Slate blogs the Bible, by David Plotz
I’m really enjoying the archives of this Slate series. I’ve planned to go back and re-read the Bible for some time now, but you know – it’s so darn long. Every page provokes all sorts of questions – why the two versions of Genesis, blah blah blah. I should read a commentary along with it, but which commentary? Agh, the indecision; the infinite number of Amazon reviews to peruse; maybe I’ll do it later. What I really need is a tastily serialized, feed-friendly Bible, and David Plotz has obliged. If you, too, are a little rusty on your begats, and need a low-impact way to remind yourself just what was up with those Edomites, check it out.
Now, a digression. People are often shocked that I, a molecular biologist, have read the Bible at all. Of course I have. It boggles the mind (and not in a happy, word-game kind of way) that an educated person would not be interested in a text that has shaped Western culture so profoundly. Occasionally, it’s other scientists who express surprise (the amazingly efficient ones who are so resistant to superfluous distractions, they publish three papers while you’re still trying to organize your controls). But usually it’s well-meaning evangelicals, who appear to think that if I only would read the Bible, I would instantly reject evolution, cease taking the Lord’s name in vain, and get out of bed on Sunday morning. The fact that I have already read it, and these events did not transpire, puzzles them exceedingly.
Over the holidays, yet another enjoyable conversation veered the way of religion. I should be used to this, given where I live, but I found myself on the defensive. As usual, it was suggested that perhaps I can’t help being irreligious, because I have been repeatedly taught (“brainwashed”) as a scientist to not believe in God. What baloney! I’ve never been taught anything about religion in any of my science courses. I’ve learned about it in my humanities classes, where it belongs.
Unfortunately, there are many people who are willing to put religion into science courses, and further willing to brutally edit biology wherever it contradicts a literal reading of Biblical text. If you saw Alexandra Pelosi’s HBO documentary, and hoped it was excessively hyperbolic, I’m sorry to burst your bubble of comfort. It’s not. If you didn’t see it, just imagine being a biology teacher in this community:
When I have students like this, I tell them they don’t have to believe in evolution to pass my class (I dislike the phrase “believe in evolution,” since it implies faith, not science, but it gets the message across). All I require is that they learn the evidence for evolution, and can explain why all credible biologists support it. And really, the same goes both ways. Whether you think the Bible is divine or not, everyone ought to know what’s in it, and why people will do such astonishing things because of it. Especially when those people are your neighbors.
Do you pass “Evolution is from the devil” billboards on your way to work every morning? That’s scary stuff! We don’t have any billboards in Alberta (yet), but we do have our own little creation science museum.
I agree with your take on religion and the scientist. I spent the first 12 years of my schooling learning about religion in the Catholic school system. Certainly, my initial exposure was to Jesus and not Einstein. As it turns out, I’m not irreligious because I’m a scientist. It’s more like I’m a scientist because I’m irreligious. Also, I think that knowing something about faith might help the scientist to recognize when faith starts to creep into their own work. Maybe the bible should be required “scientific” reading?
Ummm…a very distressing video clip. I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.
Firstly, although I found the Pelosi snippet here interesting, I’ve been very disappointed in her. I read and listened to two interviews with Ms. Pelosi and was irked by her snarky attitude about “the other” America. She fell into the media trap of believing there is a red/blue, divided America rather than understanding it to be purple, that the “red” attitudes are as prevalent in NY State as they are Kansas. As a rural boy by upbringing, her posturing pisses me off, especially when it’s compounded by relative ignorance. Her education aside, if I hadn’t known who I was listening to or reading, I could have mistaken Pelosi for Nicole Richie. I’m kidding, of course, but her insights were as “by the book,” as wretchedly simplified, as those we hear from celebrities on the late night shows and when asked complex questions, she laughed them off and resorted to some knee-jerk liberal mantras. I’m far left of center myself, but her agenda touting and inability to think on her feet annoyed me no end.
