Posted on 11/12/2005 4:16:49 AM PST by PatrickHenry
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on Friday called the state's new science standards a "step in the wrong direction."
Her comments follow a week in which the Kansas Board of Education adopted new science standards Tuesday that portray evolution as being in doubt and change the definition of science to allow for supernatural explanations.
In her lengthiest public comments yet on the controversy, Sebelius said she worries the changes will undermine science education and send the message that Kansas doesn't welcome high-tech firms and research. She pointed to the state's efforts to recruit bioscience companies, while the board votes to move "away from well-known, proven facts in science class."
Her comments also came as more candidates have stepped forward to challenge Board of Education members who approved the standards earlier this week.
Though the standards make no mention of creationism or intelligent design, they were sought by members of the intelligent design movement, which believes scientific evidence shows that nature was designed by a creator.
Four of the six conservative board members who voted to approve the changes are up for election next November. Moderate Republicans and Democrats are aiming to unseat conservatives, take control of the board and remove the new science standards before they go into effect in 2007.
In a closely watched race in Pennsylvania, voters in the town of Dover on Tuesday did what opponents of the intelligent design standards hope will happen here.
Voters there ousted most of that city's school board, which had voted to put intelligent design in the curriculum.
The latest two people to announce campaigns for state school board are Don Weiss, an Olathe resident, and Kent Runyan, a Pittsburg State University education professor.
Weiss will run as a Democrat against board member John Bacon, an Olathe Republican. Runyan will run as a Democrat against Republican board member Iris Van Meter. Bacon and Van Meter supported the standards.
Olathe resident Harry McDonald has already announced his plans to challenge Bacon in the primary election. Other candidates have popped up in other districts as well.
Bacon, who hasn't announced his re-election plans, said he's not concerned about his challengers and doesn't believe any political lessons from Dover, Pa., are relevant to Kansas. He said the Kansas school standards do not mandate the teaching of intelligent design like the ones in Dover. And he said he believes most Kansans will support the board's decision.
"There are holes in evolution," he said. "Any good scientist will admit to that."
Sebelius said she was "baffled" by the Board of Education's yearlong debate about evolution, and that as a Catholic who attended religious schools, she sees no contradiction between faith and scientific explanations of nature.
"I was taught that God created the universe," she said. "I was also taught science in science class."
Bacon said Sebelius doesn't understand that the board changed the standards to allow students to make up their own minds about evolution. He said worries about the changes' effects on the economy, public education and the state's reputation amount to "scare tactics."
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What the heck am I doing up at this hour?
Anyway, I hadn't thought of this angle. Corporate recruiters are going to start hearing about this from potential employees.
If you have to tell someone to drop ID then it is already too late.
Oh please, fear mongering again, as if there ever was a doubt that evolutionists could care less who is in power, they will serve whom ever FUNDS their ideology.
This is wonderful news for Intelligent Design. Sebelius is 10 steps to the left of Hillary, and will likely be her running mate.
Or else we are actually logically consistent and support people when they support our views, regardless of party. And you keep talking about all these funds; when am I going to get my share??? :)
I agree. If the hysterical shrieking on this board is any indication, Dawinism is weaker than even I thought.
Come to think of it, they were just cheering the election of Democrats in Dover Pa a few days ago. Makes one wonder why they are on a conservative forum in the first place.
Nothing like the gaping chasms in Intelligent Design.
Because we're conservatives, not idiots.
So in other words you would support Hillary Clinton if she came out for Intelligent Design?
"Come to think of it, they were just cheering the election of Democrats in Dover Pa a few days ago. Makes one wonder why they are on a conservative forum in the first place."
Actually, we were decrying the loss of those seats to Democrats. This is what happens when conservatives abandon science and reason and embrace irrationality, they get booted from office. Creationism (and it's ugly stepchild ID) makes Republicans look foolish. And rightly so. Hopefully the national Republican Party will take some notes and learn a lesson from Dover.
It's also what happens when a church embraces irrationality: people lose their faith.
That's one of the biggest reasons why, I as a Christian, want to see ID defeated.
To make my position clear -- although any creationist can and probably will, deny, spin, and ignore what I'm saying -- ID-creationism is electoral death to the conservative movement. If conservatism embraces this lunacy, then it will go down the drain, like the bozo school board in Dover. But I want conservatism to prevail. Which is why I want the republican party, at the top, to make the conscious decision to abandon the madness of creationism-ID.
For this limited purpose [quote miners will drop that opening phrase], I welcome the electoral situation in Dover [quote miners will end the sentence here], because it's in an out-of-the-way place involving only a local school board, so the loss is relatively harmless, but the lesson to be learned is vital. I hope the Republican party not only learns the lesson, but that we start applying the lesson immediately. If not, conservatism is going to be swept aside, like the idiotic school board in Dover.
"The biology teachers get the exact same salary if they teach ID or evolution. These aren't research centers, there's no extra funds for evolutionists over any other science. What we do have though are some religious people wanting to use taxpayer money to support their religion (ID/creationism)."
Oh those biology teachers are required by LAW to tell little children they are result of "common descent" mere animals. That is a "religious" ideology as there is NO evidence to show cause.
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