War

I think there is a just war that is going on in Iraq.
--September 17, 2007

Sam: The Answer to the Big Question
("What's the Matter with Kansas?")

Sam Brownback explained in the New York Times opinion pages that, as Mark Twain's schoolboy said, "Faith is believin' what you know ain't so."

Here's what he wrote: "What I Think About Evolution" by Sam Brownback.

Here is an articulate response by someone who knows what "science" means: "Don't Know Much Biology" by Jerry Coyne.

You can make up your own mind. Myself, I'm heartily tired of the willful refusal of people to understand these things:

• Religion doesn't help people understand Nature.
• Science doesn't help people understand God.
• Science is not a "belief": it's a reliable way of knowing what's true.
• Religion is not "truth" merely by virtue of intensity of belief.

Brownback says scientists "continue to feud today" about evolution. Implication: doubt equals error. That's exactly where he misunderstands what science is. (Do religions ever "feud"? More, or less, than scientists, would you say? What does that mean?)

No matter how many times it's explained, Brownback will never hear it. He says so in his essay.

It's not enough to remember his name.
You have to remember to vote for somebody else.

Anybody But Brownback.