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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 hold—that 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