Obama on Science

I've recently found a clip on YouTube from two speeches from Barack Obama before he took the Presidential Oath. In them, he calls for our government and society to commit to supporting science and innovation. To not just give money, but encourage and support education so that we can have new generations of scientists and engineers to return and keep America at the leading cutting edge of science. I agree. Here is the video.



The only thing I find that I disagree with is that he seems to suggest that science can be stymied or curtailed by religious ideology. The truth is that I think that history can bear out that economic concerns derail science just as much as religious ideas. Los Angeles is an example. Just after World War II, plans for giving the Los Angeles region of California a subway or light-rail system was abandoned because the powers-that-be decided that they could make more money selling cars and building highways in Southern California, resulting in some of the worst traffic and smog the world has ever seen. There are other examples.

Obama urges us to have open minds when considering science and being open to possibilities. However, we find more and more examples of people deciding to close their minds to the scientific and logic evidence against the theory of evolution. Some of which I have discussed in this blog with more to follow. There are legitimate scientists and engineers who interpret the data and come up with different legitimate conclusions! I am one of them. Let me just end this by quoting the title of one of Norman Giesler's greatest works: "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist!"