Creationism to be taught on GCSE science syllabus (you can't keep a good idea down)

The Times of London ^ | 10 March 2006 | Tony Halpin

[Greg o the Navy]

AN EXAMINATIONS board is including references to “creationism” in a new GCSE science course for schools.

[AndrewC]

Only you are right? Nope, you are delusional. That is an apt description.

Darwinist Richard Dawkins to speak at Bradley

Zoologist, author, and Darwinist Richard Dawkins will discuss Universal Darwinism in a lecture at Bradley on Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center ballroom.

Dawkins is widely known for his best-selling books, The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker, which won both the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science. In 1995, be became the first to hold the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.

His name is often linked to Darwin's as a leader of the "ultradarwinists" who believe in gene selection as the basis of evolution. His latest book, Climbing Mount Improbable, celebrates improbability as the engine that drives life.

Dawkins was born in 1941 of British parents in Kenya, and was educated at Oxford University. After two years as an assistant professor at the University of California at Berkeley, he returned to Oxford.

The lecture, sponsored by the Bradley University Intellectual and Cultural Activities Committee is free and open to the public.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Only you are right?"

No, scientists agree with me.

BTW, only the woefully ignorant and undereducated want creationism in science class. :)

[AndrewC]

No, scientists agree with me.

Well dictionaries agree with me. And that is where we go to find the definitions of words.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Well dictionaries agree with me."

I'll go with the scientists. :)

And, BTW, creationism isn't science and has no place in a science classroom, unless the lesson is about old worn out and discarded theories no thinking scientist accepts. :)

[AndrewC]

Do you have some evidence that Dawkins wrote the headline? If no, what is your point?

I never implied that he wrote the headline. He is referred to as a Darwinist. I do not believe the majority of the English speaking world is wrong and CG is correct. A person may want to call themselves a "sanitary engineer", but that does not change the meaning and applicability of "garbageman".

[AndrewC]

I'll go with the scientists. :)

Of course, that still makes you wrong. You are still delusional.

[Senator Bedfellow]

I do not believe the majority of the English speaking world is wrong and CG is correct.

The majority of the English speaking world is composed of practicing scientists?

Welcome to the world of category errors.

[Coyoteman]

CG is right. In normal scientific usage, "Darwinist" is never used. I did six years of graduate school, with about half of my time fossil man and human osteology, and I can't remember ever even hearing the term.

Where I hear it used the most is here on the FR threads, and then only from the creationist side. Its use is primarily derogatory.

It is the old tactic of demonizing and dehumanizing your enemy.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Of course, that still makes you wrong."

Nah, it just makes you ignorant. Scientists have precedence over what their theories are called, not some boob at a publishing house.

And lest you forget, creationism is for scientific illiterates. It has no place in a science classroom.

[js1138]

Your post followed this one.

Scientists studying evolution don't call themselves *Darwinists

Perhaps I should ask if you are a Zionist, and whether you think this is a neutral term. Or a creationist. Or a nationalist.

Dictionaries can seldom be used to determine usage in the case of terms that have connotations. If they did, translation would be a snap.

[AndrewC]

Nah, it just makes you ignorant.

You remain delusional and self-important. You seem to be gathering other delusional folks to yourself. Read the dictionaries and weep. Dawkins does use the word Darwinism, if you are talking about the name of the theory.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"You remain delusional and self-important."

No, unlike you, I am not ignorant. :)

And creationism is for intellectual losers.

[AndrewC]

Perhaps I should ask if you are a Zionist, and whether you think this is a neutral term. Or a creationist. Or a nationalist.

No. Yes. Yes. And I am a creationist because I believe this.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

[AndrewC]

No, unlike you, I am not ignorant. :)

You are adamantly delusional.

On the other hand, we must beware of a very common misunderstanding of Darwinism. Tennyson was writing before Darwin but he got it right. Nature really is red in tooth and claw. Much as we might like to believe otherwise, natural selection, working within each species, does not favour long-term stewardship. It favours short-term gain. Loggers, whalers, and other profiteers who squander the future for present greed, are only doing what all wild creatures have done for three billion years. --- Dawkins to Prince Charles, May 2000

[CarolinaGuitarman]

Creationism: It's just so because I say it is, and you're going to hell!!

[js1138]

Dictionary.com says "Modern Zionism is concerned with the support and development of the state of Israel." That would describe a lot of FReepers.

[AndrewC]

Any reason for leaving out the first statement of the definition?

A Jewish movement that arose in the late 19th century in response to growing anti-Semitism and sought to reestablish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

In any case, the second part would also describe the UN or the US or the UK or...

[PatrickHenry]

Mars is red, Uranus is blue, we all evolved from primordial goo.

[Coyoteman]

Mars is red, Uranus is blue, we all evolved from primordial goo.

I never gave you credit before. You're a POET!

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Mars is red, Uranus is blue, we all evolved from primordial goo."

Sounds like a bad case of hemorrhoids.