In response to the following by Brady Hess on March 15, 7:14PM:

I am not a member of the Catholic church and would die rather than join an institution with such a bloody history and flagrant disregard and suppression of biblical teachings. I am a Bible believing christian (sic) and over 200,000,000 of my kind have been burned at the stake or tortured to death in some manner, labeled as heretics, by the Catholic church, according to their own records. Nowhere in the Bible is anyone instructed to kill heretics. They are to be tolerated in the church as they provide an opportunities for debates which tend to bring out both sides of an issue.

I reject any church which uses God's name to justify killing innocent people or to oppress the weak. My point mainly was that the theory of evolution has caused a wave of killing UNPRECEDENTED in known history. Evolution is theory that encourages the strong to trample the weak, that is amoung (sic) it's core teachings.

Sincerely, Brady Hess

John Addis replies:

First of all, what I wrote was not in response to your statement about evolution. It was in response to Todd's question of where the influence of Science has been the greatest. I wrote what I did about the Catholic Church (at the time in question, the only Christian Church)

on March 13 at 2:42PM. Todd posted it on March 14. Your piece was posted on March 13, at 9:52PM.

However, since you changed the subject, I would reply that the Theory of Evolution, which is the backbone of modern biology and genetics, does not encourage anyone to do anything. It is an explanation of the way nature is. That some people use it to justify various political philosophies is not a reflection on the fact of evolution.

Furthermore, the MAJOR US political philosophy justifying in any remote way the survival of the fittest is the right wing of the Republican Party. The left wing of the Democratic party sounds like it would be more to your liking since it suggests that people should give to others and be tolerant of others. Since describe yourself as a "Bible believing christian (sic)" (i.e. a Christian Fundamentalist-correct me if I am wrong), I am sure you follow the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party since this is closest social philosophy to Jesus'. He preached that one should give up all earthly belongings and live a life of asceticism and poverty (it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven). I have to admit that you are probably nearly alone in this, since modern economics have made this philosophy and Communism a joke.

I am delighted to learn that you reject the 14th century Catholic Church. That is a hopeful sign.

Regards,
John Addis