Bloomberg thinks creationalism is “scary”
New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg has just quit the Republican party, raising speculation that he will make a bid in the 2008 presidential race as an independent. No third-party candidate has ever won a presidential election, only disrupted things for the other two parties. The race was already looking pretty exciting, and if Bloomberg joins the fray I’m anticipating even more thrills. And why am I really happy? Because on issues of science, Bloomberg has been throwing some elbows. In a speech at Johns Hopkins, he denounced intelligent design, calling it “creationism by another name.” He also pulled no punches in accusing conservatives of distorting scientific understanding: “Today we are seeing hundreds of years of scientific discovery being challenged by people who simply disregard facts that don’t happen to agree with their agendas.” But Bloomberg’s strongest criticism came in a speech at the University of Southern California, where he again accused conservatives of endangering America by ignoring science:
It’s scary in this country, it’s probably because of our bad educational system, but the percentage of people that believe in Creationalism is really scary for a country that’s going to have to compete in the world where science and medicine require a better understanding.
Creationalism is scary, if it’s anything like creationism. I’m hoping Bloomberg’s unequivocal stance on science and evolution will embolden the Democratic candidates to defend science more vigorously and force the Republicans to clarify their own positions.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Bloomberg may be able to carve a little out of Giuliani, but I don’t see his candidacy as being anything but bad for Democrats. Especially if the nominee is anyone other than Giuliani. But it’s great to have someone speaking frankly about the scourge of creationism (by whatever name)…
June 20th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
You could be right, I have the same fear. But he’s pretty fiscally conservative. (And how do people feel about him and the war? I don’t actually know.) I really do want to see the sensible politicians stand up and stake our future on our attitudes towards science and rationality, and party politics aside, maybe Bloomberg’s presence will start putting on some pressure.
June 23rd, 2007 at 8:56 am
Bloomberg’s reference to “our bad educational system” hit home, as I am an educator. I agree that there are problems with our system, but I can’t help but wonder if the belief in Creationism is higher among the masses of people who home school their children for religious reasons (rather than any other reason) than those who use the public system. The numbers of home schoolers has risen astronomically in the past decade, and a high percentage have extreme conservative religious beliefs. So, I will accept responsibility for only part of the problem.