Mike Huckabee: Creationist

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's run of glowing press coverage ended abruptly in Iowa on Tuesday when somebody asked him if his belief in creationism extended to requiring the teaching of creationism in public schools.

The former Arkansas governor got a little testy. He said he has advocated that creative arts and math and science should be taught in schools, and no one ever asks about that. He said he doesn't understand why everyone keeps asking him about teaching creationism.

Maybe it's because creative arts and math and science train young minds to think, and creationism trains them not to.

That might be it.

Creationism, the belief that the biblical story of creation is literally true, is an attack on rational thought and on education itself.

Read "Why 'intelligent design' isn't just another theory" and see if you don't agree.

Mike Huckabee told reporters Tuesday that he believes God created the heavens and the Earth. "I wasn't there when he did it," the candidate said, "so how he did it, I don't know."

It's no joke to tell children in a public school that what they learn in science class may be wrong if it conflicts with the literal text of the Bible. It's not cute to present a religious version of events and the accumulated knowledge of human civilization as equally valid, or to teach that no one can really know because none of us were personally there.

Here's a mystery of the universe to ponder: Why do people keep saying Mike Huckabee is funny?


Copyright 2007

.