[COLUMN] Creationism is not science

According to Plato, it was Empedocles (circa 490-430 B.C.) who first enumerated what would later become the Four Elements. The list, what Empedocles called the Four Roots, consisted of Fire, Air, Earth and Water. It was generally believed that everything in the universe consisted of these Four Elements.

These elements, with some modifications depending on when and where you lived, dominated philosophical, religious and scientific thought for more than 1,000 years. It wasn't until the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution that the Four Elements was finally replaced by a more accurate periodic table of elements.

Of course, Enlightenment scientists had access to resources of which Empedocles could not even imagine. Still, Empedocles reasonably used the resources he had available to theorize about the universe. Later scientists, using more modern techniques, were able to create better theories and laws about the nature of the universe, a turn of events that Empedocles, as a man of reason, would have welcomed.

That is how science works. Every discovery strengthens an existing theory, changes an existing theory, or debunks an existing theory.

Comparatively, evangelical Christians take an ancient creation and flood story penned by an unknown Middle Eastern Jewish priest some 3,000 years ago and accept that fable as history, science, and the unerring word of God all wrapped into one. Such thinking defies reason and ignores 3,000 years of editing and translating. As an editor, I can tell you that 3,000 years worth of rewrites can seriously alter a story.

[COLUMN] A right to die with dignity

AP Photo/CBS

In this image taken from video and released by CBS, Dr. Jack Kevorkian is shown during an interview with Mike Wallace at a Battle Creek, Mich., hotel, Friday. Kevorkian's first interview since being paroled earlier Friday morning will air on "60 Minutes," this evening.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian's release from a Michigan prison Friday and a planned California vote this week are bringing the issue of physician-assisted suicide back to the forefront, where it belongs.

For more than eight years, the government kept Kevorkian, prisoner No. 284797, in a cage because he behaved humanely. In essence, Kevorkian, 79, was a political prisoner, prosecuted for his humanity.

It is simply inhumane for government to prevent terminally ill patients from safely and humanely ending their lives. In fact, it is wrong for government to prevent anyone from safely and humanely ending his or her life. However, when it comes to the terminally ill, it is downright Draconian to force people to continue living in pain if they wish to die. We do not even force that fate on animals.

Kevorkian, who reportedly is dying from hepatitis C he contracted during the Vietnam War, is the perfect example of how powerful and dangerous government in this country has become. In a free society, you can have no crime worth imprisonment if you have no victims. Kevorkian's patients requested his services; he did not simply kill people randomly. The septuagenarian was obviously no threat to society.