Creation, evolution can be complements
This is in response to the article on Friday, “Why Certain Theories Can’t Be Proven.” I am not going to try to change your mind, but I do have a few points that should be raised.
No.1 — The Big Bang Theory is not when the earth was created. The Big Bang was when all matter in the universe was created. The earth formed billions of years later.
No. 2 — From what I have learned, C-14, which is what is used in carbon dating, cannot evolve since it does not have a genetic structure. Animals evolve as their genetic makeup changes to better suit their environment, i.e. natural selection.
As far as creationism and evolutionism, why can they not be used to complement each other instead of oppose each other. I do believe in God and think that he created everything. It has been shown by scientists that they cannot create living beings just by combining molecules. It requires a “unique” intervention for something to be born.
Returning to how the two ideas work together, creationism states the world was created in seven days. My thoughts are maybe it didn’t take seven days but maybe seven plus billion years. I don’t have much time to explain my thoughts on all the days so I will choose a few.
Day one — God created light and dark, the Big Bang. Day two — God created the earth; this is when all stars and planets came together some billion years later. Day five — animals and plants were created; this is the time of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures and plants. Day six — God created man; this was after whatever killed the dinosaurs some 1.5 million years ago, I think.
I feel that if you go by either idea to the letter, you are missing the larger picture and better understanding of the world. I do not expect everyone to agree with me, but to get a middle ground view of the two ideas.
Matthew Chiasson
Senior — Mechanical Engineering
Don’t force religious beliefs on others
“I don’t want to convince anyone to change their beliefs.”
Then why did you write a letter to the editor denouncing evolution and preaching your own nonsense? Mr. Dee, if you ever graduate with that thick head of yours, do you plan on teaching your secondary education students your own opinion or the science of evolution which is so much closer to the truth than religion?
I am in no way trying to dispel your own beliefs, but I would love it if you would try not to push them upon me. I have my own set, and my own ideas, and I’d like to keep them. I personally do not believe that some spiritual guy living up in the clouds got bored one day and decided to invent a world for him (or her, for all you p.c. people) to play games with.
Your opinion is just that, yours. Please don’t waste space in our paper moaning about students’ lack of religion. Either we’ll all wake up one day and decide we’re going to be saved, or we’re all going to hell.
Anyway, isn’t it about time for someone to complain about the parking problem again?
Georgia Mouton
Junior — Sociology
Presenting accurate facts about evolution
In response to S. Evan Dee, not to knock your beliefs, but you should acknowledge them for what they are — beliefs, as well as assess the accuracy of the facts you’ve used to argument for them. First, evolution is no longer debated; it is fact, more so than gravity. Whales have hip bones because they walked on land. Similar fossils are found along continental edges, because they where once conjoined, but the fossil records show stark changes after the landmasses separated. Why should embryological form be nearly identical? Evolution explains these and much more.
Second, organisms evolve, not atoms. This is because organisms are controlled by the expression of DNA, which gets recombined in unique ways, this creates variability. The idea of genres and species are our creation to help us understand. Nature draws no such lines; life exists on a continuum. Carbon atoms can not change their properties because the building blocks are rigid — protons, electrons and neutrons in differing numbers. Change the protons and you change the atom not the properties. So carbon-14 past and present are identical.
Third, everything in our solar system is of equal age. Our sun, the planets and bodies arose from the dust left by an exploded star in this region preceding our formation.
Fourth, particles did not just “bang” together, energy did. Einstein has shown us that E=mc2. Or a little energy equals a little matter times a big number. This is a lot of matter — an entire universe, from very little energy.
Now Mr. Dee, you have air conditioning, clean water and little fear of starvation because you are an American. Do you somehow deserve these amenities over those in Ethiopia? No, God doesn’t favor you; science brought these things to you. Should we fire the meat inspectors and say Grace? No, we have our intellect so that we can solve the problems that face us.
Finally, if God wanted us to look to him for all the answers then we wouldn’t have found the inaccuracies in the Bible, nor would we have the capacity to find truth on our own.
Colter Gates
Senior — Biological Sciences
Forced service a form of slavery
[In reference to Diette Courrege’s “A mission of service” column:]
I am happy that you enjoyed your involuntary servitude required by your high school in order to graduate. What I am not at all happy about is your opinion that Americans should be forced to “volunteer” for anything. What you are really saying is that you see no moral problem with stealing, literally, a piece of a person’s life, as long as it is for a cause that you find benevolent. While you might think of yourself as kind and caring, I encourage you to consider that forcing others’ behavior is more like the iron fist than the velvet glove; an endorsement of grand theft and extortion a la IRS “voluntary” contributions.
What really killed me was the fact that Southern University requires similar unpaid “volunteering.” As Ayn Rand said, anyone who is forced to work for another without pay is a slave.
The fact that a traditionally black university requires slavery of its students is particularly ironic. Perhaps the victims will sue for restitution someday, just as “victims” of antebellum slavery are attempting to do today.
At any rate, it is shortsighted of you to think that a greater good could ever result from forcing all students to be serfs on the plantation. And if volunteering gives you such a thrill, we are looking for a part-time maid, but cannot afford one. You are welcome to apply for the position. We have always treated our slaves very well.
Scott Wimmer
Entering Graduate Student — Fall 2003
Students should give up spaces for Rodeo
Okay, I’ll agree with Ms. Sigue about there not being enough parking spaces for the commuters to attend classes. However, is it impossible for commuters to give up their parking spaces for a few days? Seriously, walking the extra distance will not kill you! There are plenty of us who do it on a daily basis in every kind of weather. The livestock show is a once a year event, now no longer to be held on campus. Not only is it a chance for LSU to make thousands of dollars, but it allows high schoolers who show livestock the chance to tour the campus in their free time and see what LSU has. This means potentially more students to attend LSU.
And let’s not forget that these same people who show livestock are the “farmers of the future.” Where else would you get your food and clothing? Plants can only offer so much in the way of food.
Jumping back to the point of money, the show brings in thousands of dollars in entry fees alone. With 1,500 market and breeding hogs being charged $10 a head, that’s $15,000 right there. Cattle, sheep and chicken entry fees plus the money made from food purchases adds up to a pretty penny.
Alas, the livestock show is being moved to Gonzales, and LSU won’t have to host it on campus. The barns are being torn down to make room for more parking lots. I’m willing to bet that people will still complain about it being too far from their classes. Walking is a part of college life, get over it!
Anita Chauvin
Freshman — Animal Science
‘Smoking gun’ already discharged
With the current situation with Iraq the phrase “Smoking Gun” keeps popping up. People want to catch Saddam with a smoking gun. Woo … Sounds scary. Please allow me to enlighten people about what a real smoking gun is. Let’s think about the phrase for a second … smoking gun … THE GUN HAS BEEN DISCHARGED. Fired. Someone probably killed.
Sept. 11 was a smoking gun. Pearl Harbor … You guessed it, smoking gun. Both “smoking guns” cost thousands of people their lives before we reacted even though intelligence agencies picked up on both. We have a unique opportunity to disarm a potential smoking gun before it goes off. For the love of God/Allah/Buddha/Vishnu can we please retire this phrase? I, for one, equate this phrase with visions of the dead and dying as that is the only way a smoking gun occurs.
For those of you that still await a smoking gun, I can only pray that someone you love isn’t on the receiving end.
B. Keegan
Junior — Sociology