Resolution 41

Today is kind of a big deal for science, skepticism, and atheism. It’s Darwin Day. Personally, I’m not a fan of making people into saints in any serious fashion. I have no problem joking about the sainthood of Hitchens, but I would reject any serious call from atheists to do that. So I am pretty nuanced about how I think we should celebrate Darwin Day.

Darwin Day can be an opportunity to educate people about the theory of evolution via natural selection and science in general. That is what House Resolution 41 is all about. Introduced this year by Rep. Rush Holt (D) from New Jersey, the resolution states:

“Expressing support for designation of February 12, 2013, as Darwin Day and recognizing the importance of science in the betterment of humanity.”

Out of 435 representatives in congress, only seven have co-sponsored this resolution. That’s sad. I e-mailed my congressman… twice and even though he is considered to be a pretty progressive congressman, he still didn’t cosponsor the resolution.

While the resolution deals with acknowledging today as Darwin Day, it appears that the resolution is still held up in the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. You know, that’s the committee that Rep. Paul Broun (R) of Georgia is a member of. He is the guy who said that he doesn’t believe in evolution or the big bang. In fact, a write-in campaign was waged against him on behalf of Charles Darwin. So I wonder how he will vote on this resolution.

Here is the thing. Next time we have an atheist-friendly resolution or bill in the House, we need to really mobilize and contact our representatives. We need to annoy the hell out of them. We can’t allow them to ignore us anymore. So contact your representative today and tell them that you are disappointed that they didn’t co-sponsor this resolution and that you expect them to sponsor next year’s resolution. Do it today!