Worlds Apart

Posted in: News By House Divided on August 7, 2019

Rabies! Central Florida has already had two rabies alerts this summer. Today, rabies is not as terrifying as it’s been in the past. Before the 1880’s, however, a person who contracted rabies faced a certain, terrible death.

Today, few Americans know the heart-warming story of the man who discovered the cure for rabies or how his scientific discoveries are at the center of American’s political differences.

On July 6th, 1885 Luis Pasteur – the father of microbiology – received an unexpected visit at his research laboratory in Paris, France. A nine year old boy, Joseph Meister, escorted by his mother, was brought to Pasteur. The boy had been bitten 14 times by his neighbor’s rabid dog. His mother knew her son faced certain death.

Pasteur had been searching for a cure for rabies. He had developed a vaccine that had saved the lives of 50 dogs, but he didn’t know whether his treatment would work on humans. Pasteur described his dilemma – to inject or not inject the boy with the vaccine: “As the death of this child appeared inevitable, I decided, not without deep and severe unease, to try on Joseph the procedure which had worked consistently in dogs”.

This boy was the first person to receive Pasteur’s experimental rabies treatment. The result? The boy survived! On Pasteur’s tombstone are engraved these words: Joseph Meister Lived.

During his life, Pasteur made many important scientific discoveries, including developing the process of “pasteurization” which is widely used in the dairy and food processing industries for food safety and preservation. But one discovery is often overlooked…and it’s at the heart of what divides us a nation.

In Pasteur’s day, the theory of spontaneous generation – or abiogenesis- was widely accepted among leading scientists. They believed that “all life [is] from life”.

How could this scientific discovery, made over 100 years ago, be at the core of what’s dividing Americans? Because it forces us to make a pivotal choice effecting how we view ourselves, others and our world. It compels us to wrestle with life’s ultimate questions.

Today, all scientists agree that at one time, there was no life on planet earth. How did life emerge? This is known as the Origins of Life question.

One origin of life theory scientists have eliminated from consideration is evolution. By definition, the theory of evolution – or natural selection- only relates to genetic changes in the characteristics of living creatures over time. Evolution does not apply to questions concerning the origins of life.

Francis Crick was a molecular biologist who won the Nobel Prize for his discoveries involving DNA. At his death in 2004, Crick was hailed as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th Century. Crick, an atheist, refused to accept the Law of Biogenesis. Instead, he believed the emergence of life on earth was the result of a “frozen accident”. In response, Astronomer Fred Hoyle said the probability that life arose accidentally from non-living matter was the same as “…the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747”.

Americans once considered it a “self-evident truth” that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Today, a sizable majority of those who identify as Republicans still hold to these beliefs. On the other hand, Pew Research suggests at least one-third of those who identify as Democrats –and that party’s most politically active members – reject this view. People holding these conflicting beliefs may be next door neighbors but, in a sense, they are worlds apart.

“The more I study nature,” Pasteur said, “the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator.” Is mankind the work of the Creator or the “accidental collocation of atoms”? Were we made on purpose for a purpose, or are we “lucky mud”? Were we made by Someone for Someone, or are we merely “dust in the wind”?

You choose.