Posted on 02/20/2006 5:33:50 AM PST by ToryHeartland
Churches urged to back evolution By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter, St Louis
US scientists have called on mainstream religious communities to help them fight policies that undermine the teaching of evolution.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) hit out at the "intelligent design" movement at its annual meeting in Missouri.
Teaching the idea threatens scientific literacy among schoolchildren, it said.
Its proponents argue life on Earth is too complex to have evolved on its own.
As the name suggests, intelligent design is a concept invoking the hand of a designer in nature.
It's time to recognise that science and religion should never be pitted against each other Gilbert Omenn AAAS president
There have been several attempts across the US by anti-evolutionists to get intelligent design taught in school science lessons.
At the meeting in St Louis, the AAAS issued a statement strongly condemning the moves.
"Such veiled attempts to wedge religion - actually just one kind of religion - into science classrooms is a disservice to students, parents, teachers and tax payers," said AAAS president Gilbert Omenn.
"It's time to recognise that science and religion should never be pitted against each other.
"They can and do co-exist in the context of most people's lives. Just not in science classrooms, lest we confuse our children."
'Who's kidding whom?'
Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, which campaigns to keep evolution in public schools, said those in mainstream religious communities needed to "step up to the plate" in order to prevent the issue being viewed as a battle between science and religion.
Some have already heeded the warning.
"The intelligent design movement belittles evolution. It makes God a designer - an engineer," said George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory.
"Intelligent design concentrates on a designer who they do not really identify - but who's kidding whom?"
Last year, a federal judge ruled in favour of 11 parents in Dover, Pennsylvania, who argued that Darwinian evolution must be taught as fact.
Dover school administrators had pushed for intelligent design to be inserted into science teaching. But the judge ruled this violated the constitution, which sets out a clear separation between religion and state.
Despite the ruling, more challenges are on the way.
Fourteen US states are considering bills that scientists say would restrict the teaching of evolution.
These include a legislative bill in Missouri which seeks to ensure that only science which can be proven by experiment is taught in schools.
I think if we look at where the empirical scientific evidence leads us, it leads us towards intelligent design Teacher Mark Gihring "The new strategy is to teach intelligent design without calling it intelligent design," biologist Kenneth Miller, of Brown University in Rhode Island, told the BBC News website.
Dr Miller, an expert witness in the Dover School case, added: "The advocates of intelligent design and creationism have tried to repackage their criticisms, saying they want to teach the evidence for evolution and the evidence against evolution."
However, Mark Gihring, a teacher from Missouri sympathetic to intelligent design, told the BBC: "I think if we look at where the empirical scientific evidence leads us, it leads us towards intelligent design.
"[Intelligent design] ultimately takes us back to why we're here and the value of life... if an individual doesn't have a reason for being, they might carry themselves in a way that is ultimately destructive for society."
Economic risk
The decentralised US education system ensures that intelligent design will remain an issue in the classroom regardless of the decision in the Dover case.
"I think as a legal strategy, intelligent design is dead. That does not mean intelligent design as a social movement is dead," said Ms Scott.
"This is an idea that has real legs and it's going to be around for a long time. It will, however, evolve."
Among the most high-profile champions of intelligent design is US President George W Bush, who has said schools should make students aware of the concept.
But Mr Omenn warned that teaching intelligent design will deprive students of a proper education, ultimately harming the US economy.
"At a time when fewer US students are heading into science, baby boomer scientists are retiring in growing numbers and international students are returning home to work, America can ill afford the time and tax-payer dollars debating the facts of evolution," he said. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4731360.stm
Published: 2006/02/20 10:54:16 GMT
© BBC MMVI
The character of Jesus presented in the NT is a re-presentation of the dying & rising god-man of the near eastern mystery cults presented in a mixture of Jewish and Roman symbols, stories, metaphors, analogies, etc.
Hope that helps answer your question.
Possibly so. But you don't allow information or evidence to taint your worldview, if that information or evidence conflicts with your Biblical understanding.
OK... and your point is??
And gettin' it; thank you very much!!
Everyone gets a choice: Either understand the Bible from the world's view; or understand the World from the Bible's view.
Science cannot be theistic. Science is limited. Otherwise, I don't know what you're talking about that we both "knew".
The poster was leaving out Buddhism as a religion in her definition. I corrected her, so what's your problem?
Hmm?
False dichotomy. There are many other options. For example one might not have heard of the Bible at all. What conclusions would such an individual come to about matters such as evolution and the age of the earth, do you think? Would God refuse salvation to an individual who failed to draw conclusions that matched those in the Bible?
I'll award Elsie a modified category zero, for occasionally making me laugh, a lot, intentionally. (unlike the endless examples of unintentional creationist comedy). Fun is what we are partly here for, after all.
:)) I've had a lot of fun needling the ineducable in my FR persona. And sometimes the points can illuminate things for the lurkers.
Elsie: Yes
I guess those Jews got a nasty surprise after they perished in the Holocaust.
I thought it was a life-style. Do the practitioners pray to Buddha?
This is a forum for adults.
I notice you have no evidence to present since there is none, hence the childish replies.
You are being facetious, because you know for a fact that tons of posts providing evidence to support evolution have been presented on these threads.
If I provide links, you'll just ignore them. Have you ever read even one of Ichneumon's posts? Try this.
If you were honest about the fact that you have never been exposed to the evidence, I would treat you with respect you deserve. Since you are not, I treat you with the respect you deserve.
Oh, and in future you might want to keep your posts clear of ad hominems if you want to complain to the mods. Otherwise, it will look like you can dish it out, but you can't take it. Now that's childish.
And getting rounder!
Then he wouldn't have an opinion; would he?
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.