It didn't take long. A tragedy happens and the creationist movement clings to a clearly mentally disturbed person's rants and raves and the root of all evil is placed at the foot of the scientific theory of evolution. How sick.
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/5435
Creation Ministries International, within a day of the Finnish massacre at a high school, uses the tragedy to try and blame a 'belief' in evolution for the actions of a disturbed young man who took not only the lives of innocent children and adults, but his own life as well. Where do these people really think the blame lies? In a complete misunderstanding of natural selection and survival of the fittest - that's where.
So were there no bad people before evolution? Was life blissful before evolution? I think not. In any case in this silly finger pointing game that the creationists play -counting the innocent bodies - is crass stupidity What if I count all the bodies on the side of all different types of 'faith' religious belief and obedience to God/Gods that have been used to 'justify wars and killing? I think I would win hands down. There are far more bodies as a result of religion than evolution. But really that is not the point. A scientific theory cannot be held responsible for how a person thinks and behaves in the same way that a church cannot be held responsible for a deranged killer who hears the voice of 'God' command him to kill!
War in the name of religion is responsible for countless millions of deaths of innocent men women and children over the course of human history - but that's ignored by the creationist movement or consigned to history and human ignorance (but what about the religious war of Iraq? - see below).
Science explains how life develops and suddenly it is responsible for the massacre of innocent children in a school because a person is deranged and doesn't understand how false his 'arguments' are, how he has misinterpreted a scientific theory. So, goes the creationist argument, let's all dismiss the science and go back to God. The consequence, of course, would be that all killing and massacre would then have to be deranged people killing others in the name of a deity (doesn't really matter which one you choose).
As for the recent war in Iraq, President Bush had God on his side, interestingly so did Saddam Husssein (who should now be having a nice warm chat with him since his execution - I wonder if Saddam berated God for not supporting him more fully in the war!)
Let's look at the scientific theory of evolution and look for tracts or instances that support indiscriminate killing and war. If we do, we find the following supporting quotations:
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Yes, that's right, nothing.
Now let's look to some of the religious texts and tracts and see what we find!
'Then you must utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them and show them no mercy' (Torah, Book of Deuteronomy 7:1-2)
'All who take the sword will perish by the sword' (New Testament, Matthew 5:43-44)
'Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but aggress not' (Koran 2:190)
'Whoever fights in the cause of God, then gets killed or attains victory, we will surely grant him a great recompense' (Koran 4:74)
'When all efforts to restore peace prove useless and no words avail, lawful is the flash of steel' (10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh)
'May your weapons be strong to drive away the attackers, may your arms be powerful enough to check the foes, let your army be glorious, not the evil-doer' (Hinduism's Rig Veda 1-39:2)
In fairness we do also find this quotation
'Thou shall not kill' (Torah, Book of Exodus 20:13)
So once again we find the pathetic attempts of people unable to come to terms with a relatively simple scientific theory applying it out of context and out of synch with any form of reality.
Evolution is NOT about the origins of life it is about how life, once started, develops. How difficult is this concept? A five year old could learn it, yet creationists refuse to see it - because they do not wish to see it.
The wretch who took life in the Finnish school massacre was quoting 'soundbites' of evolution - e.g. 'survival of the fittest'. This is actually a very good example of why evolution and the theories that support it should be better taught in schools, more fully developed in schools and made more central to the curriculum. If evolution were properly taught then people would understand that it is not about origins, they would know that survival of the fittest was nothing to do with being stronger or pushing 'weak' animals out of the way or killing them to cling on to life and that evolution as nothing to do with origins and the start of life.
I could easily use this upsetting Finnish tragedy to create an argument for better teaching of evolution in schools - but I won't since this tragedy has nothing to do with evolution or religion.
It is also interesting to note that, just as in England, religious education is compulsory in all state schools for primary and secondary children. So, should we blame poor RE teaching for the massacre?