Pharyngula

I thought the episode was quite funny! Thanks for tipping me off.

Posted by: sjredman41 | May 15, 2006 12:18 PM

As you most likely know, the Simpsons got their start as a segment of the Tracey Ullman Show.
en dot wikipedia dot org/wiki/Tracey_Ullman
Tracey was smart enough to buy a piece of the production rights and as a result is today one of the richest entertainment figures in England.
Anyway, in the late 80's I was employed as a U.S. Customs Inspector at JFK airport. We got to meet many interesting people like Springsteen, Miles Davis, Jacques Cousteau and dozens of others. I've got a hundred stories and maybe someday I'll write a book!
Sure enough, one Sunday afternoon Tracey showed up. I told her that there were only two people I ever wanted to meet, her and Cher. She took the Customs declaration card and signed the back of it for me:

http://www.charliewagner.com/tracey001.jpg

"To Charlie, One down, Cher to go!, All the best, Tracey Ullman"

I never got to meet Cher. I found out later she was afraid to fly and rarely ever did.

Posted by: Charlie Wagner | May 15, 2006 1:13 PM

If there really were two competing theories that were held in equal esteem by scientists, then by all means, teach them both.

Today, I considered doing a "Doggerel" entry on the word, "controversy". That particular hypothetical scenario would be just fine by me if it existed: There'd be genuine controversy to teach. There is, of course, no genuine controversy about ID: It's not science at all. All the shouting from the ID side is just whining.

I'm reminded of Behe(?) trying to redefine science to include ID, and that definition would require including Astrology as well. I have more respect (less disrespect?) for Astrology than ID. Astrology puts forth predictions. They're wrong, but at least they stepped up to plate. ID wants to play with the big boys, but doesn't want to step up to that same plate.

Posted by: Bronze Dog | May 15, 2006 1:50 PM

Thank you.

Posted by: Moses | May 15, 2006 3:50 PM

They described Lisa's objection (that religion should not be taught in schools, nor science in church) as 'tired'. As in, "I'm so tired of hearing that objection because there's no good answer to it".

Posted by: DOF | May 15, 2006 5:10 PM

I like how there are so many "quotes" around simple "words" like that will magically cause them to be false.

Posted by: Carlie | May 15, 2006 6:14 PM

As someone who rarely misses the Simpsons (but did so last night because I was moving) - Thanks PZ!

Posted by: Ben | May 15, 2006 7:00 PM

Here's another brilliant article from AiG:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v6/i2/creation.asp

Their simpson's response links to it. It supposedly explains WHY they are anti-evolution. Look at this quote:

"As we look around the world today, we see things happening which are disturbing and alarming to Christians, because they are largely unable to understand why they are happening. We see more and more marriages breaking up, people not bothering about marriage, an increase in homosexuality and lesbianism, families not functioning in the way they used to, children not coming or not being sent to Sunday School like they used to. There is a great increase in disrespect for authority, and lawlessness is ever on the rise."

Every time I talk to Christians about their politics, these are the reasons they love to cite. The trouble is, its all based on myth and hearsay. There are almost no statistics to back any of it up. Ask a Christian to actually substantiate their claims of "moral decay" or "culture of death" and you'll get a blank stare.

Crime has been on the decline for 14 years, and some economists and sociologists beleive abortion may actually be the cause of the decline.

Pentecostals, Episcopalians, Baptists, and Assemblies of God all have much higher divorce rates than atheists, who are among the lowest of religious groups.

Most researchers on gay and lesbian issues think that the "true" rate of homosexuality, if there is such a thing, has not changed in hundreds of years, it has stayed somewhere around 10%, the only difference is more people today are willing to admit it.

Sunday school rates have gone down, but from what I can tell this is mostly due to evangelical churches not bothering to offer any sunday school classes. They probably think it is too educational.

Moreover, the whole premise of the social conservative argument, that abstract theories and theologies exert powerful influences over human behavior, has been called seriously into question by much recent social research. For an excellent philosophical treatment of this topic download this paper here:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=816224

Posted by: Paladin165 | May 15, 2006 7:11 PM

I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. Lisa was on the right side, but what surprised me was Marge admitting that Darwin's ideas made a lot of sense. She's usually the one on the side of morality, and while I dreamed of an episode where the whole family agrees with Frink that God is reduced to insignificance, I thought the good guys did pretty well in twenty minutes of mass-culture televison.
It even had a few good laughs. "Was mommy a monkey?", "Lisa's the Ralph now!" and the guy with the PhD in truthology from Christian Tech all made me chuckle.

Posted by: aiabx | May 16, 2006 10:24 AM

Ha! They burned you guys good! They perfectly captured your paranoid ravings about what the world would be like if evolution is questioned in schools: secret readings of the Origin of Species, police arrests, etc.

Jason, I don't think you've yet developed a good way of gauging the amount of authorial-to-narrative distance in something. But since, in addition to being socially retarded, you're evidently somewhat stupid to boot, I'll explain this to you. Lisa is a character that the writers have always used in a sympathetic manner. What happens to Lisa...

...you know what? I'm not going to sit here to explain the few nuances of an animated sitcom to a Ralph. You're just stupid Jason.

Posted by: Dustin | May 16, 2006 4:14 PM

And I can't help but mention that, yes, people have been arrested for attempting to teach evolution.

Posted by: Dustin | May 16, 2006 4:26 PM

Wit isn't something I've come to expect from Jason. In fact, Jason has been praying very hard for God to "soften his personality". Since Jason is still here, and being stupid, I can only conclude that God has answered his prayers, but missed Jason's personality, and has softened his head instead.

Posted by: Dustin | May 16, 2006 5:11 PM