I went to college during the Vietnam War. I marched in demonstrations and got tear-gassed on the National Mall, a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have a lot of great memories from those days, and one is of a catchy tune from a band called Country Joe and the Fish. Here is the first verse of the refrain:
And it’s one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
Click here to check out the video from Woodstock if you have a minute.
This coming Saturday, April 14, perhaps one million people worldwide will “March For Science.” And I can’t help asking myself, reminiscent of Country Joe and the Fish, what exactly are they marching for?
The principal website gives some reasons. “I march because science is my favorite subject.” “I march because science makes beer taste better.” (I did not make that up.) “I march because I like turtles,” and so on. These are all fine, but marches are really about sending a political message. What is the political message?
Clearly, one is the environment and climate change. I too want to protect the environment, although I think it worth noting that science does not clearly establish a connection between man-made activities and global warming. Harvard Professor Willie Soon has been viciously attacked just for questioning the connection, and noting studies that man-made carbon particles generally are out of the atmosphere within four years.
Another political reason is to get more funding for science. Not a bad goal, but I don’t think the marchers are asking for an increase in their taxes to pay for that. Not clear whether they want to cut health, social services, veterans pensions, or what.
Beyond that the stated reasons in this year’s website get deliberately vague. “I march because I’m afraid of what happens if we start to confuse strongly held opinions with facts.” A Wikipedia entry states this includes “acceptance of the scientific consensus on evolution.” It appears that last year the principal website was more direct, and stated that “The diversity of life arose by evolution.”
That is political. It’s scientism, not science. It’s naked belief that science can explain everything without God. One of the ironic facts here, as I’ve pointed out before, is that the top biologists worldwide absolutely know that Darwin’s theory of molecules-to-man evolution can’t begin to explain where the fantastic amounts of information arose to build every creature on Earth. You don’t get technology like the human brain by keeping the best mistakes, by a process of mutation. It is also an established fact that there is absolutely no explanation for the origin of life without God. So the truth is that many people will march in support of their strongly held opinion, contrary to science, that Darwin’s theory explains everything and that you don’t need God.
The marchers ignore the over 1,000 Ph.D. scientists who have signed the Dissent From Darwin petition, many at the cost of their careers. The marchers ignore the DNA evidence that we are all descended from a single man and a single woman, exactly as the Bible tells us. I suspect many of the marchers are marching against God.
If you want to march for better beer, go for it. But please don’t march for the false religion of Scientism, and please don’t march to silence the true science that proves God.
Thanks for reading.
Doug