The Kansas Board of Education challenges the theory of evolution with Intelligent Design. Let’s have them look at other disputed science “theories”. For example, gravity: the force of attraction between massive particles.
Aristotle asserted that objects of different masses must fall at different rates. Later Galileo proved that all masses fall at the same rate.
As early as 1687 Newton described a theory of universal gravitation:
"Every object in the Universe attracts every other object with a force directed along the line of centers of mass for the two objects. This force is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the separation between the centers of mass of the two objects."
After publication, Newton remained unsatisfied with his mathematics. He could not explain the source of the gravitational pull, only it’s mechanism. He believed that that there were "causes hitherto unknown" that were fundamental to all the "phenomena of nature". Science still studies these fundamental phenomena. Although hypotheses flourish, the definitive answer eludes us.
Einstein demonstrated a fundamental flaw in Newton’s theory. Newton's theory requires instantaneous transmission of gravitational force, which violates Einstein's theory of special relativity which places an upper limit—the speed of light in vacuum—on the velocity at which signals can be transmitted.
Einstein's 1915 General Relativity theory of gravitation solved some problems with Newton's theory. General relativity states that the presence of mass, energy, and momentum causes spacetime to become curved. Curvature causes the paths that objects in inertial motion follow to "deviate" or change direction over time. This deviation appears to us as an acceleration towards massive objects (Newton’s gravity). In general relativity however, this acceleration is actually inertial motion. So objects in a gravitational field seem to fall at the same rate due to their being in inertial motion while the observer is the one being accelerated.
More recently, in theoretical physics, the Brans-Dicke theory of gravitation competes with Einstein's theory of general relativity, an equivalence-principle violating modification of general relativity inspired by Paul Dirac's large numbers hypothesis and Mach's principle.
As can be easily understood, the status of general relativity remains in flux. On the one hand, it is a highly successful model of gravitation and cosmology which has passed every test so far, both observationally and experimentally. It is therefore almost universally accepted by the scientific community.
On the other hand, general relativity conflicts with quantum mechanics. So at the same time as it is accepted, there may well be something beyond Einstein's theory yet to be found.
Why not God? I propose that science teachers in Kansas take the Board to a very high school building roof and remind them that the “theory” of gravity remains disputed. Propose the alternative theory of God’s eternal love and compassion. Experiment by jumping from the building. Thus, demonstrating the constructive power of faith in overcoming the difficulty of understanding science. Or maybe just another sticker on the science book that states that “God is still at work.”
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