Science and Religion are different. Thank God.

 In an article about Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s beliefs concerning the age of the Earth, the New York Times quoted the Republican as saying, “Whether the earth was created in seven days, or seven actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.”

The Times went on to write, “It may have been a mystery back in the 17th century, when Archbishop James Ussher calculated from the age of the patriarchs and other sources that Earth was created on Oct. 22, 4004 B.C. Today’s best estimate for the age of Earth, based on the radiometric dating of meteorites, is 4.54 billion years. The real mystery is how a highly intelligent politician got himself into the position of suggesting that the two estimates are of equal value, or that theologians are still the best interpreters of the physical world.”

I think this is a fair question. But what the article rightly contested was Rubio’s assertion that both arguments should be allowed to be taught. This stems from the age-old Scopes Trial and the battle over evolution, which theologians get heartburn about. In its argument, The Times wrote, “Like those electrons that can be waves or particles, evolution is both a theory and a fact. In historical terms, evolution has certainly occurred and no fact is better attested. But in terms of the intellectual structure of science, evolution is a theory; no one talks about Darwin’s “fact of evolution.
“Unlike a fact, a theory cannot be absolutely true. All scientific theories are subject to change and replacement, just as Newton’s theory of gravitation was replaced by Einstein’s. The theory of evolution, though it has no present rivals, is still under substantial construction.
“Evolutionary biologists are furiously debating whether or not natural selection can operate on groups of individuals, as Darwin thought was likely but most modern evolutionists doubt. So which version of evolution is the true one?
“By allowing that evolution is a theory, scientists would hand fundamentalists the fig leaf they need to insist, at least among themselves, that the majestic words of the first chapter of Genesis are literal, not metaphorical, truths. They in return should make no objection to the teaching of evolution in science classes as a theory, which indeed it is.”

What this argument means is that quite simply, in science the age of the Earth should be considered with scientific instruments and measurements.  In theology class, it can be dated as of October 22, 4004 B.C. I think that was a Tuesday. The two have nothing to do with each other. One is like saying that gamma rays and other radio-active isotopes affect the growth tumors of certain known cancers; therefore, we will treat tumors with radiation…or we can just pray and rely on faith healing — handle a few snakes, speak in tongues and dance around the may pole with a witch doctor.

America is going to have to walk away from this anti-intellectual movement it is on. It is a dangerously narrow-minded course. Its pathway is always paved backward. You may in your church or even in your heart pretend that the world is about 6,016 years old. That’s fine. You may believe man wrestled with dinosaurs; that too is okay by me. And if you want to believe that the totality of creation was achieved in six working days, I’m down with that, too … so long as you keep it out of the science classroom.

The pulpits all across this land are full of flashy-dressed, demigods that preach an empty-headed gospel of anti-science. When in fact, what they should be doing is preaching about salvation and love and forgiveness.  They have no business talking about physical science or chemistry or anything else they do not know about. I even heard one preacher on TV talking about the discoveries at the CERN labs in Switzerland, where the scientists from around the globe are hunting for the Higgs bolson; he weighed in saying it was the work of the Devil.  Really?

And I suppose the Mars explorer is the harbinger of the antichrist, too.

Come on people. Follow mythologies all you want. Just do not foster it onto society as educated science.  It is not. 

And Senator Rubio, quit pandering to the far right so early in the 2016 Race for the White House.