Magic Valley and Magic Thinking

Note from Founding Daughter: No more writing letters to the Editor! A 400 word limit does nothing but cramp my creativity. My new avocation is to respond on the Times-News Magic Valley Community Speaks page. No word limits; you just take ‘em on one at a time. As for the following letter, Mr Vanderpol neglected to mentioned the King of Creationism: George!

Only creationism can teach children morality

Addressing the concern for our youth:

Why is teenage suicide up? Why is teenage meth use up? Why are teenage pregnancies up?

I think we are teaching this stuff in our schools:

(1) By teaching the religion of evolution, we are telling our children that you are an accident and have little or no value.

(2) There is no purpose to life except to have fun and pass on your genes.

(3) There is no absolute right or wrong; in fact, there are no absolutes.

(4) Your presence here is a burden on the planet since you are one of the polluters and it would be better for the world if you died.

When we teach the religion of evolution in our schools, this is what we are telling our children because there is no real future. Since there is no way to tell right from wrong, survival of the fittest becomes a way of life. It is unthinkable that we would dare teach intelligent design and give eternal value to our children.

Maybe they (educators) will come up with a new program for morality like they did for fatherless children in the '50s, drugs in the '60s, HIV in the '80s, all of which was a miserable failure. Only creationism teaches morality.

Good luck, Mr. and Mrs. America.

BILL VANDERPOL
Castleford

Community Speaks Story Commenting Forum

Kristen Keck (id:ckkeck) wrote on April 16, 2007 6:19 AM:
"Bill, You hit the nail on head with your letter. People who believe evolution is the truth are like ostriches burying their heads in the sand. They don't want to believe in creationism, or a creator; otherwise they would have to answer to someone other than themselves. I pity them come judgement day. "

Jared Asay (id:axisofjared) wrote on April 16, 2007 11:48 AM:
"I've always had a sort of built in irony meter, but I think Bill dealt it a powerful blow with this letter. He blames teen suicide, drug use, and pregnancy on the teaching of a particular field of science! I suppose Physics is to blame for violent crimes, and let's not forget the detrimental effect Chemistry 101 has on our divorce rate. Here's what caused my irony meter to sail dangerously off the charts. If you take a look at the statistics of social ills, they all occur most frequently in Red states – the very states that usually try to avoid teaching evolution and attempt to teach creationism instead. 7 of the 10 states with the highest teen pregnancy rates are red. 6 out of the 10 with the lowest rates are blue. The top 5 highest murder rates in America? Why that would be Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina, all Red. What about divorce rates? Well, get your irony meters ready, the state with the lowest divorce rate is that beacon of gay marriage called Massachusetts. Actually 9 out of the 10 lowest divorce rates are blue states. 8 of the 10 highest divorce rates are all Red states, with averages nearly 3 times higher than the 10 lowest! Now, I'll bet you're wondering which states have attempted to teach creationism in one form or another over the century: Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio…hmmm, what color were those states?"

Sharon Metcalf (id:sleight47) wrote on April 16, 2007 1:37 PM:
Mr. VanderPol: I am interested–to what do you attribute the countless depredations committed by man prior to the advent of the Theory of Evolution? In the same manner that man once thought all planets rotated around the earth, many men still think the universe rotates around man. Evolution does not claim to have all of the answers; most organized religions do. As Galileo Galilei once said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use." We are still killing each other, destroying the earth, and depending on outside sources for our beliefs or lack thereof. Until we can learn to take back the inherent responsibility for our own behavior and recognize what is wrong with "group think," our problems will continue. In the meantime, rather than subject the theory of evolution to bizarre accusations, may I suggest you simply use the term "devilution."