HBO's documentary "Questioning Darwin" reveals the fearful mindset of those who reject Evolution.

Model of Adam in the Garden of Eden sporting a bellybutton. Because fuck science!

Courtesy of Slate:

Intellectual freedom is one of humanity’s greatest gifts—and biggest burdens. Our ability to ask questions, to test ideas, to doubt is what separates us from our fellow animals. But doubt can be as terrifying as it is liberating. And it’s the terror of doubt that fosters the toxic, life-negating cult of creationism. 

That fear is on full display throughout HBO’s new documentary Questioning Darwin, which features a series of intimate interviews with biblical fundamentalists. Creationism, the documentary reveals, isn’t a harmless, compartmentalized fantasy. It’s a suffocating, oppressive worldview through which believers must interpret reality—and its primary target is children. For creationists, intellectual inquiry is a sin, and anyone who dares to doubt the wisdom of their doctrine invites eternal damnation. That’s the perverse brilliance of creationism, the key to its self-perpetuation: First it locks kids in the dungeon of ignorance and dogmatic fundamentalism. Then it throws away the key. 

I actually missed this documentary when it aired last night, only happening upon it afterward, and I have just now finished watching it.

As a result my head is now hurting so bad I can barely stand.

There is quite a lot of interesting information about Charles Darwin, and the trials that he went through in order to write and publish "The Origin of Species." Not to mention the challenges to the teaching of Evolution that have presented themselves in the years since the book was published.

However what struck me, and caused my mental anguish, were the statements from those who rejected the teachings of Darwin, and the idea that man evolved over time, outright.

"I cannot imagine life without knowing that God has a plan." Quoted the Head of Women's Ministry Christ Community Church.

To me that speaks volumes as to the mindset of those who choose to ignore all evidence which supports Evolution and undermines their ability to have faith in the inerrancy of the Bible.

Over an over again the message from the faithful is "We don't understand Evolution so it cannot be true." Or, "We cannot accept that our faith is baseless so we will not entertain contradictory information." Or, "I cannot accept that we were not specifically designed by God. and are no more important, or special, than the other creatures with whom we share this planet."

Essentially the argument is that it is much easier, and comforting, to believe that man was created specifically by God to hold dominion over the planet and the animals that live upon it. And that after they die their soul will live on forever at God's side.

While I can understand the impulse to accept a story that rescues us from death and feeds into our innate egoism, I simply cannot excuse the rejection of information based solely on the fear that it may one day prove the fallacy of that faith.

What the documentary illustrates more than anything is an image of mankind as a shivering frightened child, cowering under bed covers and crying out for its powerful father to provide assurance that all is well and that there is nothing to fear. Not even death.

Simply put that saddens me beyond measure, for we have the capacity to prolong our lives well past the life expectancy of our ancestors, to rid ourselves of diseases that crippled and plagued our species for thousands of years, and to increase our knowledge well beyond what could have been imagined even by the greatest minds of the past, and yet we still fear the darkness as if we have not chased it into the shadows with the light of our creativity and intelligence.

At this stage we should be the ones to chase away the monsters and stand bravely facing the darkness, and yet our confidence is undermined by our reliance on the safety of myths and superstitions.

We can, and must, do better.