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6A – Daily News – Saturday, January 8, 2011 Opinion D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Evolution being taught at Vista Editor: Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 I am writing today to express my disbelief at what is being taught at Vista Middle School. My son is in the seventh grade at Vista and is in Mrs. Brown’s science class, he informed me that after the holi- day break, that they would be studying evolution and the Dar- win Theories. I immediately became concerned, as we are a Christian Home and we believe in God and that he created Earth and all living life and that humans especially were created in his likeness. I called Vista and left a mes- sage for the teacher or the prin- cipal to call me regarding this issue because it is against our Christian beliefs and felt that I as his mother have the right to decide if I want my son to learn about Darwin’s theory of Evo- lution. They have yet to return my call, so my ex-husband went to the school and advised them that we do not want our son in this class. On Thursday, I called and left a heated message for Mr. Yates after learning that the school has gone above and beyond our judgement as his parents, and kept my son in this class not only learning about Darwin but they have also issued him Darwinism home- work that he is to bring into my Christian home. I am under the understanding that schools do not teach or talk about God out of respect for the people that do not believe in God, so why do they teach about Darwin? If they were to teach this as a theory and at the same time teach God’s teach- ings as a Christian theory, then this would give our children the opportunity to make an educat- ed choice but they are not doing this. They are stating that Dar- win’s theory is fact. I feel like Vista Middle School, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Yates and Red Bluff School District is taking away my rights to teach my child the religion that I want him to learn. And I guarantee that it is not Darwin. Nancy Godina, Red Bluff Congress Editor: Your Turn I'm really getting tired of these partisan tactics. What happened in this last election may just happen again; because although the Republicans think they won a big victory they may just be misinterpreting all that election result had to por- tend. Next time we may just opt for a clean slate. It’s past time for congress to go to work for the people. I don't know what makes Mr. McConnell such an expert on nuclear weapons, treaties or missile defense options but I only see politics in the current situation. Is he of the opinion that 1,550 hydrogen bombs is not enough to turn this little blue marble into a glowing cinder? Now multiply that by the seven nuclear nations I know of and think on it. As far as I’m con- cerned any reduction in nuclear weapons is a good thing. If I were president my goal during my tenure would be the total elimination of all nuclear weapons. We’ve already resolved that the US and USSR are not going to wipe out the world. My worry now is that someone will steal a weapon and use it in an act of terror. It doesn't even matter where the bomb is set off. One shot and the whole world can be at war again. A phrase lawyers like to use in court concerning erroneous testimony, “You can't unring a bell.” Fred Boest, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3063 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Odds and ends and the perils of exceptionalism Commentary This is the time of each year when I wonder about what might happen in the months ahead. It is easy to speculate, or even make wild guesses about the future, but I have been think- ing how easily we can be misled. I am reminded about Percival Lowell, the wealthy man who built an astronomical observato- ry in Arizona so he could view the canals on Mars; not an astronomer, but a true believer, Lowell speculated about life on Mars and ancient civilizations. He had optical evidence in his telescope. His speculations cre- ated fodder for H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs (of Tarzan fame), and Ray Bradbury among others. Of course, his speculations turned out to be a wild imagination based on very preliminary evidence and appar- ently defective optics. We keep discovering new things. It wasn’t until 1912 that the Komodo Dragon Lizard was discovered; other giant lizards have been discovered since, but the existence of these giant lizards had been hidden from humans for many millennia. Even today, the fact that these giant lizards are “cold blooded” has not changed the debate among scientists about whether or not dinosaurs were also “cold blooded.” Science moves slowly and consensus is reached only after the accumulation of verifi- able data. The new consensus on cli- mate change is an example of that. Despite those who call such speculation “fantasy”, concern about climate change is a result of the accumulation of verifiable data, not science fiction. Speak- ing of climate change, it was recently claimed on this page that wind and ocean currents cause climate change, not mankind; certainly you and I cannot control mother nature, but the cumulative impact of the over six billion of us is fairly clear. The claim about wind and currents seems to at odds with the NRA assertion that guns don’t kill but people do. Archaeologists have recently unearthed human teeth seeming- ly belonging to modern man in a cave in Israel; the teeth appear to be over 400,000 years old based on preliminary tests. That dating would place the advent of mod- ern man considerably further back in history than previously thought, and would also revise the theory of our origins. On the one hand the teeth may actually be Neanderthal teeth; if so the find would be no big deal since Neanderthals are no longer around and have no political influence or territorial claims. On the other hand, modern man is still around, and if one area in the Middle East can claim all of us originated there, there could be religiously triggered danger- ous repercussions that are hard to imagine, but if calmer heads prevail we may simply have to revise our model of history. Last year astronomers dis- covered many more planets and planetary systems than ever before; it was a quantum leap of discovery. Given the immensity of the universe and the seeming- ly infinite possibilities of life elsewhere, it is hard to avoid speculation about whether or not “intelligent” life on Earth is unique or special. C.S. Lewis wrote a trilogy of semi-science fiction books about the possibil- ity of life on Mars and Venus and its implications for us over fifty years ago; Lewis included some theological implications in those works about the unique- ness of life on Earth. If we are not alone, then we will have to be careful when we think of our- selves as special. “Exceptionalism,” or think- ing about ourselves as special, can be a dan- gerous point of view. Sometimes we are crit- icized for believing in “American Exception- alism,” the doctrine that there is something special about our coun- try, that we have a call- ing and mission in the world, and that we can assert our role in the world for that reason. The idea of American Exceptionalism was first proposed by Alex- is de Tocqueville when he visited the United States around 1830 ostensibly to study our prison system, but making many general observations that captured in a book that has become required reading, Democracy in America. De Tocqueville’s observa- tions have been expanded upon and elaborated by many. Some pointed out we made a clean break with European past, becoming a true land of oppor- tunity and a "classless" society by avoiding feudalism, embrac- ing Manifest Destiny, and assuming a leadership role in the world after World War II. Of course the historians in the 1960s pointed out that our break from European history was not so clean and pure; we do have a few skeletons in our own histor- ical closet, like religious perse- cution, slavery, mistreatment of Native Americans, slow accep- tance of women’s suffrage, and providing civil rights to all. Whether these warts on our face make us less exceptional or not is a matter for debate. Some claim it was the belief in exceptionalism that led our previous President to invade Iraq, because he seemed to making an assumption that the United States could usher in an era of democracy and toler- ance in the Middle East. This is a sort of a “pride goeth before the fall” argument. History will decide. The examples cited Joe Harrop above about Martian life, giant lizards, 400,000 year fossil teeth, climate change, and many newly dis- covered planets, make it clear life is full of new evi- dence about the creation we live in. One of my favorite theolo- gians, Paul Tillich, once said we like to confine ourselves to a “self sufficient finitude”, in our safe little bubble where we think we have control. Life does not allow us to do that, however; each day brings new knowledge and information that challenges us to use the wisdom with which we are endowed to understand our role in this creation. It was almost 500 years ago that Copernicus claimed the sun was the center of our solar sys- tem; his vision was called a fan- tasy and declared heresy in 1616. Finally, in May of 2010 the Roman Catholic Church reburied Copernicus with honor. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.