Friday, December 02, 2005
Red State-Blue State
Christopher Michaud, of Reuters, reports on a panel discussion, "Darwin's Legacy" held in conjunction with the new American Museum of Natural History's exhibit on Charles Darwin.
Here's an excerpt:
Here's an excerpt:
Florida State University Michael Ruse, author of "The Evolution-Creation Struggle," echoed that, calling America "a peculiarly religious country" which was also a "science powerhouse. How can it be such?" he asked.
Ruse suggested the answer lay partly in history, not least being the Civil War after which Southerners turned to the Bible, and evolution "was taken to represent everything about the North that they disliked."
The result, he said, was the "red state-blue state clash -- It's not science versus religion as such -- but very much a cultural clash that we've got in America today." Others concurred, saying that the schism was part and parcel of a broader cultural war over contentious issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control.
