Angels won Series by ‘cowardly’ means

The Anaheim Angels won the World Series because they are cowards. They walked Barry Bonds in every game when there were runners on base. Why? Because they knew Bonds would hit a home run.

How would the Angels feel if Bonds was on their team and the opposing team walked him at every at bat?

That’s what I thought. In my opinion, the San Francisco Giants should have been the champions.

Duc Luong is a senior majoring in accounting.

Slandering the other side affects voters

As a college student and registered Independent, I have received three flyers in the mail from the Republican Party slandering Bill McBride and why I should not vote for him, but I have not yet received a flyer on why I should vote for Jeb Bush.

This makes me question Bush’s character as well as wonder if he has any reasons for me to vote for him.

Living in the Bible Belt of Hillsborough County, I am very disturbed by the many Jeb Bush signs I see in people’s yards. I know many Christians are Republicans because of their pro-life beliefs, but they also need to remember the Bible says to look after your fellow man.

Matthew 25:40 reads, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

I don’t want anyone to get me wrong, as a Christian I am against abortion, too, but I have yet to see a Republican do anything about it, and I doubt I ever will.

What I have seen though are Democrats promoting and implementing social programs to help out the average and needy man. I know when I vote Tuesday, I’ll be asking myself who is feeding me empty promises and who is promising me a sure thing?

I have not received any negative mail about Jeb Bush from the Democratic Party.

Kristin Moore is a senior majoring in interdisciplinary social sciences.

Evolution not fact, but theory

This is in response to Professor Marc J. Defant’s letter to the editor in Thursday’s edition of The Oracle. There were numerous doubts about religion and the Bible, as well as misrepresentations of the wave of democracy that led to the establishment of the United States, that I would like to respond to.

Professor Defant wrote, “There is such a plethora of data supporting evolution that the onus is now on religions to explain their raison d’être.” Without getting into too much detail, I would have to disagree with the assertion that there is a plethora of data. There have been numerous criticisms of the evolutionary theory raised by many scientists. One of the major movements in origin science has been the Intelligent Design movement.

These scientists have criticized some of the supposed “facts” of evolution and have pointed out that there is too much chance involved in evolution to deny the existence of some outside force involved in starting it and maintaining it. That is, of course, presuming that evolution is a fact.

A number of scientists are very skeptical that macro-evolution (often called “pond-scum-to-people evolution”) exists. Many of them admit that there exists so-called “micro-evolution” (such as the change in the finches on Galapagos surveyed by Darwin) but point out that this is not really evolution. Evolution involves the creation of new DNA information that is not present in the case of the finches. I don’t have space to go into detail, so I would refer others to either www.icr.org or www.answersingenesis.org, two creationist sites, for more information.

Defant also criticizes the Bible. He asked the questions, “Where did the water come from to cover the entire Earth during Noah’s flood? How did the sons of Adam and Eve give rise to the human race? Incest with their mother?”

The first question involves too much detail, so I would refer to one of the aforementioned Web sites. The second one would have been easily understood if Defant had read the Bible he criticizes. The Bible is clear that Adam and Eve also had daughters. Genesis 5:4 states, “And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters.” Clearly Adam’s sons procreated with his daughters. I know it sounds strange, but due to the relatively new state of the gene pool, there would have likely been no resulting deformities in the children. For more detail, just search for it on one of the two Web sites.

My next challenge to Professor Defant’s letter is on the issues of the formation of democracy in the United States. The Declaration of Independence clearly states that all men are “created” equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

To quote Thomas Jefferson, “God who gave us life, gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?…” Clearly the founders believed that the justification for democracy came from the inherent rights given to men by God.

My last criticism is of Defant’s claim that religion is the source of most of the conflict in the world. I would agree. However, I would also consider atheism to be a religion as well because it supposes a belief about God (that he does not exist) and truth. Atheism is one of the roots of the horrible human rights violations that occurred, and still occur, in communist countries. What natural rights does a man have if there is no higher power above him that gives them to him? If there is no God, who is to say that it is wrong to violate a person’s rights? Because many people believe that it is wrong? That is just their opinion, right? Unfortunately that’s the ultimate consequence of atheism.

Adam Fowler is a junior at USF.