Garrett M. Vonk

Thinking this morning about the evolution textbook/sticker debate that has raged on in classrooms, board meetings, and courts across the land, I thought it would be funny to see a sticker required on copies of The Bible, with language similar to the stickers the anti-science crowd wants on biology textbooks.

Of course, to avoid duplication of effort, I went ahead and Googled it to see if such a parody sticker exists. Here’s what I found:

WARNING!!!
This bible is made up of stories, not facts. Serious disagreement among biblical scholars has existed for thousands of years about these stories. The stories in this bible should not be taken as literal truth or as facts. There are hundreds of other religious stories throughout the world that contradict and call into question the stories in this bible. This bible should therefore be approached with a spirit of critical consideration.

From http://blogs.lawrence.com/yellowdog/2005/feb/10/mythnotfact/

Pretty good. I am not in a position to, nor do I have the desire to, bring the Bible into question here. I just question the motives of people who selectively argue against teaching science to children correctly.

Why don’t they complain about the theory of electromagnetism, the germ theory of disease, and the theory of gravity? They’re just theories too! Nobody wants a sticker warning kids about other theories because these others don’t conflict with their specific religious beliefs. That’s the only reason, in my opinion, that there’s even an issue. Why? Most of the non-scientists injecting themselves into this debate seem to care very little about other science-related issues, even areas of science about which there is real, scientific debate.

Evolution is the central organizing theory of biology, and has fundamental importance in other sciences as well. It is no more controversial in scientific circles than gravity or electricity is…And, regardless of whether the changes in plants and animals are gradual or sporadic, the facts remain that plants and animals have evolved over time. There is no scientific dispute that evolution has occurred and continues to occur; this is why evolution is regarded as a scientific fact. (State of California, 1989)