Eden

What a beautiful name, huh? Eden. Nice girl dog name. Of course, what comes to mind with that word, for someone raised Catholic, is the name of God's garden for Adam and Eve. These days, I've dismissed the obvious inaccuracies of that story because I thought it was told as a simplified explanation of how mankind came to be. But if you think about it, the story is kind of dramatic. If God the Creator is so passionate and forgiving, then why didn't he give Adam and Eve a second chance for them to prove their loyalty? All they did was eat a piece of fruit. To destroy the paradise of Eden because of that? I think you're going a little overboard there, God...
It seems like Eden was the victim while Eve was used as a scapegoat to justify God's wrath that his children obeyed him. But I'm into conspiracy theories sometimes. Guilty pleasure. It's because I love drama.
It never really occurred to me the severity of this story until yesterday. Yes, I know there are people my age who actually believe Adam and Eve existed, detail to detail with the Bible, but I never assumed any of them were intelligent enough to be students at the University of Wisconsin. Then last night, there was a Badger who told me he doesn't "believe in dinosaurs". What? How? He seemed capable of receiving good grades in school, but he was nonetheless a miseducated Christian who clearly wasn't in any UW life sciences departments. You can bet that nobody who truly appreciates science can deny evolution. But it's dangerous not to appreciate science. Because it can lead to ridiculous beliefs that are taken as facts by the general public.
I have a few theories as to why there are people who still literally believe in the Garden of Eden as opposed to what science tells us, and how they're tied in with our struggle for social justice. This will be my blog for those theories. Women, get ready. Men, get ready. You're going to hear a lot of free speech from Harper Phillips.

This is a fantastic musical. Good music, and it really
challenges what we thought we knew about the Old
Testament. Musicals can change people's minds about
a particular subject, that's why I love them!