I was going to let Peshewegunzh's statements against evolution go
since I believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs.
But then it occurred to me that superstition, rather than science,
is responsible for wars and racism, along with greed, political
ideologies and economics. While superstitious groups have often
condemned and denied all opposing superstitions, science has never
attempted to conquer or subjugate the unscientific; it has simply
gone on without them.
Evolution, like genetics, is a scientific reality. While there have
been racist *scientists*, scientific truth itself is incapable of
racism or favortism. Please don't confuse ugly interpretations of
facts by ugly people with the facts themselves. We are all
biological creatures with genes and mutations, and wise people
would not venture to assert the superiority or inferiority of any
one of us, much less groups.
Truth does not deny spiritualism. Truth does deny superstition.
But a spirituality based on superstition is rather weak, in my
opinion. A spirituality based on personal ethics, on the other
hand, cannot be denied by any universal truth, because it doesn't
depend on any material externals. The material world is the realm
of science; the spiritual world is the realm of religion. Sometimes
the boundary between them is vague, as in the field of medicine.
While genetics studies have provided many cures, spiritual methods
can indeed cure some diseases (I would say that spiritualism is
useful for curing diseases aggravated by stress).
The spirituality of Native American people is not contained,
stagnant and trapped, in their ancient myths; it lives on and grows
in the attitudes of the Native people who live today, and in the
ceremonies they perform in remembrance of those who lived in an
earlier age.
I think that the of value myths and ceremonies is not in the truth
or fiction of the stories, but in the spiritual feelings and
inspirations that they arouse in those who hear them or otherwise
participate. Is it not better to worship that which is alive and
growing than that which is dead and finished?
Krista