What is scary about Palin is not her faith (I have absolutely no issue with faith per se) but her desire to 'force' it upon others. I have no problem with teaching Creation, but it simply does NOT belong in the public school science class. Creation (or Intelligent Design) is NOT science and thus does not belong in a science classroom. Sunday school, theology, and maybe philosophy YES, public school science class NO. And to use the argument that 'let the kids see both sides and debate the issue' is really quite silly. Should we also allow revisionist history to be taught in public schools? To borrow from the Republican play book, this is a 'slippery slope'. If Creation is taught alongside evolution in public school science classes we best start teaching David Irving-style Holocaust revisionist history in world history classes - so we can allow the students to debate the issue (how ignorant does this sound?). Healthy debate is good, but there is a place for it and Creation does NOT belong in a science class. It is faith, and faith belongs in the heart and the congregation. As a scientist I cannot apply scientific method to test faith or the potential validity of Creation. This fact alone means that Creation can not be science, and thus simply does not belong in public school science classes. Faith does not need to be proven, but that is what we attempt to do on a daily basis in science with theory. My students cannot publish results that are based on 'faith' of theory, but rather need to provide evidence for or against. Creation cannot be tested or proven by scientific method, it only requires faith. The founding fathers felt that the Church and State belonged separate and if the Second Amendment is to be held with such high regard maybe we should hold this ideal in high regard as well?
So Sarah Palin scares me because of how she blurs the line between her faith and her job as a public servant. I have to believe that she can have strong faith without trying to legislate it. Aren't we frequently hearing the argument forwarded by President Bush about liberal judges legislating their views. How is Palin's (or the Republican plank) any different? Do they just feel that THEIR beliefs, being grounded in faith, are simply better, nigh correct?
Time will tell whether American's buy the snake oil of the Democrats or the Republicans, but one has to applaud the process this time around for making two of the top four spots something different!
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There are all sorts of things that scare me about Palin. Like that video of her shooting assault rifles, for example. Climate change denier, for another. But you're right about this - the whole "debate" over Evolution vs. Creationism is bogus and it scares the crap out of me, and is one of the reasons that I no longer live in the States, that nearly half of Americans “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.” Huh?
Read this post I wrote about it a while back: http://www.afreeman.org/2008/05/27/science-tuesday-breath-taking-insanity/
Good news is that I think Palin may cost McCain more votes than he anticipated. Fingers crossed.
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