"Real Time" host Bill Maher asked Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) a fairly straightforward question: "Do you believe in evolution?" Kingston not only rejected the foundation of modern biology, he explained it this way: "I believe I came from God, not from a monkey." He added, "If it happened over millions and millions of years, there should be lots of fossil evidence."Well, what's embarrassing is that someone who writes for a prestigious journal like The Washington Monthly and who obviously prides himself on his own intellectual sophistication would think that Maher's question was "straightforward".
Seriously, that's what he said.
Let's pause to appreciate the fact that it's the 21st century -- and Jack Kingston is a 10-term congressman who helps oversee federal funding on the Food and Drug Administration.
As part of the same discussion, former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell tried to ask Kingston about the overuse of antibiotics. The far-right congressman had no idea how the question related to evolution.
What an embarrassment.
What did Maher mean, exactly, when he asked Kingston if he "believes in" evolution? Was Maher referring to belief in the theory of evolution? If so, precisely which theory of evolution was he asking about? If he was just referring to evolution in general was he referring to naturalistic evolution? Macroevolution? Microevolution? Theistic evolution? Progressive evolution? What, exactly, was he asking the congressman?
The question as posed by Maher is not "straightforward" at all, but apparently Benen lacks the wit to realize this. He's too busy snickering at Kingston who, like probably 95% of the nation's population, doesn't really know much at all about evolutionary theory.
As for the relationship between the overuse of antibiotics and evolution, Mr. Benen thinks it a disgrace that the congressman was apparently non-plussed by the question, so I propose that he put the same query to, say, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama and see what sorts of answers he gets from them. Indeed, I'd like to hear his own answer to the question.
In fact, I'd like to hear Mr. Benen explain the nuances between the various permutations of evolutionary theory mentioned above. I'd also like to see if Mr. Benen can give a coherent defense of whatever form of evolution it is that he presumably believes in. Has Mr. Benen read any of the significant scientific works critical of the claim that natural processes can produce salutary genetic change such as Michael Behe's Edge of Evolution or Darwin's Black Box? Has he read Stephen Meyer's powerful critique (Signature in the Cell) of the evolutionist's claim that undirected forces and chance can produce biological information?
It's unfortunate that Representative Kingston didn't think to ask Maher what kind of evolution he was talking about and didn't think to ask him exactly how he was defining the term evolution, but his answer wasn't all that different, I'll bet, from what most congressmen would have given. It's just that Democrat congressmen are never asked questions like this because people like Maher wouldn't dream of embarrassing them and people like Benen wouldn't notice if he did.