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Evolution of creationism: Pseudoscience doesn't stand up to natural selection
Daytona Beach News-Journal ^ | 29 November 2004 | Editorial (unsigned)

Posted on 11/29/2004 6:52:41 AM PST by PatrickHenry

In a poll released last week, two-thirds of Americans said they wanted to see creationism taught to public-school science pupils alongside evolution. Thirty-seven percent said they wanted to see creationism taught instead of evolution.

So why shouldn't majority rule? That's democracy, right?

Wrong. Science isn't a matter of votes -- or beliefs. It's a system of verifiable facts, an approach that must be preserved and fought for if American pupils are going to get the kind of education they need to complete in an increasingly global techno-economy.

Unfortunately, the debate over evolution and creationism is back, with a spiffy new look and a mass of plausible-sounding talking points, traveling under the seemingly secular name of "intelligent design."

This "theory" doesn't spend much time pondering which intelligence did the designing. Instead, it backwards-engineers its way into a complicated rationale, capitalizing on a few biological oddities to "prove" life could not have evolved by natural selection.

On the strength of this redesigned premise -- what Wired Magazine dubbed "creationism in a lab coat" -- school districts across the country are being bombarded by activists seeking to have their version given equal footing with established evolutionary theory in biology textbooks. School boards in Ohio, Georgia and most recently Dover, Pa., have all succumbed.

There's no problem with letting pupils know that debate exists over the origin of man, along with other animal and plant life. But peddling junk science in the name of "furthering the discussion" won't help their search for knowledge. Instead, pupils should be given a framework for understanding the gaps in evidence and credibility between the two camps.

A lot of the confusion springs from use of the word "theory" itself. Used in science, it signifies a maxim that is believed to be true, but has not been directly observed. Since evolution takes place over millions of years, it would be inaccurate to say that man has directly observed it -- but it is reasonable to say that evolution is thoroughly supported by a vast weight of scientific evidence and research.

That's not to say it's irrefutable. Some day, scientists may find enough evidence to mount a credible challenge to evolutionary theory -- in fact, some of Charles Darwin's original suppositions have been successfully challenged.

But that day has not come. As a theory, intelligent design is not ready to steal, or even share, the spotlight, and it's unfair to burden children with pseudoscience to further an agenda that is more political than academic.


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: creationism; crevolist; darwin; evolution; unintelligentdesign
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To: NewLand; GarySpFc
Quote? I know a few quotes. Here is a quote from the quote ‘mine’:
…Hitler was a creationist… .
-patrickhenry

641 posted on 11/29/2004 6:55:06 PM PST by Heartlander
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To: PatrickHenry
Hey, PH. That's a great find.

Need to use that when the Creationists try the "guilt by association" arguments like Piltdown, etc.

642 posted on 11/29/2004 6:58:27 PM PST by narby
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To: Heartlander

oh, the hypocrisy! so sad...


643 posted on 11/29/2004 7:03:53 PM PST by NewLand (God Bless America and God Bless President Bush!)
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To: cainin04
The original point of the discussion was that other theories should not be taught in school. I am totally open to marco-evolution being taught as a theory, but the other major idea that explains how "species" came to exist should be taught as well--ID.

What does ID predict, how can these predictions be tested and what hypothetical observation would falsify the "theory"?
644 posted on 11/29/2004 7:05:02 PM PST by Dimensio (Join the Monthly Internet Flash Mob: http://www.aa419.org)
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To: PatrickHenry

I welcome hitting the abuse button. I likewise shall do the same with your threats.


645 posted on 11/29/2004 7:08:29 PM PST by GarySpFc (Sneakypete, De Oppresso Liber)
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To: NewLand
…Jonestown = creationism… .
-patrickhenry

646 posted on 11/29/2004 7:08:51 PM PST by Heartlander
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To: Heartlander
…Jonestown = creationism… . -patrickhenry

Are you trying to imply that statment is incorrect?? Why do you continue to lie for the lord?

647 posted on 11/29/2004 7:10:55 PM PST by balrog666 (The invisible and the nonexistent look very much alike.)
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To: balrog666
You say that like there's something wrong with infanticide!?.
- balrog666

648 posted on 11/29/2004 7:16:21 PM PST by Heartlander
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To: Heartlander

Oh the webs we weave. :)


649 posted on 11/29/2004 7:16:28 PM PST by Michael_Michaelangelo (The best theory is not ipso facto a good theory.)
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To: Heartlander

Don't drink the Kool-Aid of Creationism!

650 posted on 11/29/2004 7:18:30 PM PST by balrog666 (The invisible and the nonexistent look very much alike.)
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To: Dimensio
Not that you've bothered to support this assertion.

