Immaculate Conception - The Facts of Life

"Can a people that believes more fervently in the Virgin Birth than in evolution still be called an Enlightened nation?"

Garry Wills, a professor of history at Northwestern University posed that question in a New York Times column. A day or two later Jefferson Reid, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, cited the Wills article as a part of a class lecture.



Then all hell broke loose. Outraged parents called the University offended that Professor Reid would denigrate their religious beliefs by comparing the myth of the virgin birth to evolution. Eventually Professor Reid decided it would be best to deliver an apology to his class.



So much for academic freedom and the open discussion ideas on a university campus.



Of course, a virgin birth is probably not much of a stretch for people that already believe in a personified god who can bring the dead back to life, part the seas, walk on water, and feed the masses with only one small basket of fishes and loaves.



However, the notion of a virgin birth, even if it was just one time, does raise a tricky question for the Christian zealots who are trying to force "abstinence only" education into our schools: How can you say that "abstinence is the only 100% effective means of contraception?"



Arizona Daily Wildcat - Anthro Prof 'Explains' Mention of Evolution