The Simpsons Takes on Evolution

If, like me, you weren’t able to see The Simpsons Sunday night, you can view most of the episode here (hat tip to Pharyngula). In brief, Ned Flanders convinces Reverend Lovejoy to intimidate Principal Skinner into “teaching the controversy” at Springfield Elementary. Lisa Simpson objects, but her activism fires when the city of Springfield passes a law banning the teaching of evolution. When Lisa is caught leading an underground resistance movement, she finds herself on trial for supporting the teaching of evolution.

Although I grew up on it, I haven’t really watched much of The Simpsons in recent years. Lately, this has been due mostly to my living overseas and not watching much television anyway. Before then, though, I think it was clear that the show had lost quite a bit of its earlier magic. Despite this, I thought this episode was hilarious and fairly clever, capturing many of the subtleties of the evolution/creationism debate—from slick creationist ploys to boring scientists who tend to shoot themselves in the foot.

Here’s my favorite quote:

Ned Flanders: We want you to teach alternative theories to Darwinian evolution.

Principal Skinner: You mean Lamarckian evolution?

Reverend Lovejoy: No! The Adam and Eve one!

Note: Not to be outdone, Family Guy gave its take on the issue as well.