Science minister now says he believes in evolution, but it is irrelevant.
Yesterday, Canada's science minister wouldn't confirm if he believed in evolution. Today he offered a corrective (Story).
I disagree that it is irrelevant. Further, his comments aren’t the most reinforcing:
"We are evolving every year, every decade. That's a fact, whether it is to the intensity of the sun, whether it is to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment….”
It seems he has treated “adapting” as synonymous with “evolution” and it is not.
I disagree that it is irrelevant. Further, his comments aren’t the most reinforcing:
"We are evolving every year, every decade. That's a fact, whether it is to the intensity of the sun, whether it is to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment….”
It seems he has treated “adapting” as synonymous with “evolution” and it is not.
And the intensity of the sun? Sigh.
(Adaptation happens almost continuously, but evolution is based upon adaptation occuring over generations because those who are more adapted have more offspring, and their traits increase in a population. Evolution does not occur within a generation, so his comment that we are evolving every year is confusing at best and just wrong at worst.)
posted by That which is called Darren at 12:36 PM
2 Comments:
Yeah, that's a pretty typical Christian response--I believe in evolution, but not the evolution you believe in. I've heard lots say (and who knows, maybe even said myself) that they believe in microevolution but not macroevolution. I would think he knows exactly what he means when he gives the example of evolving everyday, but his little trick kind of worked--until I read your blog, I had just read the headlines that match the title of your blog.
By the way, here is another link you may be interested in. The MP in my riding, David Sweet, used to be the head of Promise Keepers. There are some disconcerting quotes on his wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sweet
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