The great-great grandson of Charles Darwin, Matthew Chapman, has a great subject for a presidential debate: science.
Chapman argues a president's understanding of science is critical in the 21st century when humans and the waste we create sullies the earth to the point of widespread species loss, maybe even our own.
But science and theories necessary to understanding how we humans got here are points of contention, and even derision, for many Americans. I hear it all the time, even from Christian friends: "I don't know about you, but I didn't come from no monkey."
Which, as Chapman writes, is how many Republican contenders feel:
[T]hree Republican candidates have said they do not believe in [evolution]. Even George W. Bush believes "the jury is still out on evolution." That someone this scientifically backward was elected to such a powerful position at such a critical time is perhaps the most astonishing anachronism in modern American political life. Such a thing must not be allowed to happen again. Given all of the scientific challenges that face us, we must elect a president with a basic understanding of 21st Century science.
Amen.
