Mike Pence Criticizes Theory of Evolution

(This guy wants to be second in command in the most powerful nation in the world, yet he understands nothing. I have transcribed and commented on his speech to the American House of Representatives, on "origins". The transcript is rendered in black and my inserted comments are in red and in parentheses.)

Mr. Speaker, I've always been interested in origins even though my training is in the law and in history (this is the point at which you should have stopped) it has ever been an application of mind to contemplate and to study the origins of man and of life here on earth and many theories of origins have been propounded throughout our nation's history. (There is only one scientific theory of the origin of man and other species, and it was originally propounded by two Englishmen, not by anyone in your nation.) 1859 a sincere biologist returned from the Galapagos Islands (and many other places) and wrote a book entitled the origins of species (On the Origin of Species) in which - he did - then Charles Darwin offered a theory of the origin of species which we've come to know as evolution. Charles Darwin never thought of evolution as anything other than a theory. He hoped that someday it would be proven by the fossil record but did not live to see that nor have we. (This is plain false. First, there is the fact of evolution - that the forms of living things change over time. Then there is the scientific theory of evolution - the explanation of how and why they change. There is no concept of “proof” in science. Proof is for axiomatic systems - mathematics and logic - and for measuring the strength of alcoholic beverages. Rather, a scientific explanation of the facts in question becomes graced with the term “scientific theory” - which carries a different meaning to what is conveyed by the common expression “just a theory” - when it has sufficiently withstood all attempts to find it false.)

1925 - in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial this theory made its way through litigation into the classrooms of America and we all have seen the consequence over the last seventy seven years evolution not taught as a sincere theory of biologists but rather Mr Speaker, taught as fact. (Incorrect. Scopes was found guilty of breaking the law by teaching evolution. It was subsequent legislation that enabled evolutionary science to be taught in schools. And see above re. facts and scientific theory. Evolution is indeed a fact, just as it is a fact that tobacco causes cancer. And I wonder what you are getting at, with your talk of “consequences”? Denial of evolution correlates with societal dysfunction in prosperous democracies.) Unless anyone listening in can doubt that, we can all see in our mind’s eye that grade room classroom we all grew up in with the linear depiction of evolution just above the chalkboard there's the little monkey crawling on the grass there's the Neanderthal with his knuckles dragging and then there's Mel Gibson (?) standing in all of his glory. It is what we have been taught that man proceeded and evolved along linear lines.


(Linear? Charles Darwin's 1837 sketch, his first diagram of an evolutionary tree. Yes, there is a line of descent to be drawn through ancestors to descendants. It follows a route through branching points.)

But now comes a new find by paleontologists in the newspapers all across America new study in Nature magazine 6 to 7 million year old skull has been unearthed - the Torme skull and it suggested human evolution was actually according to a new theory human evolution was taking place, and I'm quoting now, all across Africa and on the Earth and the Earth was once truly and I quote, “a planet of the apes” on which nature was experimenting with many human-like creatures. Paleontologists are excited about this Mr. Speaker, but no one's pointing out that the textbooks I guess will need to be changed because the old theory of evolution taught for 77 years in the classrooms of America as fact is suddenly replaced by a new theory or I hasten to add I'm sure will be told a new fact the truth is it always was a theory. (Where to start with the above? The theory has not changed. Your “linear” strawman “theory” never existed. See the tree sketch above. Evolution remains the true explanation of the facts, by any sane measure of the word “true”. Of course, textbooks should be updated when sufficiently interesting and important new facts are discovered!)

Mr. Speaker and now that we've recognized evolution as a theory, (scientific fact and scientific theory) I would simply and humbly ask that can we teach it as such and can we also consider teaching other theories of the origin of species like the theory that was believed in by every signer of the Declaration of Independence every signer of the Declaration of Independence believed that men and women were created and were endowed by that same creator with certain unalienable rights. (It is irrelevant what they believed. There was no scientific theory of origins. And one does not “believe” in scientific theories either. It is not a question of belief, but of acknowledging the facts and agreeing with the reasoning for what explains them.)


The Bible tells us that God created man in his own image male and female he created them (irrelevant, but the Bible uses vague and sketchy terms wide open to different interpretations) and I believe that Mr Speaker I believe that God created the known universe the earth and everything in it including man (irrelevant) and  also believe that someday scientists will come to see that only the theory of intelligent design provides even remotely rational explanation for the known universe. (Are you talking about evolution, or cosmology here? If biology, you say you were trained in law. See Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District) But until that day comes and I have no fear of science (liar) I believe that the more we study the science the more the truth of faith will become apparent I just would humbly ask as new theories of evolution find their ways into the newspapers and into the textbooks let us demand that educators around America teach evolution not as fact but his theory and an interesting theory to boot but let's also bring into the minds of all of our children all of the theories about the unknowable that some bright day in the future through science and perhaps through faith we will find the truth from whence we come and I yield back.



(See also Right Wing Watch - "FLASHBACK: Mike Pence Delivers Entire Speech Denying Evolution" and Steven Novella's "Nerologica" blog entry, "Mike Pence Does Not Understand Evolution".)