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Perpetuating science illiteracy

By Jim Chen et al.

Now that my own family has solidly entered the world of coloring books and dinosaur p.j.s, this particular combination of dinosaurs and coloring books struck a raw nerve. I am not convinced it is real (seems too absurd, even for young earthers) but the image and text certainly capture the level of science illiteracy fostered by evolution denial. I find the kind of willful blindness and commitment to ideology over all else embodied by this drawing (regardless of whether it is an actual coloring book or not) to be frightening.

Picking and choosing among scientific principles to suit political or religious ideology is dangerous. For one thing, that kind of thinking bleeds so easily into climate change denial. We desperately need a renewed commitment to scientific research if we are to address the looming problems of catastrophic global warming and climate change. Taking a leaf from the Tobacco Institute, evolution deniers, like climate change deniers chant "not proven" for things not susceptible to the particular and highly specialized kind of proof they demand. Yet, the evidence is overwhelming, and the scientific consensus virtually unanimous. We have no time to waste re-debating well-settled propositions.

Full post as published by Biolaw Blog on March 22, 2009 (boomark / email).