Dan's Right - people ARE fucked UP!!

51% of Americans think God created man in his (her) present form.

Not surprisingly, that's the same percentage as voted for W.

Since it combines two of my favorite topics, namely the stupidity of the electorate and the narrow mindedness of religious people, it seems like high time for a rant.

Clearly this is an example of people just not thinking things through.

Many of these same people, I would hazard to guess, believe in dinosaurs, and if you asked, I would guess most of them would say dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. Why does this matter? Because the same logic that lets dinosaurs exist 63 million years ago gets you to us evolving from simpler life forms.

That may not be immediately apparent, but consider that all the work of science over the last 200 years is wrong, the Earth is very young, and God made all of the rest of the fossil record to fake us out. This is known as God the Charlatan. Once again, as with the idea that God is omniscient, knows our future, and is therefore just humoring us as we go through our paces, makes for a really big asshole of a God. Why would God try to fake us out? We wouldn't have been the wiser if we'd just accepted any number of earlier theories and God had provided evidence to back them up. But no, God seems to be continually planting evidence that backs up a rather solid theory of evolution. Science certainly doesn't have all the bugs worked out, but they're making slow and steady progress, with little if anything throwing a 'monkey' wrench into the mix.

Keep in mind that gravity is just a theory. Science has NO idea how it works, has never seen the theorized graviton, and cannot explain the mechanism behind it. But you wouldn't find a poll saying that a majority of Americans don't believe in gravity now would you? No, because it doesn't force them to think of themselves as other than the center of the universe.

This is an old argument, in its latest incarnation. During earlier centuries people were burned at the stake for proposing that the Earth went around the sun rather than vice-versa. Why? Not because the Bible specifically details the layout of the solar system, but because many humans have an intrinsic need (or worse, gain power) to feel like they are somehow the focus of God's plan. Suck it up you little wankers. You live in a vast universe, a universe that almost certainly contains other life. And yes, you share a common ancestor with a monkey, and a paramecium for that matter, and every other god damned living thing on Earth. If conscious thought and life aren't enough to make you feel special, then tough shit. You deserve none of the wonders that come with life on this planet, and probably do your share to spoil it for the rest of us.

With luck, a spaceship will arrive and take all of you away to your reward. The rest of us will be happier when your gone.