Why does evolution matter?

[xoggoth]

Watching a Channel 4 thing about extremist schools last night, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, and it was big deal that some were teaching creationism.

There are some things they should certainly not be teaching but why does a belief in creationism matter? Apart from the tiny few who look for jobs at natural history museums, it has no relevance to life whatever. It may be rubbish but it is no more harmful than, say, belief in ghosts or faith healing.

Seems to me that some people treat atheism or science as religion, requiring people to believe in them even when it does not really matter.

[BrilloPad]

Why does anything matter? Do I matter? Do you matter?

[Old Greg]

Watching a Channel 4 thing about extremist schools last night, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, and it was big deal that some were teaching creationism.

There are some things they should certainly not be teaching but why does a belief in creationism matter? Apart from the tiny few who look for jobs at natural history museums, it has no relevance to life whatever. It may be rubbish but it is no more harmful than, say, belief in ghosts or faith healing.

Seems to me that some people treat atheism or science as religion, requiring people to believe in them even when it does not really matter.

Would it be OK to teach intelligent falling as science? There is no gravity but God pushes things to the Earth?

[Old Greg]

Is it OK to teach as history that Native Americans are lost tribes of Israel?

[BrilloPad]

Someone tried to convince me they had read an intelligent comment by OG on CUK once. Turned out to be as true as Adam and Eve.

[Old Greg]

Someone tried to convince me they had read an intelligent comment by OG on CUK once. Turned out to be as true as Adam and Eve.

Was that when I proposed suity and MF as evidence of Survival of the Fattest?

[SpontaneousOrder]

Watching a Channel 4 thing about extremist schools last night, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, and it was big deal that some were teaching creationism.

There are some things they should certainly not be teaching but why does a belief in creationism matter? Apart from the tiny few who look for jobs at natural history museums, it has no relevance to life whatever. It may be rubbish but it is no more harmful than, say, belief in ghosts or faith healing.

Seems to me that some people treat atheism or science as religion, requiring people to believe in them even when it does not really matter.

Why is it important to you to assert that it doesn't matter? It sounds as though you have some kind of preference for truth over falsehood?

[Old Greg]

Why does anything matter? Do I matter? Do you matter?

You don't matter.

HTH

[NickFitz]

Apart from the tiny few who look for jobs at natural history museums, it has no relevance to life whatever.

Two words: antibiotic resistance.

(There are quite a few other relevant words, but those two are enough to be going on with.)

[Zippy]

The theory of evolution has an impact on every day life. Look at the increasing resistance of bacteria to currently available antibiotics. Now, their development may have been guided by a supreme being (or something else), but the most likely explanation is that they evolved (I base this on stuff done in labs. By microbiologists You can see the bacteria changing)).
I don't see that the theory of evolution (correct application of the scientific method will never allow it to be the fact of evolution, btw) is in any way analogous to faith healers. One is a tried and tested method, the use of which has resulted in many useful and beneficial discoveries, and the other is populated by predatory, cynical individuals who exploit the sick and the weak. Sometimes the outcome is the same, but that doesn't make the methods equal.

Edit: Oh bugger - NF beat me to it.