KARL JASPERS FORUM

TA63 (Leslie / Rees)

Commentary 23 (to C18, Wood)

( FUNDAMENTALISM )

by Paul Roberts

23 December 2003, posted 11 January 2004

Does Glenn C. Wood really believe his claim that "AIDS is part of the American experience that falsifies evolution as a meaningful view of history?" Or, did he simply forget to put the prefix "anti-" before the word evolution in that sentence ? Surely, he is aware that AIDS is caused by a rapidly mutating retrovirus and that it is this high rate of mutation that allows it to rapidly evolve, by natural selection and overcome most of the therapies we have been able to devise. Moreover, it is evolution and natural selection that explain why the sex drive is so powerful among the young, with passion often overcoming prudence and preaching. There is, of course, no evidence that evolution promotes immorality. However, there is plenty of evidence that religious fundamentalism does : witness the terrible events of "9/11", pogroms, the witch burnings and inquisitions of the Middle Ages, etc. Anyway, the correct usage for belief in evolution -- owing to ample evidence for it, of course -- is not "fundamentalism." It is, in the light of the above events, "fundamental" -- to the progress of civilization.

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Paul Roberts