A startling event occurred last week when I was in a Roman Literature discussion class. The reading assignment was from Augustine’s Confessions and our class was talking about Augustine’s conversion to Christianity. Augustine had been going to church since he was a child and constantly engaged in philosophical conversations with church elders and different sects of Christianity. He eventually joined the Roman Catholic church after his conversion.
The class was discussing the believability of his ‘instantaneous’ conversion after he heard children chanting ‘tolle lege’ (take up and read) while in a garden. This inspired him to open his bible and read from the first passage he saw. Upon reading Romans 13, Augustine claims to be instantly converted to Christianity. Half the class seemed to agree that conversion was instantaneous, while others thought it was a long process from years of Christian upbringing. It was at this point when someone offered an opinion about their experience with religion and science.
A male student in the back of the classroom was apparently swept up in the topic of religion and said, paraphrasing, ‘I don’t understand why people are always forcing their opinions on me. It’s like their telling me that what I’ve believed since I was born is wrong. I ain’t no tadpole.’ Another person in the class promptly agreed saying ‘Yea.’
I can only interpret this as a reaction to the teaching of science in school and the process of evolution. I sat in bewilderment at the out-of-place comment and how someone could think that science’s goal is to get people to stop believing in religion. The scientific method and it’s emphasis on questioning beliefs definitely contribute to religion’s debunking, but I’m pretty there’s plenty of religious scientists. Also, science and religion are not mutually exclusive. It is science’s goal to explain everything, but it will never fully achieve that goal, even though it strives to at all times. In the void of the complete scientific knowledge, religion will always exist for rational people.
But, while there gaps in science’s ability to explain the world, evolution is a well-founded and researched scientific theory. It is not a theory in the sense that evolution is theoretical, but rather evolution has upheld decades of scientific scrutiny and new evidence continues to prove evolution correct. The phrase ‘I ain’t no tadpole’ shows a basic lack of understanding about what evolution proves. While sperm (sort of like a tadpole) combined with an egg to make an embryo, humans don’t transform from tadpoles into frogs into apes into humans in one lifetime. Obviously no one told this person, and countless others, and so I was forced to hear a stupid phrase that will never leave my mind.
The solution is science education and a critical lens toward the manipulation of science in the form of intelligent design, or just plain lies. The earth is not 5,000 years old and humans did not magically appear as the first life form on this planet. Humans did not live in the time of dinosaurs, nor did they fight dinosaurs and film themselves doing so in documentaries for future generations. These are non-negotiable points when choosing to lead a life that takes science seriously or as a threat to beliefs. ‘Save the Science, Save the Planet.’
Phrase to remember: ‘Yea, grand-dad was no ape.’ -Samantha Bee