Secondly, I think the two of you are on the right track. I don’t know that the Bible should be required reading for those in the Sciences, but certainly religious studies, more generally, should be part of the curriculum when pursuing an advanced degree. It need not be couched in such a way that scientists are being taught religious texts so that they are better prepared to defend their own work from fundamentalists. Indeed, I often wonder how blind the specialists are to other realms. The more papers published in PNAS….the more at sea those first authors might be in any other realm, even another research field. It’s the ol’ fox or hedgehog question again, and I’ll always pick a fox.
No billboards, thank goodness.
Actually, the thing I find scariest is that, as Hyaena points out, this anti-science attitude crops up everywhere – even in quite normal-looking, billboard-free places. I suspect that several of my dearest friends don’t believe in evolution. We don’t discuss it.
I agree that it’s really unfortunate when Pelosi lends herself to Michael Moore-ish caricature – I hate it when the messenger undermines the message. I also hate it when the media/blogosphere make unwarranted and inaccurate generalizations about “Red America”; you’ll find me ranting about that in various comment threads. . .seems like when I’m in the city, I’m always defending my hometown, and when I’m back here, I can’t wait to get away. It’s just not a simple relationship, is it?
Talk about brainwashing. I just HATE listening to kids parrot back statements of belief, as if they have any idea what they’re saying. (There’s a reason we’re not doing infant baptism . . . .) I cringe just thinking about the days when all of us fifth-graders had to weigh in on the presidential race during recess. It was a lot like that video, just with Bush and Dukakis in place of evolution and creation. I may be a scientifically ignorant Christian, but that video is probably much more distressing to me and my (fairly-educated) ilk than it is to the comfortably irreligious. That kind of mountebank performance is SUCH an embarrassment. My husband comes from a pretty conservative background, and he still recalls with bitterness the suggestion (from the parent of a high school classmate) that going to a mainstream university to major in philosophy was a sure-fire recipe for apostasy. As if you could no longer accept Christianity if you actually learned and thought seriously about things (things that aren’t suited to billboards or jingles). Much as you would have to repudiate your sinful scientific “facts” if you actually read the Bible!
Lest you despair, every single serious Christian I know (including some pretty conservative scientists) thinks that the whole evolution/creation dichotomy is a stupid waste of time, especially insofar as it exists mostly as a completely unsophisticated public– I was going to say “debate,” but it’s really more like a spectacle. Frankly, at risk of veering toward irrelevance, I think ANYTHING that directs so much effort toward the public school curriculum is stupid and a waste of time. Since when did any of us get a decent education in the public school system anyway? I don’t think I’ve been held back much by what I did or didn’t learn in my own podunk town of origin. I certainly didn’t go to school expecting to be inculcated with any hallowed truths. School was about survival; education was for free time. Until we can address that dynamic, I don’t think it matters what the curriculum looks like (although I do think it shameful that the girl who was pulled out of sex ed. for “religious reasons” was pregnant by junior year).
For the record, we didn’t have any billboards there, but on my way home from school every day I did pass a giant cross, fully as tall as the house to which it was affixed, inscribed with “Jesus Loves You.” I can’t say that that had any effect on the formation of my faith.
I am a scientist, a science teacher, and I have a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering. I am also a born again Christian. From what I’ve read and studied, both evolution and creation take FAITH. I personally do believe in Creation and I do not think it contradicts what I know about science. I teach a human anatomy class and a science class, and just in studying DNA and how it works, I believe that an intelligent designer had to be the mastermind behind this amazing design. Also, as an engineer, it is amazing to look at the structure and function of various parts of the human anatomy and think of how we were designed and made by a Creator.
I understand that it is important to know about both Evolution and Creation, however, I do not believe that most scientists who are Christians think that the Creation story is untrue. It takes faith to believe, but there is also evidence in science that supports Creation.
I do not think it is a waste of time to think about these theories and study them and look into each one.
I just happened to find this blog as I was searching for a picture of a human embryo. I’m teaching my 7th grade science class about cell differentiation. I choose to teach in the Christian School setting because I can teach about both Evolution and Creation without getting in trouble. And the biology, physics, geology, and physical science teachers at my school are well qualified science teachers and Christians. We have researched evolution and creation and we strongly believe in Creation as it is presented in Genesis.