Evolution is Not a Belief

In his article, What is it about Mormonism?, Noah Feldman gives a general summation of the history of Mormon belief and culture, one that began with a starry-eyed, gold-seeking “prophet,” turned into a rite of persecution in every state the growing movement traveled to, and has resulted in a financially prosperous, though little understood, business and religious venture. One point that is extremely relevant to the current election is brought up:

“Facing a traditional American anti-Catholicism, John F. Kennedy gave a speech during the 1960 presidential campaign declaring his private religion irrelevant to his qualifications for public office.”

This is a convenient bluff, but it fails to recognize one fundamental reality: your theology is going to dictate your perspective. Take, for example, the fact that Mike Huckabee does not “believe” in evolution. Thing is, evolution is not something to believe in. Paraphrasing Daniel Dennett, people fail to recognize that evolution is as certain as the fact that water is H2O. That babies are born as a result of two people having sex and the reality that when a virus enters your system, you will be sick, are not questions of belief. Why do then harass evolution in such a manner, when it is as basic as these other examples?

Of course Kennedy would make such a statement regarding religion - he was a politician! Beloved or not, there’s a reason why term “political maneuvering” is relevant to many situations. Mitt Romney’s speech, essentially attempting to appease a Mormon-defying or -uncertain crowd, was filled with the same excuses. If you are a Mormon, it is integral to your theology that you believe a man dug up gold tablets that stated that Jesus returned to earth, in Missouri in fact, a few centuries after his first visit), and will come again (very soon!) to Independence, Missouri, to lead the righteous against the wicked. Mind you, these gold tablets were inscribed in some form of Egyptian that Smith intuitively translated, as he did not initially know what they meant. Oh, and the tablets no longer exist, as he had to give him back to the angel Moroni for safe-keeping.

This is part of the history of Mormonism. Is it any wonder why Romney would want to distance himself from the religious aspect of his faith? But the question remains: how can you distance yourself? Our beliefs, again, inform and create the reality we experience. And the reality, at the moment, is that the GOP is not doing too good. On one hand you have the flip-flopping Mormon that tailors his beliefs according to who he is talking to (something Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the first two presidents of Mormonism, were extremely good at), and on the other, a bass playing, Jesus loving non-evolutionist.

We take it for granted that the knowledge that the earth revolves around the sun is basic fact, but the Copernican Revolution did not happen over night. It took many generations for it to be completely accepted, and then integrated, into society. Yet that evolution is undergoing a similar trial is frustrating, and taking much longer than it should. As Evan Ratliff pointed out in The Crusade Against Evolution, proponents of creationism and ID (Intelligent Design) pick fights where none exist. It is not the scientists arguing that, “Hey, look here, this evolution thing, I think it works.” It is the religionists, who are uncertain (and have always been uncertain) about the proof of a god making a racket, using their marketing dollars and public relations muscle to make it appear to be a debate. As the yogis would say, they are engaging purposefully in maya.

As Alan Watts once put it, Christians have it completely backwards. They are attempting to state a fact (God exists) as the basis of belief. In science, one is always subject to peer review, refutations and even reversals. Its part of the process of science, and since all theories must first be a hypothesis, and then be verified by numerous hands and minds (and then checked by even more), it is a very democratic procedure. The current Republican campaigning, with its constant bickers of “My god is bigger (or righter) than yours,” is anything but. And for a country that is supposedly based on democracy, that is a very dangerous thing indeed.