And, in fact, there are no creator deities in Buddhism, nor holy writ, and so forth.Īccording to Tenzin Gyatso, better known as the fourteenth Dalai Lama, “Suppose that something is definitely proven through scientific investigation, that a certain hypothesis is verified or a certain fact emerges as a result of scientific investigation. Indeed, the Buddha himself is described as having emphasized that he isn’t a god and shouldn’t be treated as such. To some extent, this might be because much of Buddhism – and certainly, the part that attracts me – isn’t a “religion” at all, but rather a way of looking at the world. My decades as a biologist, along with comparable decades as a Buddhist sympathizer, have convinced me that of all the world’s religions – and especially by contrast to the Abrahamic Big Three (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Buddhism is unusually science-friendly. Moreover, I’ve become increasingly convinced that this correlation isn’t coincidental. At the same time, I’ve been struck by how scientifically knowledgeable the audiences are when I lecture in Asian countries, particularly those strongly influenced by Buddhism. What in Darwin’s name is going on? The regrettable reality is that the U.S., being among the world’s most religious countries, is also among the most scientifically ignorant, especially when it comes to the most important, unifying and indubitably “true” finding in biology: evolution by natural selection.Īs an evolutionary biologist, I have personally encountered this scientific illiteracy, notably when lecturing in the Bible Belt.
Even more appalling is the finding that only 27 percent of white evangelical Protestants understand that “humans and other living things have evolved over time.” Here is some sad news, courtesy of the Pew Research Center’s “Religion & Public Life Project.” Not only is there a growing gap between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to acceptance of evolution, with Democrats at a mere 67 percent and Republicans a paltry and horrifyingly low 43 percent.
0 kommentar(er)
