For a significant subset of Christians, terms like “evolution” and “Big Bang” evoke disgust and disdain. Such people don’t just think evolution is wrong, they think it is a lie perpetrated by God haters who want to lead people astray. Not all Christians go quite this far, but many do find evolution and the Big Bang to be farfetched and suspicious.
If you’re a believer who thinks evolution is wrong, it’s okay to challenge things, even currently accepted science. Science is not authoritarian. You may even be correct. But if you’re going to rationally engage and challenge an idea, it is important to, at the very least, understand the basics. In other words… don’t be like this guy:
I have to admit… that’s a face I really want to punch!
Let’s use this video as a guide for what not to do or be like.
One of the most important lessons we can gather from this video is: don’t be a smug asshole. We all need to make sure we get our Dunning-Kruger vaccine. There’s almost nothing worse than a person who speaks with such confident authority about something of which he or she has no clue.
In this case our friend Mario had a promising start, but whatever hopes were erected were quickly razed to the ground. He says that we should begin with an understanding of what science is. I agree! But he quickly ruins everything by appealing to the dictionary. I mean too bad all those scientists with PhDs don’t have access to dictionaries. Now there’s nothing wrong with using a dictionary. But remember: dictionaries describe/record the popular usage of words in society. Nothing very deep or interesting will be settled by appealing to the dictionary. If you really want to understand the nature of science, how it works, what is considered science, and the inferences it makes, do some real work. For instance, check out a book like the following for a good start.
(Click on the image to check it out)
Related to understanding science in general, it is important to know what the term “theory” means as it is used in science. When a person criticizes evolution or Big Bang cosmology for being “just a theory”, it makes that person look really bad. Here’s what the National Academy of Science has to say about the term “theory”:
Theory: In science, a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.
The contention that evolution should be taught as a “theory, not as a fact” confuses the common use of these words with the scientific use. In science, theories do not turn into facts through the accumulation of evidence. Rather, theories are the end points of science. They are understandings that develop from extensive observation, experimentation, and creative reflection. They incorporate a large body of scientific facts, laws, tested hypotheses, and logical inferences. In this sense, evolution is one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have. (Link)
Given a proper understanding of the term “theory” in science, it’s clear that criticizing a theory is going to take some hard work. The very first step must be to obtain a proper understanding of what the theory in question really says. One is all but absolutely guaranteed to fail working from a popular level familiarity alone. Mario exemplifies this failure by referring to the Big Bang as an explosion, like a bomb. This leads him to erroneously conclude that nothing orderly could (eventually) result, since bombs are destructive. To say that the already bastardized popular view of a theory doesn’t make sense, therefore the actual theory doesn’t make sense is very poor reasoning. Don’t be lazy.
Finally, repeating that something is stupid doesn’t make it wrong. Whenever one is tempted to criticize a theory for seeming stupid, one should pause to consider that maybe this is an indication of ignorance. Humans are not well-equipped to understand or have accurate intuitions about aspects of the world far beyond our local experience. This includes things like deep time, the subatomic world, and cosmic scales.
Don’t be like Mario. Put in the hard work and be humble. This also means reading resources by those with whom you don’t agree. For instance, check out the following to get started:
[widgets_on_pages id=”EvolutionBlog1Book1″]- For everyone who shares this blog post, I will donate a dictionary to a scientist in need.*
*j/k