It is time to showcase the anti-evolutionists. You know, those creationists.
But, it is no fun anymore to write about such ignoramuses in the GOP here in America. It is so boring.
So, instead, on this Darwin Day, I turn to my old country.
A minister in modi's cabinet created quite some interesting moments a few days ago:
Union minister Satyapal Singh has claimed that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of man was “scientifically wrong” and it needs to be changed in school and college curriculum.Yep, the moron did not come across any reference in the literature of an ape turning into a man. Ergo, Darwin is wrong.
Mr. Singh, the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, said our ancestors have nowhere mentioned that they saw an ape turning into a man.
“Nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral, have said they saw an ape turning into a man,” he said, adding “No books we have read or the tales told to us by our grandparents had such a mention.”The moron stood by his profound words of wisdom:
Satyapal Singh stood by his comments on Monday, saying his ministry was ready to host an international conference at which “scientists can come out and say where they stand on the issue”.I know what you are thinking. This is a moment when we witnessed an Indian politician man turning into a monkey! ;)
“I have a list of around 10 to 15 great scientists of the world who have said there is no evidence to prove that the theory of evolution is correct,” Singh told a crowd at a university in Assam state, adding that Albert Einstein had agreed the theory was “unscientific”.
What is even more shocking is that this monkey is credentialed:
The Minister is a retired IPS officer, a student of science who has M.Sc and M.Phil degrees in chemistry, and has obtained a Ph.D He is the author of several books and papers and, according to the Lok Sabha website, is working on four more books.I suppose it is true--at some point, the randomness of this cosmos means that a monkey could end up writing the Hamlet or earning a doctorate in chemistry! ;)
Chances are that the monkey minister has no idea that even the Rig Veda is a lot humbler about Creation:
There was neither non-existence nor existence then.
There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
What stirred?
Where?
In whose protection?
Was there water, bottlemlessly deep?
There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day.
That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse.
Other than that there was nothing beyond.
Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning,
with no distinguishing sign, all this was water.
The life force that was covered with emptiness,
that One arose through the power of heat.
Desire came upon that One in the beginning,
that was the first seed of mind.
Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom
found the bond of existence and non-existence.
Their cord was extended across.
Was there below?
Was there above?
There were seed-placers, there were powers.
There was impulse beneath, there was giving forth above.
Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced?
Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen
- perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not -
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps even He does not know.
I will now step outside to see if any die-hard-creationist is evolving from an ape ;)
2 comments:
He is a strange character - this Satyapal Singh. He's actually had a good Police career and, as you have observed, is highly educated. He's an Arya Samaji and has frequently lectured against religious extremism. He is also, strangely enough, responsible in some way in India producing some of the finest shooters in the world - many of the shooters hail from a shooting school in a non descript village in Baghpat which he represents in the Lok Sabha.
So far so good. Unclear where he has got this bee in his bonnet about evolution. On that, of course, his thoughts are idiotic. Perhaps there's a touch of craziness in everybody !!
my father, who is highly religious, often quotes (this athiest does not know the source) that sins cannot be countered by good things one does, and that one has to pay for the sins committed.
Along the same lines, in this secular context, the moron's stand on evolution cannot and should not be countered by the supposedly good things he has done!
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