Former World Series champion and current ESPN baseball analyst Curt Schilling is a little taken aback by the furor over his recent public scrutiny of evolution.
Schilling, an outspoken conservative who campaigned on behalf of former President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), put on his science hat last month with a series of tweets that picked holes in Charles Darwin’s theory.
He dropped a link to a YouTube video that dubs evolution a “myth” and lashed out at people who questioned his understanding of the science.
“Hey clown, why don’t apes still evolve into humans if that was the path? Why doesn’t ANY..” he said to one Twitter user.
Some of the strongest pushback came from Keith Law, Schilling’s colleague at ESPN. A baseball writer for the “worldwide leader,” Law directed several tweets at Schilling in which he attempted to set the former all-star pitcher straight.
@gehrig38 @zoowithroy There are hundreds of transitional fossils on record, Curt. http://t.co/cmTiqzhtC5
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 13, 2014
@gehrig38 @zoowithroy You can’t have fossils “between” two species if one didn’t descend from the other – e.g., monkeys and humans.
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 13, 2014
Seriously, if someone says evolution is wrong because there aren’t fossils between monkeys and men, find a monkey and hit him with it.
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 13, 2014
Deadspin reported late last month that Law was suspended from using Twitter for a few days as a result of his comments on evolution, though ESPN said later that the suspension “had absolutely nothing to do with his opinions on the subject.”
Josh Krulewitz, a spokesperson for ESPN, reiterated to TPM on Monday that Law was not suspended for his views on evolution.
Schilling, who’s filled his Twitter feed lately with observations on Ferguson, said he’s surprised he wasn’t dealt a punishment, too.
“Keith Law got suspended from Twitter for publicly arguing the point I think, it certainly wasn’t for his opposing view,” Schilling wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “I like Keith, just thought it odd he’d want to publicly pick that fight, though I had zero problems with it ESPN took action. I actually thought they would suspend me as well, was expecting it.”
Schilling said he addressed the matter because his views had been mischaracterized.
“Somehow someone made it into me not believing in the Theory of Evolution? I never said it, not even close,” Schilling wrote. “I said as a Christian I understand where man came from and how, regardless of whether I can imagine it, God did it, that’s good enough for me.”
And Schilling said there was a common denominator with his harshest critics.
“I understand why non-believers get upset at this conversation, because many know in their hearts that if it’s true their future is not in good shape,” he wrote in closing. But the anger? Cussing? Every single follower I blocked had in their profile somewhere ‘Atheist’ ‘Liberal’ ‘Democrat’ or some such label.
This post has been updated.
