The Age of Enlightenment

Via Mediamatters:

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from office in 2003 after defying a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state Supreme Court building, claimed that "there's no scientific evidence of evolution."

From the March 22 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MOORE: There's no scientific evidence of evolution. Evolution is a theory and has been recognized so by many. You have always heard of the missing link, haven't you?

MATTHEWS: Right.

MOORE: It is still missing. In other words, they can't explain how male and female came and every species from one atom or one amoeba.

Again, we see the "evolution is just a theory" bugagoo which creationists bring out constantly, showing their complete ignorance of what the word means in a scientific context.

And this nonsense about the "missing link"? The missing link harkens back to the 19th centry idea of the Great Chain of Being, back when all living things were considered to be reside on a ladder, having God at the top, all the different kinds of angels beneath him, white men directly underneath the angels, then the other races, then all the different animal species. The missing link was supposed to be something between the different races of man, and the apes. That it had never been found was supposed to be "proof" that evolution was wrong. Roy Moore has no idea what he's talking about.

Of course, the whole evolution vs. creationism debate isn't about rational discourse. It's about setting back the Enlightenment, the 18th century revolution of reason against the superstition and irrationality of the Dark Ages.

There is a Culture War going on around us. It is not a war we can afford to lose without losing our soul as a country and a people and a society.

We must rage against the dying of this light.