Those from Berkeley know what it’s like to live in this bubble. This progressive, liberal, politically correct, ‘this is what a feminist looks like’ stickers and shirts everywhere, the poorly disguised shudder when someone mentions that they’re Christian, or heaven forbid, Republican. I went to a retreat recently in which the speakers burst that bubble, or told us to burst it ourselves. If we think our goals, our hopes and dreams, viable careers, and belief in ‘social justice’ is so important, it requires being a little more open mindedness than we thought. It requires not rolling your eyes or snickering or sneering when you try to talk to people who have more conservative views than you. I think it takes humility to see what’s going on that leads people to their beliefs.

I was guilty of it myself recently. My sister asked, innocently, “but evolution…it’s just a belief right?” I had to really stifle a laugh because I had thought it was a joke. The thought in my head was, how could the Church brainwash people so fucking badly? To the point where they actually disregard actual evidence for something that is, what I consider, so real. But then I found myself unable to clearly articulate why I believed the things I did. She sent me an email of a conversation she had with a fellow Christian about evolution and his reasons were all scientifically based. I actually left that email in my inbox for an entire week (and for those who know me, I LOVE email so to leave it sitting there untouched is because I really did not want to read what I considered fundamentalist Christian word vomit). But I was in for a surprise. The conversation was actually civil, and the points he made were obviously made from someone with a scientific background. And it reminded me that I am no expert on the topic myself. One quote from an article her friend cited:

“Homology (or similarity) does not prove common ancestry. The entire genome of the tiny nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans) also has been sequenced as a tangential study to the human genome project. Of the 5,000 best-known human genes, 75% have matches in the worm (see “A Tiny Worm Challenges Evolution”). Does this mean that we are 75% identical to a nematode worm? Just because living creatures share some genes with humans does not mean there is a linear ancestry. Biologist John Randall admitted this when he wrote:”

“It is hard to resist the conclusion that something must have happened to the ancestors of Homo sapiens which did not happen to the ancestors of gorillas and chimpanzees” 

And right under that:

That “something” actually is “Someone”—the Creator.

That’s when I completely lost it. It was such a great article with lots of scientific backing and then… that. I thought jeez, what a self-involved species we are to think ourselves above the forces of natural selection. And to think ourselves as the pinnacle of all creation, because the Creator so benevolently created us in cookie cutter images of himself is blindly arrogant. 

But I digress. The point is, fellow Berkeleyans, to open your mind, let yourself be swayed and be comfortable in doubting yourself. Because the tighter you hold onto your beliefs, the less you are willing to hear others and the less you will learn. And the less articulate you will be about why you believe the things you believe.

Here’s the articles for you heathens: http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=1038