Thinkquote of the day: Social conservatives should embrace Darwin?

Reviewing Michael Shermer’s book, Why Darwin Matters , David Brown, science and medicine reporter for The Washington Post comments,

"In a bit of his own proselytizing, Shermer tries to show why political and social conservatives should actually embrace Darwin's discovery, not vilify it. Evolution has given rise to species (and not just our own) that value social cooperation, monogamy and altruism -- the very values so many conservatives feel are threatened by the secular world. Natural selection, he writes, "is precisely parallel to Adam Smith's theory of the invisible hand " -- a process whereby self-interest creates order and a self-correcting whole that is larger than any of its parts."

If that’s what Shermer, and Brown, apparently, think - that people who doubt Darwin’s theory are merely invested in a social cargo cult - no wonder there is an intelligent design controversy!

While I am here anyway, the fact that someone writes a book called Why Darwin Matters shows why he doesn’t. For example, who writes a book called “Why bin Laden matters?” It’s when people start to matter less that such books appear.

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.

Are you looking for one of the following stories?

My U of Toronto talk on why there is an intelligent design controversy, or my talk on media coverage of the controversy att he University of Minnesota.

A summary of tech guru George Gilder's arguments for ID and against Darwinism

A critical look at why March of the Penguins was thought to be an ID film.

A summary of recent opinion columns on the ID controversy

A summary of recent polls of US public opinion on the ID controversy

A summary of the Catholic Church's entry into the controversy, essentially on the side of ID.

O'Leary's intro to non-Darwinian agnostic philosopher David Stove’s critique of Darwinism.

An ID Timeline: The ID folk seem always to win when they lose.

O’Leary’s comments on Francis Beckwith, a Dembski associate, being granted tenure at Baylor after a long struggle - even after helping in a small way to destroy the Baylor Bears' ancient glory - in the opinion of a hyper sportswriter.

Why origin of life is such a difficult problem.

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