: Lark, gotta ask: What is the difference between an "entrenched view" and a "prejudice"??? Seem mighty similar to me.Now that depends at face value, granted they do apear similar, but if you really consider it you can have entrenched moderation which is different from entrenched extremism. I mean you could have an entrenched/militant secularism in public life and it would be very different from the zionist, islamist or 'Christian' authorities of some nations.
Entrenchment can be good, it can serve to promote freedom for all even the minority where as prejudice generally is directed a subverting such a scenario.
: Regarding Evolution: anyone can see powerful, rather undeniable evidence of it in one little action common to most, if not all, mammals. Observe your dog (or cat) when you offer it a tidbit of food: it will flick its tongue out-and-back quickly. It seems lions, bears, horses, rabbits, etc., do exactly the same thing. It is body language for "I want that". Now, when was the last time YOU saw a delectable morsel and licked YOUR lips in anticipation? Hardly a useful or essential act for humans or animals, is it? So why is it an involuntary response. We weren't trained to do it. So it must be instinctive - genetic, that is. Since at least many mammals do it, the genetic basis must have originated in some earlier life form. And there you have pretty darned good proof of Evolution.
I'm not opposed to the notion of evolution, it is preferable to the ignorance of lieteral beleif in religious stories which are being proved everyday through the discover of new evidence should really be considered as allegories or even the simplistic view that things happen by chance.
I'm really more opposed the ideas of struggle and survival of the fittest/strongest/most brutal in neo-Darwinism or contemporary evolutionary theory anyone can see the one thing that ensures survival is mutual aid and the innovation allowed as a result of mutual aid.
: Then you can go off the deep end and observe that snakes and some other reptiles flick their tongues constantly when searching for food. Y'think? Naaaah!
Er.
