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Young Earth Creationist Attack on the New Texas Earth and Space Science Course
Texas Citizens for Science ^ | January 15, 2009 | Steven Schafersman, Ph.D.

Posted on 01/19/2009 9:42:35 PM PST by Coyoteman

The new Earth and Space Science (ESS) course standards (and all other science course standards) will be up for approval before the State Board of Education (SBOE) during January 21-23. Some SBOE members--the seven who are Young Earth Creationists (YECs)--will attempt to make changes to the ESS standards in ways that will damage the scientific integrity and accuracy of the course. In particular, these SBOE members will try to negatively modify or delete the standards that require students to understand the following topics that deal with scientific topics they consider controversial: age of the Earth and universe, radiometric dating, evolution of fossil life, and the origin of life by abiotic chemical processes. These topics are the ones that YECs consider to be controversial; indeed, they are obsessed with them to the exclusion of everything else.

Continues...

(Excerpt) Read more at texscience.org ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: evolution
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To: only1percent

The conservative party is just fine- the american people voted for obama because htey want their mamma- They want government ot pay for everything, to bail them out, to take care of everyone, and obama played on that and one- plain and simple- republicans lost for no other reason than that (Except people didn’t think we should have saved millions of lives in Iraq and here in the US by fightign terrorism- the mainstream media was instrumental in turnign american pride into one of ‘to hell with htem, horray for me and only me’ attitude!)


101 posted on 01/20/2009 9:00:45 PM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: only1percent

When Americans start to wake up fro mtheir obama worship, and start to feel the pinch he is abotu to give us all, they’ll start to realize they were lied to, and will see him as just another democrat. They’ll be like “Wha....Wha.....Wha.... you expect ME to pay for your overinflated spending orgy to ‘fix America”? Are you nuts?” and the dems will once again lose the whitehouse because Americans will see their true colors as the tax and spend liberals who are logn on promisses, and short on answers, and they’ll be after each one of us to foot their wild spending orgy that’s already begun.

Just wait until the dems enact the ‘carbon tax’- that one is goign to cost us dearly- (Fixing a problem that both isn’t a problem, and isn’t our doing either)


102 posted on 01/20/2009 9:05:08 PM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: CottShop
Spellcheck is your friend.

Unless you are joining me in the BUSHmills'...

Cheers! *hic*

103 posted on 01/20/2009 9:07:03 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: grey_whiskers

I look forward to your insights, dear grey_whiskers!


104 posted on 01/20/2009 9:10:28 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: GunRunner

This thread is posted in the Chat Forum and therefore the Religion Forum guidelines do not apply here.


105 posted on 01/20/2009 9:13:14 PM PST by Religion Moderator
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To: Religion Moderator; editor-surveyor

But is editor-surveyor correct in his assertion that “[Jim Robinson] has stated that he will not allow anyone to post against his core Christian beliefs”?


106 posted on 01/20/2009 9:21:01 PM PST by GunRunner
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To: GunRunner; metmom

See post #4...with your endelss red herrings and endless strawmen.

Pre-NEA, before God was kicked out, alchemy wasn’t taught alongside chemistry.

That’s dishonest on your part to bring that silliness up. It’s all your ilk ever offers.

You can post here a 1000 years before me, but you’re clearly, by your own behavior, a liberal when it comes to this issue.

You can’t help yourself, and you are what you are.


107 posted on 01/20/2009 9:21:23 PM PST by tpanther (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing---Edmund Burke)
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To: tpanther; metmom
You can post here a 1000 years before me, but you’re clearly, by your own behavior, a liberal when it comes to this issue.

According to whom? You?

How about a guy that debates Dawkins and Hitchens in public forums? He actually puts his money where his mouth is. I think most conservatives would take D'Souza over you any day of the week:

http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2007/05/04/why-darwin-scares-conservatives-when-he-shouldnt/

"Darwin's theory actually supports conservative positions in all kinds of interesting ways. First, Darwin gives a dark and selfish view of human nature, which is why we need a tough foreign policy to deal with bad guys who cannot be talked out of their badness--even if U.N. cocktails are served. In addition, the selfishness in human nature warrants a system called capitalism which channels this self-orientation toward the material betterment of society."

