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Why one Darwin prof does not celebrate Darwin Day

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In “Why I Am Not Celebrating “Darwin Day” (Chronicle of Higher Education, February 12, 2012), matherialst atheist and Darwinist Michael Ruse explains,

Whatever the implications, and I agree that many are there, I don’t want Darwin’s achievement caught up in America’s culture wars, to the extent that it is part of that and nothing else. I want to celebrate the human spirit and what we can do, rather than drag all down to the level of the rather disgusting display that we are seeing in the Republican race for the presidential nomination.

I want to celebrate a theory that tells us why the worker ants are always female and never male. I want to celebrate a theory that tells us why there are so many different little finches on the Galapagos and why they look like the birds of South America and not of Africa. I want to celebrate a theory that tells us why our DNA is in major respects identical to the DNA of the fruitfly and why nevertheless we humans don’t have wings and live just on bananas. I want to celebrate a theory that tells us why the Stegosaurus has those daft plates all down its back (they are for heat control). I want to celebrate a theory that tells us why sex selection in humans in places like India and China tends to favor boys over girls. I want a theory that tells you why, when you have VD, you might be randier than you were before. I want a theory that does all of these things and, like the goose, promises to go on laying golden eggs day after day, year after year.

Those eggs are not golden. They hatch the dragons of culture wars. And Darwinism will not do what its devotees hope. Whether they celebrate Darwin Day or not.

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Comments
Excellent point, Barb. Answer? Because Darwinism needs all the just so stories it can find.CannuckianYankee
February 14, 2012
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"I want to celebrate a theory that tells us why sex selection in humans in places like India and China tends to favor boys over girls." Dr. Ruse is presumably aware of China's one child policy that favors boys over girls, necessitating abortions and adoptions to other countries? If so, then why credit Darwin for what is essentially a political policy that has nothing to do with science?Barb
February 13, 2012
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