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Liberty Letters, Thomas
Jefferson, Letter 20
Evolution vs. Creationism
by Steve Farrell
The debate raging in Georgia - and beginning to spread its wings
across the nation - over whether to teach evolution or
creationism or both in the public classroom reminds us that free
speech, free inquiry and freedom of religion are finally
beginning to fight back against a centrist, fiercely intolerant,
protectionist modern educational establishment that is run by a
combination of agnostics, atheists, socialists, politically
correct cowards (sadly, many of them 'Christians') and a host of
men and women who have been taught what to think rather than how
to think.
The point the elite, out-of-touch, bought-and-paid-for
intellectual "giants" are hiding from you and me, their
students and other advocates of academic freedom is that there is
now, always has been, and always will be numberless dissenters
within their ranks, and outside their ranks, who look into the
heavens and Earth with the eye of science, and the eye of reason,
and see such magnificent variety and order and wonder that they
have no doubt, no doubt at all, that the universe was created by
a Supreme Being, not by chance, not by evolution, not according
to the obtuse theories of a class of men who demean themselves
(and the rest of us with them) by supposing mankind to be the
lowly descendants of amoebas and apes, rather than the literal
offspring of God.
Talk about setting the sights of our children low! Perhaps the
most educated man in this nation's history, Thomas Jefferson - a
scientist of the first magnitude in so many areas of inquiry -
saw in the universe what your children and my children are not
permitted to hear, to consider, or to endeavor to prove:
"[W]ithout appeal to revelation," he told fellow
founder John Adams on April 11, 1823:
I holdthat when we take a view of the universe, in its
parts, general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind
not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate
skill, and indefinite power in every atom of its composition. The
movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course
by the balance centrifugal and centripetal forces; the structure
of our earth itself, with its distribution of lands, waters and
atmosphere; animal and vegetable bodies, examine in all their
minutest particles; insects, mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly
organized as man or mammoth; the mineral substances, their
generation and uses; it is impossible.
I say, for the human mind not to believe, that there is in all
this, design, cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a
fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver
and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms,
and their regeneration into new and other forms.
We see, too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending
power, to maintain the universe in its course and order. Stars,
well known, have disappeared, new ones have come into view;
comets, in their incalculable courses, may run foul of suns and
planets, and require renovation under other laws; certain races
of animals are become extinct; and were there no restoring power,
all existences might extinguish successively, one by one, until
all should be reduced to a shapeless chaos. So irresistible are
these evidences of an intelligent and powerful agent, that, of
the infinite numbers of men who have existed through all time,
they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to
unit, in the hypothesis of an eternal preexistence of a creator,
rather than in that of a self-existent universe. Surely this
unanimous sentiment renders this more probable, than that of the
few in the other hypothesis
.
Well, surely this unanimous sentiment would render itself more
probable than that of "the few" in the other
"hypothesis," as it did in Jefferson's age, except
guess what those few have since hijacked America's
schools, ruled with an iron fist her academic journals, outlawed
free speech, free inquiry and religious freedom in every learning
circle, and have thus undone the good that Jefferson and the
other Founders did, crushing dissent in their favor, as all
bullies and all cowards who have something to hide have always
done.
But a sleeping giant is stirring. A new generation has come to
the realization that it's time to take back the educational
establishment from these 'pro-choice' liberals who offer no
choice except their choice in the classroom, who tremble at the
thought of another point of view, even some common sense
challenging their precious godless monopoly, some common sense
from 'the many' whom they despise. ?
Reprinted with permission from NewsMax.com. NewsMax pundit Steve
Farrell is associate professor of political economy at George
Wythe College, press agent for Defend Marriage (a project of
United Families International), and the author of the highly
praised, inspirational novel Dark Rose (available at amazon.com).
For you West Coast night owls, try and catch
Steve on Mark Edwards' "Wake Up America!" talk radio
show on 50,000-Watt KDWN, 720 AM, 10 p.m. to midnight, Monday
nights; or on the Internet at AmericanVoiceRadio.com (preferred
access at WakeUpAmericaFoundation.com).
TSS
March
- April 2005 The Sabbath Sentinel
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