News and Views From my kids accomplishments, to my heretical perspective of the world

I had a letter to the editor published in today’s East Valley Tribune. It was in response to a previous letter writer who made several stabs at evolution.

I set him straight! 🙂

Today is the reason that so many holidays happen to fall around this time of the year.

In the northern hemisphere today is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Here in the Phoenix area the days are just under 10 hours long, while for my niece Robin in Anchorage the days are only about 5.5 hours long.

I’m not suggesting naked dancing under the noonday sun or anything, but as you celebrate whatever holidays you hold important, keep in mind the primitive roots and the physical/astronomical significance of this time of year. Our ancestors were celebrating this well before 2000 years ago, and without adding credence to their pagan beliefs, we can share their interest in the turning of the seasons.

The trial “Kitzmiller et al v. Dover Area School District” in Harrisburg, PA was decided today. In this case a school board had required that biology teachers read to the students a statement about gaps and problems in Darwin’s theory and to make them aware of other theories of evolution including intelligent design.

The ACLU filed suit on behalf of 11 parents on December 14, 2004, joined by “The National Center for Science Education” and “Americans United for Separation of Church and State”.

Judge John Jones III, in handing down his decision, made a statement that included the following:

“In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents.

“Both Defendants and many of the leading proponents of ID make a bedrock assumption which is utterly false. Their presupposition is that evolutionary theory is antithetical to a belief in the existence of a supreme being and to religion in general. Repeatedly in this trial, Plaintiffs’ scientific experts testified that the theory of evolution represents good science, is overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community, and that it in no way conflicts with, nor does it deny, the existence of a divine creator.

“To be sure, Darwin’s theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions.”

Score one for reason and science.

There is always a lot of discussion this time of year about restoring the “true meaning of Christmas”. This usually means treating it as a Christian holiday, celebrating the birth of Christ.

But of course, the true original meaning of the holiday is the celebration of the winter solstice. Almost all the year-end holidays have their roots in this important day, in particular Christmas and New Year’s Day. As primitive calendars slowly shifted, the dates moved off a little from the solstice, but there is little doubt of the source. The early Christians co-opted the holiday so that recent and potential converts could continue to have a celebration at the time of the winter solstice, but call it a Christian holiday. For example, putting an “evergreen” tree in the house was originally to symbolize that green life and summer will return. Some Christians try to change the symbolism, with a reference to Christ not dying, but the attempt is clumsy and rarely invoked.

In fact, Christmas is only nominally a religious holiday anymore, and only to some people. Consider Christmas trees, Santa Claus, gifts, tinsel, and lights. You see many more Rudolphs than mangers, more Santa Clauses than Marys.

“But” you may say, “the very name of the holiday includes the name of Christ”. OK, so for a similar example “goodbye” contains a distortion of the word “God” (as in “God be with you”), but not many people actually clamor to restore the original meaning of the word. It’s just a thing to say when we separate, and has evolved away from any original meaning. If you believe that words have magical powers then you might consider this still significant, but I think it is clear that the words don’t make the thing.

The main thing about Christmas is tradition and family, a time when we get together to reminisce, to shower gifts on our children and have a feast in celebration of another year successfully lived through. If you want to dedicate the holiday to your god, by all means do so. But don’t force your interpretation on others, including the atheist who can enjoy the holiday as a purely secular event without being a hypocrite.