BTC #1: PLAYING WITH FIRE

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

I'm told it's dangerous to let people think, especially high school students.

This is, of course, true. Thinking is dangerous: it threatens mindless adherence to authority figures, whether it's a tyrant with a crown or just anyone of our acquaintance who says, 'We've never done things that way before, so we shouldn't try it.' Thinking for yourself, without regard to what the government says, or what some preacher says, or what your cultural traditions expect---it's dangerous.

It's also human, and essential. The illustration is a tease. I'll have more to say about this in the near future: hopefully it won't be bitter!

A NEW CATEGORY: BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Well, as anyone who's been following this blog knows, a lot of it has to do with supporting science education, and (which dovetails nicely) criticizing the attempts of those, such as creationists, who seek to undermine good science. One could easily get the impression that I'm one of them there Godless 'evilutionists'. But I'm not. Like a lot of people, I'm a theist who accepts the powerful evidence in support of 'Darwin's dangerous idea.'

That's not to say, however, that I regard science as just another way of "proving" my beliefs. I think it's dishonest to pretend that science can rue definitively on such questions one way or the other, and it's almost as cheesy to blithely intone that science and religion agree, or that there are no points of conflict. Yet this is the sort of mantra that we hear a lot from either side of the divide between science and religion, and it seems to be the way that the majority of folk in this country desperately want the issue to be couched. They like their science, and they love their faith, and they want to keep both---and the idea that there might be some irresolvable impasse bothers them. Better, many of them think, to hush that up.

And so, I have great admiration for anyone, scientist or otherwise, who in a spirit of inquiry openly entertains honest doubt about faith, Gods, religion, etc. Some of those folk might be interested in reading about items of faith, and some won't. I don't want to bore or alienate my fellows who fit in the last category, but one of my motives for starting this blog was to explore where this tension between faith and reason might lead me! With that in mind, I'm proposing a new category: "Behind The Curtain."

Those of you who are interested will soon learn to look for posts with the prefix BTC. Those who can do very well without faith-head talk can learn to avoid same. I hope those skeptics who do choose to read it, however, will feel free to comment and keep my feet to the fire.

VOX DEI-BATE: ON HOLD?

Has my 'debate' with Vox run its course? One of my readers suggested as much to me in an email over the weekend. However, let me remind y'all that:

1) Vox has essentially requested more time: ".....I'm doing some reading to catch up before responding to Scott's latest post..... I have a weekly column to write, after all, which takes priority over the debate on evolution."

2) The NFL got under way with a full slate of games over the weekend, and Vox is clearly a big-time NFL fan.

Speaking of which, how 'bout dem Cowboys?