The March for Science is Really a March for Conformity
By Jonathan Wells Published on April 18, 2017
https://stream.org/the-march-for-sci...or-conformity/
I am a scientist, but I
won't be joining the worldwide March for Science April 22. That's
because it's really a march for something that undermines good science.
March organizers say "our diversity is our greatest strength."
They say "a wealth of opinions, perspectives, and ideas is critical for the scientific process." But they don't really mean it.
Their passion for diversity extends to race, religion, nationality, gender and sexual orientation,
but not to opinions, perspectives and ideas.
In particular, it doesn't extend to diversity of opinion about two controversial ideas.
The first idea is that you evolved from ape-like ancestors by unguided processes such as accidental mutation and natural selection.
The second idea is that manmade global warming threatens civilization, and our government must take drastic action to stop it,
even if that means wrecking the economy.
Skeptics of the first idea are labeled "creationists." Often, they are expelled from science altogether. And if global warming alarmists have their way, skeptics of the second idea may soon be criminally prosecuted.
Note the hypocrisy....
...The Message of the March: Ignore the Evidence and Trust Us
Some of our newly elected politicians refuse to bow to the scientific consensus on evolution and global warming. So defenders of the consensus are marching to
pressure them to submit....
...As a biologist
I know there is a scientific debate over the evidence for evolution. There are dissenters. And some are willing to speak out publicly even though doing so may threaten their careers.
The
reason for the dissent is
simple.
The evidence does not support Darwinian evolution. Mutation and natural selection have
never been observed to produce anything more than
minor changes
within existing species.
In place of evidence-based science, Darwin and his followers have relied on
materialistic philosophy. That philosophy says
only matter and physical forces are real. I
t says mind, spirit, free will, God and intelligent design are illusions.
In 1859, Darwin wrote that he "would give absolutely nothing" for his theory if it required "miraculous additions at any one stage of descent." He allowed only unguided natural processes.
In other words, Darwinism is materialistic.
For many in the nineteenth century,
this was
its most attractive feature. As Historian Neal Gillespie explained,
"It was more Darwin's insistence on totally natural explanations than on natural selection that won their adherence."...
...But evolution is materialistic story-telling. And
the story persists even when the evidence contradicts it. I call this
"zombie science," and I describe
many examples of it in my book of the same name. I'll mention
just one here. Students are shown drawings of some embryos of animals with backbones.
In the drawings, all the embryos look similar in their earliest stages. Darwin believed this showed that we evolved from fish.
But the story is false. Worse, mainstream biologists have long
known that
the drawings are false. They
know that human and fish embryos look
very different in their early stages.
But many textbooks recycle the lie year after year anyway.
Why? Because the materialistic story
must be true....
...The Sky is Falling
The AAAS and NCSE are also determined to
enforce the consensus on global warming.
But there
is a scientific debate over
manmade global warming. Some climate scientists think the evidence does
not support the consensus.
The way to address the question is to debate the issue. It's to weigh the evidence pro and con. Yet the UCS would
silence dissenting scientists.
What really matters in science is
not an opinion poll.
It is the evidence. And some scientists argue persuasively that
the evidence does not support Darwinian evolution or manmade global warming.
So the March for Science is
not really about "evidence-based policies." It is about enforcing the scientific consensus.
It is about materialistic philosophy and progressive politics. And you'd better believe it! (or else!)
Jonathan Wells, Ph.D. is a senior fellow of Discover Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He's the author of Icons of Evolution, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Evolution and Intelligent Design, and the new book Zombie Science: More Icons of Evolution.