Republican War on Science

Today brings us the news that Senator Frist agrees with President Bush that we should teach intelligent Design alongside of evolution in science classes.

This issue is nothing less than a threat to the future economic leadership of this country. The Chinese sure aren't teaching their kids that evolution is "just a theory, not a fact". They're studying hard to become the new generation of top scientists developing the technological breakthroughs that will define the 21st century, while we squabble over the absurd politization of what makes scientific theory.

This false ideological war is insane on many levels. It's simply completely unnecessary for there to be any conflict between religion and evolution. The mysteries of the origins of the universe will probably never be addressed by science. It's a topic that science is ill-equipped to test, and can easily be left to philosophers and religious scholars.

Meanwhile, this so-called conflict between science and religion sets up a situation where bright people who happen to be christians will be dissuaded from studying biology and science, fearing it is somehow against their religious teachings. We have too few scientists already, and cannot afford to fall behind in the global marketplace of scientific innovation.

I'm looking forward to reading the new book, the Republican War on Science for more depressing details, on this, the most ideologically anti-science administration ever.