Why the name Magical Flagella? Well, that is one of the many, many misconceptions that the far Religious Right has of evolution and its "flaws." They will claim that the flagella found in bacterial cells are too complex to have evolved by natural selection, since without all parts being present, the flagella won't work.
Of course, this illustrates a misconception of evolutionary theory, illustrated here by the always charming Dr. Ken Miller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_HVrjKcvrU
So yes, this blog is largely to criticize the Religious Right when they are wrong. Now, do not make the mistake of assuming that I am against religion. I'm not. I am a Catholic myself and almost everyone I know (seeing as I live in the buckle of the Bible Belt) have some sort of religious views. There are certain, limited issues where I will accept the Religious Right's viewpoints, but I will very rarely accept their ultimate goals or their often radical methods.
The United States is a secular nation by the Establishment Clause. Even if it does have a largely Christian character, it is not a Christian nation. This has been repeated since the Treaty of Tripoli, where Article 11 stated in blatant terms,
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion...
--http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tripoli1.htm
This was in 1797, well within the Founding Fathers' lifetimes.
Anyway, this is the end of the introductory post to Magical Flagella. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, shoot me an email at j.roberts@okstate.edu, or comment here. If you have your own blog and are interested in mine, please feel free to add me to your blogroll and I will try to add you back.
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