"It gets better. Darwin shows that social institutions like the family are founded in the deep human drive to reproduce and care for the young. Reproduction and self-perpetuation are the natural root of human family arrangements, which cannot be redefined as mechanisms of "self-fulfillment" without jeopardizing their biological basis and function. Consider a simple statistic: when divorced moms remarry or have boyfriends in the house, those surrogate parents are vastly more likely to physically and sexually abuse the children than their own parents. Darwinian theory supplies the reason: the real parent shares the same genes as the child and this forms a bond that dispels sexual attraction and discourages abuse. "Family values" are supported by modern evolutionary biology."

"I'm not saying embrace Darwinian evolution because it is politically useful. I am saying don't hastily reject a theory that has a lot of evidence going for it when it has the added merit of being politically congenial."

108 posted on 01/20/2009 9:32:15 PM PST by GunRunner
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To: GunRunner
As far as I know, there have always been a number of non-Christians (other beliefs), agnostics and atheists posting on Free Republic.

Free Republic is clearly pro-God. Here is a recent statement to that effect.

Atheists do get into trouble on the Religion Forum when they are actively anti-God and anti-Christ with every post from thread to thread.

That makes them a "troll" to the RF just as much as a liberal would be doing the same thing on the News/Activism Forum.

But most atheist Freepers do not troll the Religion Forum. They are however attracted to certain articles, obviously.

109 posted on 01/20/2009 9:34:15 PM PST by Religion Moderator
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To: grey_whiskers

spell check is no friend of mine- We haven’t spoken for years- it borrowed money from me and never returned it so now I treat it as htough it didn’t even exist- Stinking cheating spellchekcers


110 posted on 01/20/2009 10:58:12 PM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: GunRunner; tpanther

That whole nonsense about teaching alchemy, astrology, flat earth, geocentrism, pi=3 is a strawmen argument. It’s nothing but hyperbole designed to discredit and disparage creationists.

No Christian or creationist believes in those things and portraying them as if they do is not only intellectually dishonest, it’s just plain dishonest.

For the record, though, the PUBLIC school I went to DID address those things. They are part of the history of science and as such need to be studied.

People can mock alchemy all they want, but alchemy was the accepted science of the day. We know NOW that it isn’t possible as they thought it was, but that’s because the research they did in the area demonstrated it. They learned a lot about actual chemistry through their study of it. It was not wasted research.

The teaching of creation in public schools is not going to send us back into the dark ages, it will not result in the deterioration of science standards across the country. It was taught in public schools in this country for centuries with no deleterious effect on the progress of science during that entire time.

There is simply no basis for the claim that it will hurt the science education the kids are receiving. On the contrary, evolution has had a monopoly in the school system for decades and has done the science education no good. We continue to fall behind in the world. There is simply no way to lay the blame for that at the feet of the creationists or teaching of creation in public schools, as it isn’t happening.

As a matter of fact, the private Christian schools and homeschools who do teach both creation and evolution side by side, consistently outperform the public schools in both standardized test scores and SAT/ACT scores. So much for that alleged inferior education.


111 posted on 01/21/2009 4:34:29 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: metmom
There is simply no basis for the claim that it will hurt the science education the kids are receiving. On the contrary, evolution has had a monopoly in the school system for decades and has done the science education no good. We continue to fall behind in the world. There is simply no way to lay the blame for that at the feet of the creationists or teaching of creation in public schools, as it isn’t happening.

Can you give me an example of a country that teaches creationism as science, and can objectively be shown to be "ahead of us" in science education?

112 posted on 01/21/2009 4:44:50 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: tacticalogic
Can you give me an example of a country that teaches creationism as science, and can objectively be shown to be "ahead of us" in science education?

I can’t. But I understand that the literal interpretation of the Genesis account of creationism is taught in schools in the Islamic world.
113 posted on 01/21/2009 4:55:45 AM PST by Caramelgal (My employer had a room for us to watch the Obamination. I, on the other hand had actual work to do.)
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To: Caramelgal; metmom
I can’t. But I understand that the literal interpretation of the Genesis account of creationism is taught in schools in the Islamic world.

I believe that's correct. There may be more examples that I'm not aware of, but I do know that before I take up the idea that teaching evolution instead of creation in science class is making us fall behind the rest of the world in science education, I want to see some evidence to back it up.

114 posted on 01/21/2009 5:31:56 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: tpanther
OR is your aforementioned either/or projection of extremes all about lock-step teaching, one way or the other, with no other possibility, the way you were programmed from the outset with no concept of a middle-ground?

I agree with you! We shouldn't have this either/or mentality when teaching "science." We should present astrology alongside astronomy and let the kids decide which they believe. We whould present alchemy alongside chemistry and let the kids decide which they believe. We should present creationism alongside evolutionary biology and let the kids decide which they believe.

