Posted on 12/11/2002 6:28:08 AM PST by A2J
By WILL SENTELL
wsentell@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
High school biology textbooks would include a disclaimer that evolution is only a theory under a change approved Tuesday by a committee of the state's top school board.
If the disclaimer wins final approval, it would apparently make Louisiana just the second state in the nation with such a provision. The other is Alabama, which is the model for the disclaimer backers want in Louisiana.
Alabama approved its policy six or seven years ago after extensive controversy that included questions over the religious overtones of the issue.
The change approved Tuesday requires Louisiana education officials to check on details for getting publishers to add the disclaimer to biology textbooks.
It won approval in the board's Student and School Standards/ Instruction Committee after a sometimes contentious session.
"I don't believe I evolved from some primate," said Jim Stafford, a board member from Monroe. Stafford said evolution should be offered as a theory, not fact.
Whether the proposal will win approval by the full state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday is unclear.
Paul Pastorek of New Orleans, president of the board, said he will oppose the addition.
"I am not prepared to go back to the Dark Ages," Pastorek said.
"I don't think state boards should dictate editorial content of school textbooks," he said. "We shouldn't be involved with that."
Donna Contois of Metairie, chairwoman of the committee that approved the change, said afterward she could not say whether it will win approval by the full board.
The disclaimer under consideration says the theory of evolution "still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life.
"Study hard and keep an open mind," it says. "Someday you may contribute to the theories of how living things appeared on earth."
Backers say the addition would be inserted in the front of biology textbooks used by students in grades 9-12, possibly next fall.
The issue surfaced when a committee of the board prepared to approve dozens of textbooks used by both public and nonpublic schools. The list was recommended by a separate panel that reviews textbooks every seven years.
A handful of citizens, one armed with a copy of Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species," complained that biology textbooks used now are one-sided in promoting evolution uncritically and are riddled with factual errors.
"If we give them all the facts to make up their mind, we have educated them," Darrell White of Baton Rouge said of students. "Otherwise we have indoctrinated them."
Darwin wrote that individuals with certain characteristics enjoy an edge over their peers and life forms developed gradually millions of years ago.
Backers bristled at suggestions that they favor the teaching of creationism, which says that life began about 6,000 years ago in a process described in the Bible's Book of Genesis.
White said he is the father of seven children, including a 10th-grader at a public high school in Baton Rouge.
He said he reviewed 21 science textbooks for use by middle and high school students. White called Darwin's book "racist and sexist" and said students are entitled to know more about controversy that swirls around the theory.
"If nothing else, put a disclaimer in the front of the textbooks," White said.
John Oller Jr., a professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, also criticized the accuracy of science textbooks under review. Oller said he was appearing on behalf of the Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian lobbying group.
Oller said the state should force publishers to offer alternatives, correct mistakes in textbooks and fill in gaps in science teachings. "We are talking about major falsehoods that should be addressed," he said.
Linda Johnson of Plaquemine, a member of the board, said she supports the change. Johnson said the new message of evolution "will encourage students to go after the facts."
You never fail to find better words for things I'm thinking. What a small, petty God is being presented here. Everyone with a skeptical mind or a shred of curiosity is damned for eternity.
I DO dispute it. My copy of Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary contains no such definition for the "Theory of Evolution"... in fact, the "Theory of Evolution" isn't even an entry.
The word "evolution" IS, on the other hand well defined, and ONE of those definitions is: "any process of formation or growth; development," which clearly can be used in reference to a wide range of subjects, e.g., the "evolution" of language, the "evolution" of culture, the "evolution" of biological entities, "evolution" of the space program, stellar "evolution," and yes, even "evolution" of the Universe, i.e., cosmological "evolution."
But neither the phrase "Theory of evolution" nor the the word "evolution" is synonymous with Cosmology, and I've never seen a competent modern science text use the phrase "Theory of Evolution" in a cosmological context.
So, in conclusion, the word "evolution" can be used to characterize any process of formation or growth; but by itself, it does not mean "the formation and growth of the Universe."
No, I'm saying the most important discoveries were made in the Christian West. Why? Because Christianity is a unifying worldview - the entire universe is ordered by God so that man can comprehend it to a certain extent. Under hinduism, buddhism, taoism, etc., there is no unified worldview, therefore, broad theories cannot develop. Simple. The Romans didn't really discover anything - they were good architects and engineers, that is about it. The Greeks did come up with some important mathematical theories (Euclidian Geometry, etc.), but the biggest theories were after Christianity took hold, after the "scientific method" was developed. Who developed that by the way? And why don't evolutionists follow it?
Exactly. A person's honor and integrity (or lack thereof) has little relation to their religious views.
Being new does not absolve you from reading the thread from the beginning. Many of us have been here for several years.
This is not a fence. There are many mansions here.
Haha. YOu are building a straw man here (the "goddidit" straw man) so you can tear it down. This is a ridiculous oversimplification of the creationist position. You have yet to explain many things I have presented to you. I ask you again: Where do human beings get their value?
"Humans breed pigs for a purpose -- making bacon.
Does that make a pig's life meaningful for the pig?"
1. No sarcasm intended. Read it again.
2. "No intrinsic value" does not mean "no value". Don't get ahead of yourself.
3. I have previously stated "I value them". I just don't value you. End of point.
3-0 for me but I guess you're used to that.
Bump to watch the evolutionists prove that they are fools.
For a fool it does.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.