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What do I do with a creationist copy of The Origin of Species?
I swear when I took it I didn't know what it was. When I was walking through the quad on the way to class this morning, I passed some people handing out books, and the woman offered me a copy. I thought it was just some promotional by the bio department or something - the cover of the book just says Darwin's Origin of Species, it doesn't mention the raving crazy that lies inside. I really wish you all could see my face as I was reading the introduction to this thing and watching it get closer and closer to jumping the shark. It goes from the fairly sane "this is what Darwinian evolution is" to the questionable but reasonable "these are some questions people have raised that Drawinian evolution hasn't been able to adequately answer as of yet" to the eye-rolling "so obviously evolution is an illogical anti-scientific lie!!!". And then it veers, inexplicably and infuriatingly, into"Christianity is the only true religion and everyone else is deluded and wrong, God is vengeful and will smite you for being a heathen, and you are going to burn in hell" territory.
AND THEN THE REST OF IT IS JUST THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. Like, there aren't even any footnotes or annotations or abridgements or anything. It's just Darwin, word for word. Why on earth would you waste your money reprinting an entire 250 page text just so you can attach a note saying everything in it is wrong and evil? THIS IS VERY CONFUSING TO ME.
So I can't decide if I should keep it or not. On the one hand, having my own copy of Origin of Species is hardly a bad thing, especially since it didn't cost me any money, and I can always ignore the head-bashing lunacy of the introduction, or even excise it entirely (this is why man invented exacto knives!). On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to own a book that spends that much time telling me that I'm evil, self-deluded, and going to hell - and I don't want to support, even implicitly, someone who feels that way about me. Probably I will just take my mom's advice and leave it at the bus stop or something.
(True Fact: while I was telling this story to my mom, and rambling emphatically about how the paternalistic attitude of certain religious - and aggressively atheist - people that I am somehow so stupid that I know that Christianity is the only true path to salvation/there is no such thing as god, and just keep living a life of sin and destructive self-deception anyway makes me want to punch them in the face, I noticed that I was walking down the sidewalk NEXT TO A NUN.)
I swear when I took it I didn't know what it was. When I was walking through the quad on the way to class this morning, I passed some people handing out books, and the woman offered me a copy. I thought it was just some promotional by the bio department or something - the cover of the book just says Darwin's Origin of Species, it doesn't mention the raving crazy that lies inside. I really wish you all could see my face as I was reading the introduction to this thing and watching it get closer and closer to jumping the shark. It goes from the fairly sane "this is what Darwinian evolution is" to the questionable but reasonable "these are some questions people have raised that Drawinian evolution hasn't been able to adequately answer as of yet" to the eye-rolling "so obviously evolution is an illogical anti-scientific lie!!!". And then it veers, inexplicably and infuriatingly, into"Christianity is the only true religion and everyone else is deluded and wrong, God is vengeful and will smite you for being a heathen, and you are going to burn in hell" territory.
AND THEN THE REST OF IT IS JUST THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. Like, there aren't even any footnotes or annotations or abridgements or anything. It's just Darwin, word for word. Why on earth would you waste your money reprinting an entire 250 page text just so you can attach a note saying everything in it is wrong and evil? THIS IS VERY CONFUSING TO ME.
So I can't decide if I should keep it or not. On the one hand, having my own copy of Origin of Species is hardly a bad thing, especially since it didn't cost me any money, and I can always ignore the head-bashing lunacy of the introduction, or even excise it entirely (this is why man invented exacto knives!). On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to own a book that spends that much time telling me that I'm evil, self-deluded, and going to hell - and I don't want to support, even implicitly, someone who feels that way about me. Probably I will just take my mom's advice and leave it at the bus stop or something.
(True Fact: while I was telling this story to my mom, and rambling emphatically about how the paternalistic attitude of certain religious - and aggressively atheist - people that I am somehow so stupid that I know that Christianity is the only true path to salvation/there is no such thing as god, and just keep living a life of sin and destructive self-deception anyway makes me want to punch them in the face, I noticed that I was walking down the sidewalk NEXT TO A NUN.)
