Believing in Evolution is Silly

Says Keith Blanchard. And I think he's right. Faith has very little to do with it.

So if someone asks, "Do you believe in evolution," they are framing it wrong. That's like asking, "Do you believe in blue?"

Evolution is nothing more than a fairly simple way of understanding what is unquestionably happening. You don't believe in it — you either understand it or you don't. But pretending evolution is a matter of faith can be a clever way to hijack the conversation, and pit it in a false duality against religion. And that's how we end up with people decrying evolution, even as they eat their strawberries and pet their dogs, because they've been led to believe faith can only be held in one or the other.

I think his analogy is badly chosen. "Blue" is closely tied to a primary sensory experience, evolution isn't. A better analogy would be, "Do you believe in gravity?"

I don't think that this argument is going to persuade many doubters, though. Faith is mentally cheaper than understanding.

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