Fossils

by Dick Mac

I have always been a fan of fossils. I love the window they provide to the past.

I learned about evolution because of my interest in fossils. Having attended Catholic school in the 1960s, the only science I was taught was meteorology (weather), a little bit of Earth science, and a tiny bit of astronomy. Science wasn't a big topic in Catholic schools of the day.

I remember learning about copyright dates in books and during a sixth-grade science class about clouds, in 1969, I looked at the copyright date of my slender science book: 1948. Now, I'm not an expert on textbooks or science, but even at the ripe old age of eleven, I knew that a lot of scientific changes had taken place in the 21 years between the publication of my science book and my science lesson of that day.

I took an interest in dinosaurs and fossils outside of school and marvelled at them at museums. They are, indeed, a window to the past.

As an adult, I met people who do not believe in evolution (which is sort of like not believing in gravity). I tried discussing it with them until I realized that their position was rooted in their religious faith and interpretations of the Bible. As a Catholic, I have always been baffled by these people. I read the Bible and I use it as the basis of my personal faith and religious beliefs. I don't use it as a textbook, however, to learn about modern-day scientific analyses or cultural development. I use science for that!

I often wonder if these people have missed the fascinating world of fossils, the amazement of seeing the skeletons of massive dinosaurs, the excitement of deep-ocean discoveries of seemingly pre-historic fish.

Not long ago, I was chatting with a fellow-parishioner after Sunday mass, and "evolution" became the focus of the conversation. She was concerned that America was discussing the importance of the anniversary of Charles Darwins' "The Origin Of The Species," because, she said it was so intrinsically anti-Catholic. I told her I believed that evolution was an obvious reality, that all living things evolve. She was angry that I was saying she was descended from monkeys. I remained silent and listened to the very standard parochialism that is responsible for Catholic stupidity. When she paused and asked "Don'tcha think?" I said I did not share her analysis of evolution, and then I made a big mistake: I asked her why we keep finding fossils that are millions of years old if the world is only 5,000 years old.

"God put them there when he created Adam and Eve."

I didn't sigh audibly, but I had to stop talking to this person. I keep forgetting there are people who think this way.

Today, I feel sorry for those people, and I offer you this link to a nifty article at the New York Times, about the Cambrian Explosion, that is believed to have taken place 500,000,000 years ago:

Translating Stories of Life Forms Etched in Stone

Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" at 150

by Dick Mac

Darwin's landmark book, "On The Origin Of Species" was released 150 years ago yesterday.

Darwin's tome, for those who are not familiar with it, discusses the evolutionary process on this planet, the survival of the fittest, and natural selection, among other now-commonplace topics.

Darwin wasn't the only thinker of his day discussing evolution, but he managed to publish the most popular book on the topic and is, hence, the godfather of evolutionary biology.

Like other forward thinkers and scientists before him, Darwin's theories were met with great resistance, especially from religious zealots whose investment in Bible stories prevents them from opening their minds to reality.

In the 150 years since publication, many people have been educated, communication and publishing has improved to allow instantaneous publication, and blind religion has been met head-on by intellectualism. That's a lot!

Fifty years ago, on the hundredth anniversary of the publication of "Origins," the United States was a remarkably progressive culture. Between the years of 1959 and 1979, Americans became perhaps the most enlightened culture in the history of humanity.

The implementation and defense of civil rights and human rights became regular topics of conversation, and only a tiny minority of Americans embraced the xenophobia that so often defines Western Civilization.

At the end of the 1970s, the United States was mired in an economic morass that wasn't actually that bad, but it became the lynchpin of a campaign by far-right-wing modern-day industrialists (mostly bankers, actually) who saw an opportunity to return the American to a mid-19th Century economy and culture.

Campaigns against intellectuals, the disenfranchised, and the poor were launched around the country. Campaigns to burn books, deny rights to homosexual taxpayers, restrict access to medicine and education, and promote the deregulation of industry were waged, mostly in the name of Jesus Christ.

Americans who were struggling financially were convinced (and many remain convinced) that their economic woes were because of the poor and disenfranchised (who have no control over the economy). How this can be true, I will never know. We have eliminated most funding for the poor and disenfranchised, and American families struggle more now than they did thirty years ago. This tells me that the problem is the rich, not the poor . . . but I digress.

Or do I?

These campaigns against thinking and progress, which continue today in publications like the New York Post and the Washington Times, and on broadcast outlets like Fox News and CNN, succeeded at turning America from a culture of progress to a stagnant swamp of religiosity and hate.

Although I have no statistics, I am pretty certain that the theory of evolution was a pretty widely accepted notion among all Americans in the 1960s and -70s. I was raised a Catholic in Boston, and I don't recall anyone (even the clergy) declaring that creationism was the only accurate analysis of the origin of species and that evolution was questionable.

My memory is that most Catholics believed that God would create a universe where evolution was obvious.

Today, I actually know people who question the validity of evolution. None of them are Catholic; they all call themselves conservatives, all are college educated, and none of them participate in religious practice. Somehow, though, politicians have convinced them that evolution is questionable and creationism is valid.

Are you friggin' kidding me?

If you think the theory of evolution is not valid, or as my friend Joe's brother told him: you think the jury is still out on evolution, I ask you to please open your mind and stop parroting what you hear on Fox News. Evolution is real. I believe that God would expect us to accept that evolution is real. I believe that God gave us brains so that we could grasp evolution.