Origin Into Schools

This morning as I wandered through my living room (usually I'm traipsing around campus off to my contemporary lit class; it was canceled today), I noticed a lot of loud commotion. Only instead of it being my silly cats ripping and roaring through the room, my attention moved from the floor to my television: it was the cast of The View. Bickering, arguing, whatever. Nothing about this discovery interested me as I continued on my quest to the kitchen, but once I heard a certain name, I walked right back.

Kirk Cameron.

Ok, we love him. Just be honest. He played the hilarious and troublesome Mike Seaver from that family feel good "Growing Pains," and whenever he waltzes into a discussion, usually people smile. At least, I do. Anyway, I'm not too familiar with his past or previous television bits, but I like him, and probably always will.

But, back to The View.

Apparently, from the few moments where I actually paid attention to the bickering, Cameron is working with friend Ray Comfort in promoting the give-away of a specialized publishing of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species." Instead of the book strictly being the re-mastered original copy of Darwin's work, the particular copy Cameron is pushing is one with a introduction packed with information offering insights about the history of evolution, a time-line of Darwin's life, Darwin's racism, Darwin's discrimination of women, and Darwin's thoughts on the existence of God. It also includes supposed information exposing the unscientific beliefs that nothing created everything, and also how there is no physical proof of any species to species transitional form found in the fossil record. The introduction offers a balanced view of creationism and includes supporting facts from actual, renowned scientists that believe God created the Universe. (Einstein, Faraday, and Kepler...just to name a few.)

Obviously, I haven't read the book. If I had, I'd probably have a bit more of an opinion on all of this, but from the arguments this morning presented by Barbara Walters and all the other women on the mid-morning talk show, there's plenty to be buzzed about. A clip on YouTube starring Cameron himself, shares all the information I just mentioned above, and it was shown on The View this morning. I only watched the beginning bit while I stood in my living room, but the beginning bit still includes some pretty interesting stuff. After getting back to Athens today, I watched the clip in it's entirety, but before Cameron even goes into explaining the book, he discusses statistics about how Atheism has doubled over the past twenty years and other data about how upcoming generations are not considering themselves religious.

Now, from what I understand, this particular book won't be hitting shelves anytime soon, but it will be hitting campuses all across the nation. On Nov. 19, various individuals will be handing out these specific copies at 50 chosen Universities, for free. Yes. free. A 300-ish page book, to anyone who will take one. Cost? Zero.

Now, I'm a poor college kid, so the free thing gets me--it truly does-- but what will come of all this? This is a very dramatic attempt at getting the other side of the story, so to speak, sent to this demographic. Scientists, Psychologist, Anthropologists, and all the other -ists out there are just the same when trying to consider how we, humans--people--came to be. Evolution, Creation, bang it just happened? It's a hard thing to grasp, no matter what the belief system may be, but with this certain Introduction packing a 50 page punch into one of the most studied theories of all time, I simply wonder what will follow.

I want a copy for the simple reason of just having one.

Other information is available at http://livingwaters.com/