CARL SAGAN: "Evolution is a fact,
not a theory. It really happened."

When I was a kid in the 70s, creationism didn't really exist, at least, not as it does today. That is, the only people who took the creation story in Genesis as literal truth were total kooks, flat-earthers, backward-ass dumb fucks. By the 80s when I first started hearing at church about a movement of people who believed that dinosaur bones were placed by God to test our faith, and that the Earth is really only some five thousand years old, I was astonished, but didn't really consider them to be a threat. I mean, how could such lunacy ever amount to anything?

Flash forward to today. Polls and studies continually suggest that a sizable percentage of our population, maybe even a majority, tend toward, if not fully believing in, creationism. Fundamentalist activists constantly push teaching their beloved fairy tales in public schools, either in conjunction with evolution, or replacing it entirely. "Teach the controversy," they say, "it's only fair."

Well, that sounds reasonable, I suppose, except for the fact that there is no controversy. Evolution is a fact, not a theory. It really happened. There are now mountains of evidence in favor of evolution that didn't even exist in the 70s, when it was more widely accepted. And when one really starts sifting through that evidence, developing a decent lay understanding of what it's all about, it's pretty difficult to refute. My personal belief about why creationsim has become so widespread is that most people don't really pay much attention in biology class, and besides, teachers generally aren't really good cheerleaders for science, at least, not in the same way that preachers are for creation fairy tales: consequently, creation supporters are utterly ill-informed about evolution. When I was a high school theater teacher, I heard more than once the retarded statement "I didn't come from a monkey."

Of course, as far as evolution goes, the reality is that humans and monkeys descended from a common ancestor millions of years ago--nobody came "from a monkey." Anyway, with that in mind, I offer this excellent and elegant explanation of evolution plucked from Carl Sagan's wonderful 80s PBS science series Cosmos. I'd like to hear a real response from a creationist after seeing it--I mean something besides the usual and unpersuasive "God said it's true" kind of argument.

Anyway, go check it out; it's cool.


Carl Sagan

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