http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/mr-cranky-pants-has-all-the-answers-41482982.html

“We are evolving, every year, every decade. That’s a fact. Whether it’s to the intensity of the sun, whether it’s to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it’s running shoes or high heels, of course, we are evolving to our environment.”

Gary Goodyear.

Poor man should have quit while he was behind. He’s moved from “doesn’t believe in the theory of evolution” to “doesn’t have even the most basic understanding of what the theory of evolution is”.

I’ll take the religious guy who doesn’t believe in evolution over the guy who thinks humans are currently evolutionarily adapting, year over year, to a state of physical existence more conducive to walking on concrete (and/or in high heels) any day.

I’d love to hear his explanation for how the inefficient concrete walkers are being excluded from the gene pool. Have I been missing the dead bodies on the sidewalk of people who haven’t yet adapted to walking on an unnatural surface? Or, is the Minister suggesting that people who walk more efficiently on paved surfaces are significantly more likely to get laid???

“In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”

– Mark Twain

Rest assured I’m calling my last hypothetical example crazy (though, I think, useful) not any person crazy.

Persuasion.

If the Minister had been asked “Do you believe in gravity” and his response had been ““I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate”, would we consider that a legitimate answer from the Minister responsible for Science and Technology?

What if he were asked “Do you believe that the Earth revolves around the sun?” Would “I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate” be an acceptable response?

What if a Minister of the Crown were asked “Do you believe men and women are equal?”, and he answered “I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate”? Would we say “his private religious beliefs are none of our business”?

He’s a good (crazy) one. What if a Minister were asked if he or she felt that slavery is acceptable, and refused to answer the question because it touched on his or her religious beliefs?

Where does one draw the line exactly?

I am not a teacher myself at the moment, tho I have taught in Korea and UK in the past, but I am best friends with 3 teachers who work in Canada. To listen to them, the best interests of teachers and children are exactly the same, which is utter nonsense. Teachers want to make their jobs more interesting while the best way for many/most children to learn is boring rote lessons. There is conflict and I would prefer it if teachers put children’s learning ahead of their desire to entertain.

That would explain the tantrum when meeting with the CAUT …

How do you know he shut the discussion down in mid-conversation without seeing the full transcript that you agree would be useful?

“You know, if that’s the case, it should be pretty easy for the minister to clarify.”

Yes. Surely the Globe is reserving the same prominent portion of the front page for his clarification.

Do you really think that this reporter didn’t go into this interview fully prepared to go after Goodyear on the “rumours” she heard about his religious beliefs? Do you really believe that her “followup” question just happened to occur to her after he may have metaphorically opened the door to his personal religious beliefs in response to an entirely unrelated scientific question?

I actaully think these questions were coming one way or the other, and I don’t think it would have mattered what Goodyear said. If he had declared himself an atheist and a lifetime subscrber to Skeptic Magazine, the headline most likely would have read, “Science minister denies rumours he’s a creationist”.

So much government policy is based on the belief that people change, are malleable, when science shows that it just isn’t true. It is not only Social Cons who believe in creationism who have issues with science but for some reason they are the only ones who are mocked for their beliefs.