I am a Saint Joseph School Cornet Chehwan alumnus, and I owe both my academic status and social standing today to this fabulous educational institution. If I had the choice to go to school again, it would definitely SJS, and as for my children, if I have any and I’m living in Lebanon, SJS is where they’re going to graduate from.

Today unfortunately, I got a punch in the guts after I remembered a disturbing truth I had forgotten after going to AUB. Evolution was a taboo topic which was included in our books and their curriculums, but never even remotely mentioned, much less covered.

Why? Because of the naive misconception that Evolution will somehow undermine the religious domination of the Catholic Church on the minds of its faithful (or once religious domination). Allow me to begin to destroy this position taken by many Catholic schools.

But before I do, allow me to clarify that institutions of other faiths also scrap Evolution from their curriculums, but I will only address the SJS issue, because it is one I am familiar with and frankly, one that interests me.

First and foremost, if you disagree with the principle (and not theory) of Natural Selection, you sir/m’am have the IQ of the monkeys you are so afraid of. For those of you who parade around that Evolution is a theory and not a law like in Physics, it is because Evolution is an ongoing process, and one so complex that one unifying law is very impractical and will always baffle our human minds. Please  note though, it will baffle us not because it is divine or unattainable, but because the numbers and time periods are astronomical, making it hard for me and you to successfully integrate the idea of gradual change through natural selection over many thousands of generations. So, that doesn’t mean Evolution has not been successfully and beyond doubt verified in the various fields and branches of science concerned with it: from geology, to biochemistry, genetics and simple, elegant logic and reason.

Now that the vocabulary is out of the way, I will bypass explaining how and why Evolution is a given fact that defines many aspects of life and not only its origins and shaping, but also its unfolding in our present day and its effect on who we are and why we do what we do (if it still didn’t stick, I’ve written many posts on this topic, which I hope will help). That aside, let us consider the Chruch’s position, and, to avoid being accused of putting words into His Holiness Pope John Paul II’s mouth, I will provide you with a link that illustrates the late Pontiff was not so narrow-minded. Go here and read for yourself.

So, why are we deliberately keeping information so vital, so beautiful from younger generations? Why are their minds numbed to the age-old stimulating debate of reason (Evolution) and blind naivety (Creationism)? Till when will our schools ignore one of Science’s greatest principles?