(Ohio) State panel backs disputed lesson, infuriates supporters of evolution

Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ | 2/11/04 | Scott Stephens

[PatrickHenry]

Your perception (about evolution being a science) is sadly, wrong.

Is Evolution Science?
29+ Evidences for Macroevolution: The Scientific Case for Common Descent.

[Stone Mountain]

Your beliefs are based on a set of assumptions, in which you place your faith. Same here, just different assumptions.

Actually, no. The difference is that in science, those assumptions are challengable and can change if evidence comes up to support a change in those assumptions. Basing all your assumptions on a pre-written text is very different - it provides no mechanism to deal with conflict. I often hear people criticizing scientific theories because they keep changing. As we say in computer science, that's not a bug, it's a feature!

Note that I'm not defending evolutionary theory or any other scientific theory in the preceding paragraph. Just explaining the difference in assumptions used by scientists as opposed to assumptions from religious-based beliefs.

[balrog666]

Basing all your assumptions on a pre-written text is very different - it provides no mechanism to deal with conflict.

Basing all your assumptions on a literal interpretation of a Bronze Age text is very different - it provides no mechanism to deal with conflict.

[whattajoke]

Remember DarwinCentral Agents, do NOT, under any circumstances, disparage the great northern state of Ohio. We must reserve state bashing to Dixie states only.

(If you don't get it, you had to be there).

[PatrickHenry]

Thank you for calling Darwin Central! Please choose from one of the following options:

To tell us that evolution is "just a theory," press 1.
To tell us there's no evidence of transitional species, press 2.
To tell us the odds against evolution are "proof" that it's impossible, press 3.
To tell us that we're all commies, nazis, or atheists, press 4.
To tell us that evolution is a faith-based religion or a Satanic plot, press 5.
To tell us that we have a naturalistic, materialistic worldview, press 6.
To tell us about Piltdown Man, press 7.
To recite from the book of Genesis, press 8.
To read us something from a Jack Chick comic, press 9.
To tell us you accept micro evolution, but not macro evolution, press 0.
To tell us we can't prove the origin of life, press the pound sign.
To speak to a live evolutionist, please stay on the line.

To listen to these choices again, hang up and redial. And thank you for calling Darwin Central.

[Dementon]

But he would have said it, not written it.

Maybe he was dictating...

[metacognative]

You need to spend some study time on what the new science actually reveals about darwinite beliefs, and less on suspicions about their motives.

[antiRepublicrat]

You need to spend some study time on what the new science actually reveals about darwinite beliefs, and less on suspicions about their motives.

I already have. Original ID died out almost 150 years ago when it was displaced by evolution. Neo-ID sprouted from American creationists who couldn't get their religious beliefs taught in public schools due to separation issues, and therefore tried to turn their religious beliefs into a non-religious pseudo-theory they hoped would be accepted.

The ID movement is mainly aimed at attacking evolution theory. This is evident in the proposed curriculum. That in itself casts doubts on the veracity of the claims. Evolution gained strength simply on its own merits, pushing ID to extinction by ignoring it and offering a better solution, not attacking it.

[Modernman]

The ID movement is mainly aimed at attacking evolution theory.

Trojan Horse Placemarker

[metacognative]

Have you read any of Philip E. Johnson's books? How about Michael Denton?

[Saturnalia]

Great, I friggen LIVE there and now they pull something like this?
Why is it these people don't seem to think professors and scientists
are experts in their field? They didn't spend all that time at
evil medical school for a title...

[ThinkPlease]

You need to spend some study time on what the new science actually reveals about darwinite beliefs, and less on suspicions about their motives.

You appear to be more knowledgeable about ID than I might be. Is there a testable ID theory with predictive power that has actually been rigorously applied to the biological sciences?

[whattajoke]

You give them far too much credit:

and therefore tried to turn their religious beliefs into a non-religious pseudo-theory they hoped would be accepted. [ID, that is]

It's not even a "pseudo-theory..." more of a "totally bs unscholarly pipedream."

[VadeRetro]

You need to spend some study time on what the new science actually reveals about darwinite beliefs, and less on suspicions about their motives.

Your "new science" is the "old creationism."

[RightWingNilla]

Board member Martha Wise of Avon, who opposes the lesson plan, said support for the measure reflects a turnover on the board that has left it more conservative than the body that approved the state’s science standards 14 months ago.

The creatinoid albatross just keeps getting fatter.

[js1138]

fat placemarker

[VadeRetro]

The creatinoid albatross just keeps getting fatter.

Not that many people are following the controversy now, but an the assault on education in Ohio will only help the liberals in the long run.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

God can't be the designer. That would be blasphemy.

I've been wearing glasses since I was 12, I can hardly run a quarter mile because my knees hurt so much, and I've been having spasms in my back for 35 years.

If we were designed, we were designed by an idiot.

[RightWingNilla]

If we were designed, we were designed by an idiot.

Yeah, and what the hell are all these dead viruses doing in my genome!?!

[RightWingNilla]

This is mind-boggling. What are they putting in the water in Ohio?

They might as well be teaching kids this.