miracles and supernatural intervention cannot be proven false. Reliance on God to fill the gaps in material knowledge is NOT science, it is metaphysical philosophy. If this subject must be taught in our public schools, teach it as philosophy, or teach it in the humanities along with other mythologies that ascribe creation to the divine.

Recently I posted a diary on global warming which drew some offline interest from global warming deniers which I covered in the comments to that story. I don't know much about those who attacked me offline, and I don't much care. Whether they intend it or not, they are part of a right wing attack on science that I recently wrote about on Daily Kos but which seems worth updating for the benefit of Political Cortex.

It started when I was reading a biography of Darwin and had just come to the part where the publication of Origin of the Species has produced a huge religion vs. science debate at an Oxford scientific conference. I was struck by how far we have come since then only to see reactionary forces pulling us back towards willfull ignorance. My anger at the willfull ignorance of a wide section of American culture is what led to this article.

NEWS FLASH!!  Fundies Attack World, World Yawns!  Those little devils never give up trying.  (Ap/Yahoo):

Conservatives Step Up Activities Overseas
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer  Sat Jan 14, 12:50 PM ET

NEW YORK - From Peru to the Philippines to Poland, U.S.-based conservative groups are increasingly engaged in abortion and family-planning debates overseas, emboldened by their ties with the Bush administration and eager to compete with more liberal rivals.

Lobbying Abroad
Some examples of conservative activity overseas:

• In Peru, the Population Research Institute filed a complaint with the U.S. Agency for International Development, contending that two local groups had violated U.S. policy by using American funds to promote legalization of the morning-after pill. Both groups were warned, and one will have to return some funds, according to Joseph d'Agostino of the Population Research Institute, a Virginia-based anti-abortion group.

• In Colombia, PRI has assisted local conservatives in opposing a legal challenge to the country's sweeping ban on abortions. Women's rights activists plan to file a new lawsuit seeking to end Colombia's status as one of three Latin American countries prohibiting all abortions.

• In the Philippines, several U.S. conservative groups have been helping rally opposition to family-planning legislation. The bill would provide some financial incentives for parents who limit themselves to two children; critics also say it goes too far in promoting sex education and birth control access.

• In Africa, U.S.-based groups focusing on abstinence as a strategy to prevent HIV/AIDS have received grants, in some cases drawing criticism that political ties overcame their lack of expertise.

The vast no-brain conspiracy.

And you thought internecine religious wars were over:

Muslims Clash Over Oakland Liquor Stores

OAKLAND, Calif. - They weren't your ordinary thugs. Dressed in bow ties and dark suits, nearly a dozen men carrying metal pipes entered a corner store, shattered refrigerator cases and smashed bottles of liquor, wine and beer, terrifying the clerk but stealing nothing.

They just wanted to leave a message: Stop selling alcohol to fellow Muslims.

Somebody needs a "time out".

Cross Posted with Talk to Action, Political Cortex and Gene's Thoughts

This is not an original idea with me, but one I think would solve several problems and one I have been interested in for a while Given the current situation in this country regarding the encroachment of religion into the public space, it is necessary that we give our children a sound, fundamental grounding in religion. I propose an intensive religious education beginning in the fourth grade and culminating senior year. This would be a nine year course of study taking students from the founding myths of the world's major religions through comparative religious instruction with emphasis on similarities and differences and why these differences exist. Finally, the last two years would consider the philosophy of religion, how religions start, what makes them important to their adherents and how our lives are shaped by our religious beliefs. Along the way topics on science and religion, science as religion, religion as science, worldviews, and the psychology of religion would be studied. By the time students reach the end of this study, they will be in a much better position to recognize religious issues and make their own decisions regarding such issues.

I love Jesus! Not as the savior of humanity, but as one of the most powerful and influential liberals of all time.

That's why I lose it when I see the fundamentalist conservative 'Christian' movement in America using his likeness and reputation to further their decidedly un-Jesus-like agenda.

Most recently, our friendly neighborhood fanatics have taken to promoting a movie, the Chronicles of Narnia, claiming that its popularity is evidence that their brand of 'Christian pop culture' is taking over America.

If these were 'true' Christian principles at issue here, I doubt I would mind much since they'd naturally consist of such things as love, understanding, peace, good will and the like.

Unfortunately, the religious right has consistently advanced 'false' Christian principles -- maddeningly heavy on prejudice, intolerance, hatred, heavy and frequent judgment, and various sorts of lethal vengeance.

Regardless, after taking my kids to see the holiday flick -- a recent tradition in our household -- I can report, to my delighted surprise, that Narnia seems more like the 5th installment in the Harry Potter series (ironically demonized by the religio-wingnuts for its 'anti-Christian' setting) than a rehashing of the conservative Christian spiel.

In fact, you drop a few keywords from the movie and you're left with a good ol' fashioned,  simple-yet-compelling story of 'good vs. evil'.

So why all the winger Christian hype?

Countless words of condemnation have been heaped upon George W. Bush and his hard-Right regime – a crescendo growing louder by the day, with voices from across the political spectrum. But the most devastating repudiation of the Regime's foul ethos was actually delivered almost 2,000 years ago by the man whose birth is celebrated at this season of the year.

We speak, of course, of Jesus of Nazareth, whose Sermon on the Mount, as reported in the Gospels, called for a revolutionary transformation of human nature – a complete overthrow of our natural instincts for greed, aggression, and self-aggrandizement. This radical vision – erupting in the turbulent backwater of a brutal world empire – is the true miracle of Jesus' life, not the clusmy fables about virgin births, magic tricks and corpses rising from the dead. The vision's living force sears through dogma, casts down the pomp of church and state, and gives the lie to every hypocrite who evokes the name of Jesus in pursuit of earthly power.

I hear the discussion over the public display of the Ten Commandments, a Jewish and Christian religious symbol.  I don't understand the issue, either from a religious or a secular point of view.

I realize this argument, posed as religion stemming the tide of secularism really does not have a secular point, but what is the religious point? If putting a statue of the Ten Commandments on the court house lawn, or posting a copy of them in the hallways of our schools would improve the morality of our nation I don't think there would be a discussion and these monuments would have been installed years ago. Religious structures have no power to improve morality. Count the churches in our cities and towns and ask yourself if they have succeeded in making us a moral nation.

In the wake of the horrific disaster that was the tsunami of 2004, there was, and continues to be an outpouring of good faith across the globe.

As with any event of historic (biblical?) proportions, there are always two sides to the story. In this particular example the sides reflect the core of what we label contemporarily as the 'religious right' and the 'religious left'.

On the left, religion is met with a feeling of nurturance, tolerance and compassion. This is reflected in the lefts immediate reaction to the global disaster -- helping those in need in any way possible -- focusing on those most vulnerable.

On the right, religion is a vehicle of punishment, intolerance, and constant judgment as well as a convenient tool for rationalizing inhumane behavior. This is symbolized by the following conversation (paraphrased to account for imperfect memory):

Just before the new year, I was chatting with a colleague of mine. He's a staunch religious conservative, but generally open to other points of view. I respected him and his opinions...or at least I did.

(So it began...)

More specifically, liberal Catholics. For those of you who were worried that Ratzinger's rise to the papacy would shove the Church to the right, this is a good sign.

THE Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally.
Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly.
His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive.

This is nothing new - Catholics have been teaching a separation of faith and science for years - but it's nice to hear it out loud. And for the record, American Catholics are actually really progressive.