Fighting For Science, Precariously Neighborlyly

WHEN MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR, who rarely speaks to me, pulled out her cellphone and showed me pictures of her one daughter's two pomeranians, I realized it was a rare opportunity for me to strike, to strike a blow for truth, science, and the un-American way. "Say" I said. "Isn't it fascinating the variety of dog breeds engineered by humans which drastically depart from the grey wolf, thus giving an immediate example of evolution, right before our very eyes"? Looking at the two strange looking creatures, who look so little like their evolutionary ancestors, and who have been in so short a time bred to be so different, seems to me a perfect example of how the process actually works; that if we the people can have such dramatic results through selective breeding, then obviously nature, through its own natural selection, can and does accomplish much the same as our "unnatural" choices, over time. She looked at me as if I had either totally lost my mind, or as if she were a devout Christian, with word for word belief in the Bible. For the sake of my neighborly self respect, I assumed the latter. Before her mouth had a chance to open and then close, I plowed on, mentioning hybrid corn as another example of human accelerated evolution in action in our daily lives. I could tell that she wanted to steer the conversation in an entirely different direction, towards her daughter's life, her family, her fond memories of dogs past, whatever, but ceratinly not into some theological dark alley. But I didn't care. In this age of encroaching darkness, someone has to defend science, learning, and progress. "I still believe God created man", she replied. "We didn't just happen". I decided not to pursue the concept that nature, merely due to the absence of god, need not necessarily be viewed as merely happening, but can be seen as being its own designing, intelligent force. One should only carry an offensive so far, then wait for reinforcements and supplies to catch up. Still, the urge to promote my scientific truth overcame me. Fair enough, I said. Perhaps, I offered, what we call "god" is an intelligent designing force which might as well be called "nature", or, as Einstein, said, "the infinitely superior spirit which reveals itself in nature", rather than some anthropomorphic being. I then could not resist the temptation to push my offensive to the limit. Maybe the biblical being "Yahweh", should be seen as figuratve and symbolic, a being invented by primitive man who destroyed fifty thousand Philistines merely because someone took a peak inside a forbidden box is perhaps more the product of human fantasy than a true description of reality. At that point, I knew I was through, because I clearly discerned rising indignation in her facial expression. Then too, she had pocketed her smart phone, and was starting to glance at her front door. I knew at that point that I would never again catch a glimpse of her daughter's cute pomeranians.