Nope and I'm not going to bother - lots of people lots more competent than me have already done that. I've read the books on both sides, listened to the evolution-creation debates and attended the lectures, followed the threads here as they come up. To 'support the assertion' means what? Produce my own book on the subject and be prepared to spend the next day/week/year defending it? Don't have the time. Supply one unbeatable 'proof'? People are always looking at 2 plus 2 and making all kinds of concessions to logic to come up with 5 - the willingly ignorant. Sorry but I've weighed lots of evidence produced by both sides and evolution was found to be wanting - and the evolutionists squirming at all kinds of questions that give the creationists no problem. And every day more evidence arises - did you see the thread here the other day about halos? It would appear that members on both sides have already made their minds up and nothing much will change them anyway - and if you want to say 'sounds like you fall into that category too' I will say yup, tis true. I do know of a number of evolutionists like Gary Parker that became creationists - none that went in the other direction. You can let me know if you know any. I will only say that it seems that every day I notice something that tells me the earth is much younger than the evolutionists try to tell me - and degrading very rapidly at a rate that doesn't compute with any billions of years theory.

'Ban both evolutionary and creation teaching from the public classroom.' Great idea. Ban the teaching of evolution, because it makes people uncomfortable!

Nope, ban the teaching of evolution because it's nonsense and can't be supported. Can you name one thing you know for sure about what you believe about evolution? Here let me offer a slightly different challenge to you. I believe in the creation account because the Bible has consistently proved itself to be absolutely error-free in all areas which lend themselves to being proven or disproven. Since it has proved to be absolutely true (in those areas which lend themselves), why shouldn't I believe it for those areas which don't lend themselves? Here's your challenge - find me one irrefutable error in the Bible period. You see, if you can prove that, you really have something because a single error means that nothing else can be trusted either including the creation account (because the Bible claims to be inspired by God and therefore is infallible). Should be easy, right? Good luck in your travels.

I'm sorry, but I do hope that you're not serious, because that is truly one of the more disgusting sentiments that I've heard in these discussions.

Of course I'm serious and just so that I'm clear about where you are coming from, could you be more specific about why you think it's such a disgusting sentiment? Let me ask you - the next time you go to your eye doctor, are you going to insist on knowing if he/she is an evolutionist or a creationist? Gee, based on your response, I would assume that you think it's something very important to figuring out whether your optometrist is competent. Clearly there are some branches of science where dealing with origins is necessary - but that doesn't take away from my assertion that for about 99% of science, it's totally irrelevant.

651 posted on 11/29/2004 7:20:06 PM PST by Asfarastheeastisfromthewest...
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To: Heartlander

The force of gravity is invisible.


652 posted on 11/29/2004 7:21:12 PM PST by AndrewC (New Senate rule -- Must vote on all Presidential appointments period certain.)
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To: PatrickHenry


653 posted on 11/29/2004 7:21:58 PM PST by balrog666 (The invisible and the nonexistent look very much alike.)
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To: Junior
Mithraism and Christianity formed about the same time.

Mithraism Predates Christianity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithras

Mithras was the central savior god of Mithraism, a syncretic Hellenistic mystery religion of male initiates that developed in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and was practiced in the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD. Parthian coins and documents bear a double date with a 64 year interval that represents Mithra's ascension to heaven, traditionally given as the equivalent of 208 BC, 64 years after his birth.

654 posted on 11/29/2004 7:22:14 PM PST by qam1 (McGreevy likes his butts his way, I like mine my way - so NO SMOKING BANS in New Jersey)
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To: Heartlander

Nekkid quarks are invisible


655 posted on 11/29/2004 7:23:11 PM PST by AndrewC (New Senate rule -- Must vote on all Presidential appointments period certain.)
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To: Doc Savage

I consider evolution (Darwin's Origin of Species) to be a theory about how the families of species came to be. It is not my religion. The trouble I have with Intel Design, is that - while it proposes that there is an alternative to natural selection and evolution to explain this mystery, ID doesn't tell us what it is in a way that can be understood by science. The theory of evolution may only be part of the solution, but I'm sure one day we'll know more.


656 posted on 11/29/2004 7:23:28 PM PST by eagle11 (IQ (FR) > IQ (DU))
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To: DouglasKC
The point being that surely someone should be able to make a fruit fly change evolve into something other than a fruit fly. Yet it hasn't happened. Why?

It's because of where you're setting the bar. To stop being fruit flies, a population would have to speciate, genus-ate, and then family-ate.

Fruit Fly:

common name for any of the flies of the families Tephritidae and Drosophilidae.
It might have to actually go a taxon higher than that (order), since the term "fruit fly" encompasses two families now. Speciations have been observed. That's more than what creationists usually admit as possible.
657 posted on 11/29/2004 7:24:31 PM PST by VadeRetro (Nothing means anything when you go to Hell for knowing what things mean.)
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To: Heartlander
I see you've been hearing plenty of these...

658 posted on 11/29/2004 7:24:50 PM PST by NewLand (God Bless America and God Bless President Bush!)
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To: AndrewC

Shhhhh!!! ; )


659 posted on 11/29/2004 7:25:35 PM PST by Heartlander
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To: Heartlander

Don't waste your time there...


660 posted on 11/29/2004 7:26:58 PM PST by NewLand (God Bless America and God Bless President Bush!)
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