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."
Mine is not a variation on the assertion that God created the universe with an apparant history.
It is based on Physics and Scriptures. If you really want to know more you can find it at Freeper Views on Origins
"Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence."
Confucianism. Mencius VII.A.4
"A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated. "
Jainism. Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Dear Wendy,
As you know, We've been working real hard in our town to get prayer back in our schools. Finally, the school board approved a plan of teacher-led prayer with the children participating at their own option. Children not wishing to participate were to be allowed to stand out in the hallway during prayer time. We hoped someone would sue us so we could go all the way to the Supreme Court and get the old devil-inspired ruling reversed.
Naturally, we were all excited by the school board action. As you know, our own little Billy (not so little, any more though) is now in the second grade. Of course, Frank and I explained to him no matter what the other kids did, he was going to stay in the classroom and participate.
After the first day of school, I asked him "how did the prayer time go?"
"Fine.
"Did many kids go out into the hallway?"
"Two.
"Excellent. How did you like your teachers prayer?"
"It was different. Real different from the way you and Dad pray."
"Oh? Like how?"
"She said,'Hail Mary mother of God, pray for us sinners...'"
The next day I talked with the principal. I politely explained that I wasn't prejudiced against Catholics but I would appreciate Billy being transferred to a non-Catholic teacher. The principal said it would be done right away.
At supper that evening I asked Billy to say the blessings. He slipped out of his chair, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, raised his hand palms up in the air and began to hum.
You'd better believe I was at the principal's office at eight o'clock the next morning. "Look," I said. 'I don't really know much about these Transcendental Meditationists, but I would feel a lot more comfortable If you could move Billy to a room where the teacher practices an older, more established religion.
That afternoon I met Billy as soon as he walked in the door after school.
"I don't think you're going to like Mrs. Nakasone's prayer, either, Mom."
"Out with it."
"She kept calling O Great Buddha..."
The following morning I was waiting for the principal in the school parking lot.
"Look, I don't want my son praying to the Eternal Spirit or whatever to Buddha. I want him to have a teacher who prays in Jesus' name!"
"What about Bertha Smith?"
"Excellent."
I could hardly wait to hear about Mrs. Smith's prayer. I was standing on the front steps of the school when the final bell rang.
"Well?" I asked Billy as we walked towards the car.
"Okay."
"Okay what?"
"Mrs. Smith asked God to bless us and ended her prayer in Jesus' name, amen just like you and Dad do."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Now we're getting some place."
"She even taught us a verse of scripture about prayer," said Billy.
I beamed. "Wonderful. What was the verse?"
"Lets see..." he mused for a moment. "And behold, they began to pray; and they did pray unto Jesus, calling him their Lord and their God."
We had reached the car. "Fantastic," I said reaching for the door handle. Then paused. I couldn't place the scripture.
"Billy, did Mrs. Smith say what book that verse was from?"
"Third Nephi, chapter 19, verse 18."
"Nephi what?"
"Nephi," he said. "It's in the Book of Mormon.
The school board doesn't meet for a month. I've given Billy very definite instructions that at prayer time each day he's to go out into the hallway. I plan to be at that board meeting. If they don't do something about this situation, I'LL sue. I'LL take it all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to. I don't need schools or anybody else teaching my son about religion. We can take care of that ourselves at home and at church, thank you very much.
Your sister,
Elizabeth
Your assertion does not prove your assertion. It is perfectly possible to establish a coherent mathematical scheme in which we are on the inner surface of a sphere and the universe extends towards the center of the sphere. Such exercises can burn a bit of computer tim getting all the physical laws adjusted, but they contribute little to understanding.
Does your expansion model make any pridictions that would differ from the predictions of ordinary physics -- for example does it predict anything along the lines of cosmic background radiation or the polarization thereof, that cannot be accomodated by traditional theories. If so, are your predictions quantified and on the table for confirmation or disconfirmation?
And BTW, I didn't say that Laplace did not believe in a god, only that he didn't need a supernatural explanation in his works. And the same is true for many scientist after him.
The golden rule does not exist in all societies. It is strictly Christian.
Do a google search, and I am sure you will find versions of the golden rule from virtually every society that has had a recorded philosophy. -- I once saw a list here on FR of close to a hundred such examples.
Hi B. Rabbit! Either we are going to have a rule of law -- i.e., follow what the Constitution says -- or we are going to have a rule of men. The federal Constitution says nothing about having Bible classes -- or Gaia worship -- in the public schools. The public schools are supposed to be under local governance; therefore state constitutions would apply to these questions.
I imagine that if a majority of citizens in a local community wanted to have religious instruction in their public schools (which I personally think is a bad idea, and would probably be in the minority on this question) then, unless the state constitution prohibits this (and it probably does), they should be free to make whatever arrangements they deem appropriate. Remember, ours is supposed to be a system of self-government under law.
Note the above refers to formal religious class instruction in public schools. The issue of invocations or prayer at public school functions such as graduations, sporting events, etc., is another question altogether. But certainly the "free exercise" of religion cannot be said to be "free" if it must confine itself to a closet; i.e., if it is prohibited from voluntary expression in public venues.
Of course, this is only the way our constitutional system is supposed to function. The reality is far different; for the federal government has a ton of "bribe money" to make sure that local public schools do things "the fed way." But also please remember -- the Constitution does not give the federal government any mandate whatever to interject itself into public education matters. If it does so, it is acting without constitutional warrant; i.e., it is acting unconstitutionally.
One last point: If such decisions were in fact left up to the local community, acting according to state law, then the issue of Gaia Worship of Satanism would probably not even come up. Outside of Cambridge, Mass., or Berkeley, Calif., it would be difficult (I imagine) to come up with a majority that would consider such "religions." Thus -- if left to the people -- the issue is, for all practical purposes, moot. The LAST thing you want is the federal government defining/deciding this issue for you.
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