Creation vs Evolution

Hey all,

I have been asked often why I have a problem with people believing in creation. Those of you who know me know that I don't have any problem with what people do so long as what they do doesn't hurt anyone, and I believe that the creation movement does in fact hurt people. Not because I think that people should believe reality, but because the application of "creation science" is problematic when it is applied to the real world. Allow me to demonstrate using a very real world example.

Tuberculosis, or TB is a very virulent and often deadly disease which primarily infects the lungs but can affect other parts of the body. My focus in anthropology is palaeopathology which examines the effects of disease in bones and in some of the specimens I have looked at TB has eaten through the skull leaving large round lesions, and also enjoys feasting on the hip joint. Needless to say it is not pretty. TB is still fairly common an causes approximately 1.8 million deaths per year.

TB has been with us for a long time, and over the past few decades the bacteria which causes TB has evolved to become resistant to antibiotics. These resistant strains of TB require a totally different type of antibiotic than is used for regular cases. This demonstrates that the bacteria has changed depending on it's environment and that the change it has gone through is beneficial to the bacteria, which is the very definition of evolution.

Now if we were to apply "creation science" to this problem we would be giving people generic antibiotics because there is no way for this change to occur within the framework of creationism. So they would be giving people the wrong antibiotics to treat the disease which we know wouldn't work, and would cost a great deal more lives.

Do you understand now why I believe that "creation science" is dangerous? This is only one of many examples within which the creationist framework is damaging and potentially deadly, so when pondering the creationist position think to yourself  "what would they do if I contracted antibiotic resistant TB."

If you have any questions feel free to ask, but if you just want to tell me there is no evidence of evolution I would suggest first visiting http://www.talkorigins.org to see the transitional fossils which have been unearthed and visit the youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/whyevolutionistrue for some great documentaries.

Until next time,
DD