Think how our nation's science and industry would thrive if our engineers weren't forced into the extreme lock-step of Newtonism, but were free to learn that intelligent falling is just as valid as the theory of gravity?

115 posted on 01/21/2009 6:50:15 AM PST by Bosh Flimshaw
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To: tacticalogic

Posted many times before.

Private Christian schools and homeschoolers teach creation and evolution side by side, the same thing the majority of people in this country want done as evidenced by many polls.

Plain and simple. Teaching creation in school does not hurt science education. It didn’t in the past, it doesn’t in private and homeschools which do it now.

Perhaps you could provide some evidence that teaching creation in schools would hurt the education of kids in schools. Some data would be helpful. Bear in mind, however, that the current decline the academic standards in science and math is happening concurrently with the teaching of evolution alone in public schools. Go ahead, show that creation would make it worse, instead of making unsubstantiated claims.

http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/03/americans_overwhelmingly_suppo.html

Headline: “Americans Overwhelmingly Support Teaching Scientific Challenges to Darwinian Evolution, Zogby Poll Shows” From March 2006.

http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=719

**********************************************************
Free Republic Poll on Evolution
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1706571/posts?page=63#63

**********************************************************
Creationism makes a comeback in US
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1856224/posts

***********************************************************
Teaching creation and evolution in schools
Solid research reveals American beliefs
http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v13/i2/teaching.asp

************************************************************
Survey Finds Support Is Strong For Teaching 2 Origin Theories
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E4D9143BF932A25750C0A9669C8B63

************************************************************
Public Divided on Origins of Life
http://people-press.org/report/254/religion-a-strength-and-weakness-for-both-parties

************************************************************
Americans Believe in Jesus, Poll Says (creation poll results included)
http://derekgulbranson.com/2005/01/17/americans-believe-in-jesus/
************************************************************
SAT/ACT homeschoolers:
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200105070.asp

Standardized test scores homeschoolers:
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp


116 posted on 01/21/2009 8:07:50 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: tacticalogic

Show that teaching creation in addition to evolution would cause us to fall further behind.

We are already continuing our downward spiral with creation not being in the picture. If teaching the ToE is the answer to our science education woes, then why isn’t it working?

http://www.sntp.net/education/education_stats.htm


117 posted on 01/21/2009 8:21:03 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: tpanther

Your links simply demostrate that a majority of Americans are scientifically illiterate. That’s the flaw cretards are trying to exploit. This isn’t a debate about hearing both sides like you would in a debate. This is science. Creationism isn’t science. You can dress it up and try and take creationism out of the church and put it in schools, but you can’t take the church out of creationism. Isn’t it ironic that you are allying yourself with muslim fundamentalists who have also banned evolution from being taught in certain middle eastern countries?


118 posted on 01/21/2009 9:01:04 AM PST by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: metmom
Show that teaching creation in addition to evolution would cause us to fall further behind.

Can you point to one advancement made in western science and medicine that was made possible by replacing science with religious instruction? Schools should teach science in science classes. If children are taught that a religious belief or superstition has as much scientific value as an actual scientific theory, they will be less prepared for work in that particular field.

If students who will go on to become researchers in field of communicable diseases are taught that the belief that disease is caused by demonic spirits is just as scientifically valid as germ theory, we will all suffer for it.

If students who will go on to become scientists are taught that the religious belief that the earth and all the life upon it was created wholly formed six thousand years ago is just as scientifically valid as the theory of evolution, modern cosmology, and modern geology, we will all suffer for it.

If you want to teach your children creation stories particular to your own religion, feel free to do so at your own house of worship or homeschool. No one is stopping you. Please do not, however, ask the rest of us to teach your religious ideas to our own children under the guise of "science."

119 posted on 01/21/2009 9:08:52 AM PST by Bosh Flimshaw
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To: doc30

[[Creationism isn’t science.]]

[[That’s the flaw cretards are trying to exploit.]]

[[This isn’t a debate about hearing both sides like you would in a debate. This is science.]]

[[Isn’t it ironic that you are allying yourself with muslim fundamentalists who have also banned evolution from being taught in certain middle eastern countries?]]

With ignorant statements and lies like these- no wonder we’re falling behind in our public education system- Kudos- You have demonstrated why we’re scientifically ignorant in this country. Keeep that biased opinion of yours going- and pretty soon the majority of kids will be as ignorant as your comments attempt make science out to be.


120 posted on 01/21/2009 9:14:16 AM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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