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Evolution Disclaimer Supported
The Advocate (Baton Rouge) ^
| 12/11/02
| WILL SENTELL
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."
TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: crevolist; evolution; rades
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To: gore3000
Hey I already debunked this post abuot a hundred times why repost it.
BTW How old is the Earth ?
To: Sentis
Basically he is a liar that will not answer a Basic Question Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light.
To: gore3000
You must have missed
post 1157 in all the "How old is the Earth" excitement. So I'll return it to your attention.
What evidence do you and Behe have that insists that life must have jumped from zero to fully formed cell in a single step?
To: Sentis
Why is the question How old is the Earth important in the evolution debate. The reason is Evolution takes large amounts of time to occur for multicellular creatures. If we had a young Earth for instance I would not claim evolution theory as a theory at all because it could not work. However the Earth is a little over 4.5 Billion years old. As Ihave shown simple recombination of DNA among the human genome alone can quickly create a base of totally different Human beings which at present is 6,000,000,000 different and unique humans. However at the long end of the idea of evolution is the Fact of HOW OLD IS THE EARTH that debate is the heart of evolution without an old earth evolution will not happen. The second question would be HOW OLD IS THE UNIVERSE once tthat question of Earth's age is answered then the age of the universe must be addressed so that people who disbelieve in evolution can then disprove evolution occurred anywhere in the Universe and came to earth. For example if the Earth isa 6000 years old and the Universe is say 4.5 billion years old then evolution could have happened anywhere out there. If the Universe however is 7000 years old that cannot happen. How eever the universe being 6-7 thousand years old brings up questions that creationists cannot over come so they refuse to answer what is basically a simple question.
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?
To: gore3000
I think the answers that you are looking for are:
God made the flagellum so ridiculously complex that when we finally had the instruments available to see them closely, we would realize who he is and immediately realize that the Christian Bible, which so many times talks about the flagellum, is the only way to enlightenment.
God wanted some things to lay eggs, a marginal few to have eggs hatch inside their body, and some things to give birth to a live baby. He works in mysterious ways.
God made it so that people would sometimes have tails at birth, but only so that we could realize that this is Satan's handiwork.
God put little legs on snakes to throw us off track.
------OR-------
We just don't know yet because we have not advanced scientifically yet. Much like there really was no proof that the moon wasn't made out of cheese before we actually landed there, but we knew that it wasn't...
To: B. Rabbit
actually Rabbit I have given simple answers how the eggs can be lost through gradual evolution and how the flegellum functions through gradual change he just ignores what I posted and says "NO YOU DIDN"T POST ANYTHING" the question I want answered is
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?
To: B. Rabbit
Anybody who is arguing a younger earth is not.
You must be quite young I suppose to post such arrogance as to your wisdom.
Still searching ......
To: gore3000
Seriously, man. This isn't even about proving a point now. I really want to know what you think and not answering is making you look really bad. Just answer that one little question. It seems like you are embarrassed.
How old (young) is the earth?
To: usastandsunited
You must be quite young I suppose to post such arrogance as to your wisdom. You must be quite arrogant to post an assumption such as yours.
To: Sentis
Oh to answer a question that something I said may bring up in the future. In the human genome I think there is only 7,000,000,000,000 yes thats 7 trillion different humans that can exist with our current genome. Of course I also realize that much of the difference in humans is merely recombinations of DNA that is already common to the Humans genome thats why I say permutations. However there is enough difference that it comes up to a very large number of genes not shared by every human in the millions BTW. I also want to restate that humans with Down's syndrome have a much larger DNA difference from other humans if you consider having an extra copy of a chromosome a difference wait a sec dont chimps have one more pair of chromosomes than humans why yes they do. I'm not comparing the two as Down's patients are definately humans but of course it shows that Humans are very versitile in their genetic makeup and that the genetic difference are mere approximations and that percentages really should not be taken as exact just approximations.
To: B. Rabbit
yeah, ok. Whatever.
To: B. Rabbit
These discoverers, inventors, and philosophers would have found the exact same thing regardless of the use of religion or God as an axiom. I'll challenge you. Back this up.
To: B. Rabbit; gore3000; Sentis
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH? Actually, the absolute, undispute, inarguable answer to this is you don't know. And neither do I. There are a lot of guesses, some of which are better founded than others.
To: Tribune7
I'll challenge you. Back this up [These discoverers, inventors, and philosophers would have found the exact same thing regardless of the use of religion or God as an axiom.]. Uh, Trib ... I think we have a problem here regarding the burden of proof. If you want to claim that the "God hypothesis" is essential to some recognized scientific work, I believe it's up to you to present the work in question (something specific in chemistry, physics, astronomy, or whatever) and demonstrate the essential role of the God hypothesis.
To: Tribune7
Tribune7 wrote"Actually, the absolute, undispute, inarguable answer to this is you don't know. And neither do I. There are a lot of guesses, some of which are better founded than others. "
I dont want the absolute undiputable answer I want gore3000's answer. I want his best guess thats all I want. Your attempt to sidetrack what we want only proves one thing.
How old is the Earth?
To: Tribune7
Actually, the absolute, undispute, inarguable answer to this [HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?] is you don't know. And neither do I. There are a lot of guesses, some of which are better founded than others. Is it a "guess" that the earth is at least as old as its oldest rocks?
The oldest rocks on Earth, found in western Greenland, have been dated by four independent radiometric dating methods at 3.7-3.8 billion years. Rocks 3.4-3.6 billion years in age have been found in southern Africa, western Australia, and the Great Lakes region of North America. These oldest rocks are metamorphic rocks but they originated as lava flows and sedimentary rocks. The debris from which the sedimentary rocks formed must have come from even older crustal rocks. The oldest dated minerals (4.0-4.2 billion years) are tiny zircon crystals found in sedimentary rocks in western Australia.
Source:
The Age of the Earth.
To: Sentis
Sorry if I gave away the answer. But we still don't have an answer from
the person you've been asking. I too would like
his response.
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?
To: Sentis; Condorman; longshadow; Junior; VadeRetro; B. Rabbit; whattajoke
Gentlemen, my advice is to permit no distractions. No tap-dancing away. No changing of the subject. We must have an answer to a very direct question:
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH? If it is protested that this question is itself a diversion from more important issues, the response is simple: Just answer the question, and the diversion will be over. A simple answer is all that is required -- such as "I believe the earth is X years old." That's all it will take. No big deal. No flame wars, no pulled threads. Just a simple answer to the question: HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?
So why won't he answer the question?
To: PatrickHenry
I agree.
How old is the Earth ? Gore3000 any answers, the diversion is over when you answer.
I guess we can all refuse to even acknowledge he exists until he answers. if he refuses to answer and just reposts his nonsense all we need do is write up or find a definition of evolution and each repost it after he posts that way we deny him the last word that he wants but we will only keep asking him....
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?
To: Sentis; All
For those who tuned in late, this question first came up in
post 1081, and since then it has not been answered.
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