the gospel according to st. jimbo

I was embarrassed to hear since Thursday that there are courtroom hearings in my home state debating the teaching of evolution in public schools. My problem with hearing this is not that I’m opposed to debate on the subject, because intellectual debate on the origins of man is always welcome in a civilized society. My concern is that the purpose of the debate is for members of the religious right to try to take us backward in time.

It seems that the Kansas Board of Education has a 25-member committee that recommends how science should be taught and that a minority of members dissenting from the majority opinion are holding these hearings. This minority group says about evolution that it is, "an unpredictable and unguided natural process that has no discernible direction or goal. It also assumes that life arose from an unguided natural process."

Well, duh.

The summer before last, on the way to my mom’s house after playing basketball on a Sunday afternoon, my son and I were somewhat excited to see a tornado coming in from a westerly direction. Unfortunately, I was killed and am telling this spooky story from beyond the grave. No, wait! That’s right, we lived through it. While a tornado is an act of God, I contend that it fits within the parameters of an “unguided natural process.”

Last fall, while returning from dinner on a stormy Friday evening, Jimbo and his girlfriend were proceeding down the highway when we drove into a torrent and my car began to float away. I was able to use the drive wheels to propel us in the same direction the water was moving and we were able to find high ground and drive away and escape death, but again this act of God was an “unguided natural process.”

You may recall the day after Christmas last year, the tsunami created havoc in Asia. This was also an act of God, but I did my best to take the blame off the old fella. You may recall I said the following.

http://jimboandhisfriends.blogspot.com/2004/12/oh-lord-grant-me-my-prayer.html

However, in retrospect, there is no denying the tsunami was an “unguided natural process.”

I know sometimes it is easy to yearn for the good old days and a time when things were simpler. I know that it would be nice for progress to stop so we could all get caught up with all the changes, but the truth is there is only one constant in life and that it change. Darwin knew it, I know it and now, you know it, too, if you didn’t already.

Even if we could transport ourselves back to a quieter, slower time, the same people who are bringing the suit would want to move further back and they would want to set fire to any woman that didn’t act exactly as they wanted her to. Then, maybe they would decide that it wasn’t right that dark-skinned people occupied the holy land and they would march in armies against them.

Ignorance may be bliss, but I don’t accept the gift of bliss that this splinter group from the Kansas Board of Education wants to give our progeny. I’d rather know the truth, even if it isn’t pretty.

In Jimbo’s world we seek beauty and truth, and for today, one out of two ain’t bad.