Posted on 05/12/2005 5:30:04 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
With its lavish illustrations of colorful, cuddly critters, "Our Family Tree" looks like the kind of book kids keep by their bedside to read again and again.
But when its St. Paul author, Lisa Westberg Peters, planned to talk about the book in classroom appearances today and Friday at a Monticello, Minn., elementary school, educators got cold feet.
"Our Family Tree" focuses on evolution, the scientific explanation for human origins that some believe contradicts biblical teachings. Peters' appearances, which were to focus on helping kids learn how to write, were canceled.
"It's a cute book. There's nothing wrong with it. We just don't need that kind of debate," said Brad Sanderson, principal at Pinewood Elementary.
Monticello's assistant superintendent, Jim Johnson, said school officials made a reasonable request of Peters to talk about writing but leave the discussion about evolution to teachers. When she refused, the visit was scuttled.
Across the country, there has been increasing opposition to teaching evolution. Peters said officials at two other Minnesota school districts have asked her not to talk about the book in visits over the past year.
The author believes that she is being censored -- something the schools deny.
"Once you start censoring, it's a slippery slope. Are geology and physics next? You have to stop it right away," said Peters, who won a Minnesota Book Award for "Our Family Tree," published in 2003.
In Kansas, the State Board of Education is expected to require that teachers tell students that evolution is controversial. Bills have been introduced in Georgia and Alabama to allow educators to question evolution in the classroom and offer alternatives.
Last year, the Grantsburg, Wis., school district drew widespread attention when a new policy urged teachers to explore alternative theories to evolution.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Let's see....imagine trying to chat with ELEVEN children running around?? heeheehee
You've never used a University telescope? Stars are absolutely observable, and observations of trajectories, eclipses and orbital paths are repeatable and predictable. I agree though that astrology for the most part, other than observing the skies for impending danger, is a "nonproductive" science, at this time.
Geology is a critical science, on the other hand.
No offense but are you really not aware that the scientific community has proved woefully inadequate at proving the "man evolved from an ape" and the "it all started with a big bang of a super dense particle" theories? It's beyond being disputed: Evolution/Big Bang has become just another religion in which a reasonable percentage of the human population earnestly believes.
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Misstatement of the concept is lying no matter how many times it's tried.
In the context of science, Evolution does not qualify as a Theory, except by "consensus" of an elite group from within the "scientific community". You can't win an argument by shouting over and over "but they say so, and they really know what they're talking about".
Even people who believe in creation have no problem observing adaptation of species to environmental changes.
Hang on while I dig through my old posts (to save breath of course.)
Evolution not only selects those that physically survive well, but it also evolves sucessful human cultures as well.
We can see that right now with liberals. Evolution predicts that those who support abortion will have less children. We see exactly that now in Europe and Russia, which I believe have more acceptance of abortion, and their populations are declining.
Evolution favors conservatives, because they reject abortion, and honor children and families. Conservatives support marriage, which has been documented to be superior for raising successful children.
Conservatives could use the theory to argue against abortion. Since it's mostly liberals who support abortion, the theory predicts that liberals will die out within a generation or two. If liberals wish to keep their political interests alive, then they'd best reject abortion, and accept hertosexual marriage.
Conservative Creationists are really missing a great opportunity.
Pretty much all scientific knowledge is inferred indirectly from observations, including the overwhelming evidence gathered that supports the theory of evolution. No-one has ever seen an electron either.
I'm used to that kind of thing. We could just send them outside :-).
Actually wikipedia was ony part of that post. The stufff on gravity I wrote personally.
Wikipedia is written by people like me. It is unreliable, but interesting.
He's apparently invoking the Anti-Evo's "Egalitarian Principle of Definitions": All definitions of a word are interchangeable and have equal applicability in all circumstances, but only when it is useful to supporting HIS argument.
The one thing that is clear is that rational discourse is impossible with those who invoke such principles.
It is really a tad dishonest to quote yourself when sourcing an argument, no? (Surely this is not an acceptable practice within the scientific community?)
RadioAstronomer is an authority on gravity. Why shouldn't he write his own material?
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