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7 School Board candidates would oppose teaching creationism
Stillwater Gazette ^ | 10/28/03 | Greg Huff

Posted on 10/30/2003 6:10:17 PM PST by Dales

STILLWATER— Neither registered nor write-in candidates for the District 834 School Board believe that Minnesota educators should teach creationism. Two candidates, however, said teachers should not deny students the opportunity to discuss in school theories that challenge evolution.

Origin-of-life debates arose anew in Minnesota last month after the Minnesota Education Department released accidentally two drafts of its new standards for teaching science — drafts which differed only in how they prescribe how educators should teach evolution. One draft version included words such as “might,” “may” and “possible” in language that some believed was designed to question evolution’s veracity.

A recent Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “creationism” as a “doctrine or theory holding that matter, the various forms of life, and the world were created by God out of nothing and usually in the way described in Genesis,” the Bible’s first chapter.

The five officially registered School Board candidates — incumbents David “Choc” Junker, Christy Hlavacek, Mary Cecconi and John Uppgren, and challenger Andrée Aronson — discussed the debate about mankind’s origins at a candidates’ forum at Stonebridge Elementary School on Oct. 7. Write-in candidates Christopher Kunze and Nancy Hoffman addressed the matter in e-mail interviews earlier this month

Questions about creationism did not arise in Tuesday night’s candidate’s forum October 21 at Stillwater Area High School.

“Do you agree with teaching (creationism) in public school?” Stillwater resident Scott Neestrum asked in the Oct. 7 candidates’ forum. “And, if you don’t, how would you combat it?”

Aronson indicated a personal belief in creationism, but said unequivocally that Minnesota educators should not teach creationism as fact. Cecconi and Kunze both said that the state should not prohibit discussion of creationism.

“It’s very important to have creationism presented to learning people ... to try and get some feel for ‘This is out there?’” Cecconi said. “I think it’s wrong to keep anything silent and say ‘It’s not there.’ I think the teaching of ‘Guess what, this is coming down the pike, what do you think?’ (is acceptable). As far as scientifically, I am straight on the lines of evolution.”

Uppgren, Hlavacek and Hoffman each said that local churches are better suited to teach creationism.

“I’m worried about teaching math and science and writing well — we do not have time to be bothered by these political games that people play that have other agendas. ...” Uppgren said. “We do not have time to address these nuisance ideas that legislators have, because they’ve never bothered to come and sit down and talk with the School Board.”

Said Hlavacek: “We do not have enough time, energy and money to put into teaching something that will not further our student achievement. ... I strongly oppose that.”

Junker, who asked Neestrum to define creationism for him, did not specifically answeer the question, but said he doesn’t “like the idea of religion mixed with politics.”

Below each of the following sub-headings are additional excerpts from each of the candidates’ responses to Neestrum’s question. The official candidates answered in the forum. The write-in candidates answered via e-mail, a few days after the forum. Responses have been edited for space and usage, and in some cases, to omit digressions not germane to the creationism debate.

The candidates in the forum also discussed transportation issues, parents’ role in the education process, Minnesota’s new education standards, and the many challenges facing schools here and throughout the state.

Aronson

Said Aronson: “I do not believe that creationism should be taught in schools. ... Creationism is one of many beliefs of how the world was started, and that is a different (theory than) scientific evolution. Evolution is based on science and research.

“Creationism might be my personal belief, but that’s what it is — it’s a belief. And I don’t think that they should mix.”

Hoffman

Said Hoffman, a confirmation guide for a second year at Trinity Lutheran Church: “People can make a difference in our youth, and participate in many ways at their local churches and use these opportunities to help our youth develop their faith belief system.”

Cecconi

Said Cecconi: “This is one of those questions where you have your personal belief and then you have your board hat. And first off ... personally, I am absolutely opposed to ... the teaching of creationism in a public school.

“However, I have to say that I would like ... my own children to be able to have that conversation in a very lively way with a lot of students who can give them different feelings — maybe in a literature course, maybe something that’s not being taught to them; definitely not proselytizing. As a board member, I think I need to fight that tooth and nail.”

Kunze

Said Kunze: “I do not believe that religious views should be taught as absolute truth in schools, but I also believe that a healthy discussion of major beliefs is acceptable and beneficial.”

Uppgren

Said Uppgren: “All I can say with certainty is (that) we have very good churches in our community. And it seems to me that we’ve done a pretty good job as a culture of taking more and more things away from churches. It wasn’t long ago that churches organized sports, they handled a lot of social activities. And suddenly, that’s become the domain of independent associations and schools and things like that. ... I have a lot of faith in churches in this community to do an excellent job of teaching creationism.

Hlavacek

Said Hlavacek: “I would not support the teaching of creationism in school. I strongly believe that role belongs to the churches in this community, not to the ... public schools that we (as School Board members) represent.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: crevolist
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To: Ogmios
Your first version was correcter.
41 posted on 10/30/2003 8:40:03 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: Doctor Stochastic
LOL, thanks Doc...
42 posted on 10/30/2003 8:42:20 PM PST by Ogmios (Since when is 66 senate votes for judicial confirmations constitutional?)
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To: Ogmios

When did evos become ... democratic - pluralistic --- I missed it !
43 posted on 10/30/2003 8:48:33 PM PST by f.Christian (evolution vs intelligent design ... science3000 ... designeduniverse.com --- * architecture * !)
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To: William McKinley
I admire you for stepping into this fray. I'm on the Creation side, BTW.

I'll take these scientists seriously (since they tend to be atheistic in their approach) when they can empirically rule out the existence of God.

Until then, I'll just enjoy their rather entertaining reasoning.


44 posted on 10/30/2003 8:55:21 PM PST by rdb3 (We're all gonna go, but I hate to go fast. Then again, it won't be fun to stick around and go last.)
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To: CobaltBlue
You can lie with statistics, but not to a statistician.
45 posted on 10/30/2003 8:57:37 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: jennyp
Re: Intelligent Design. This can get a bit tricky.

On the one hand, you've got people arguing that this-or-that process is too complicated to have just evolved on its own. Examples include eyeballs, and the clotting of blood.

On the other hand, I mean, really. It's extremely easy to imagine that nothing ever happened. God never happened. The Universe never happened. Nothing exists. How hard is that to imagine?

Nevertheless, here we are. So. Why were we arguing? And what were we arguing about?
46 posted on 10/30/2003 8:59:26 PM PST by CobaltBlue
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To: CobaltBlue
How's your caseload Cobalt? They haven't overloaded you have they? ;)
47 posted on 10/30/2003 9:04:10 PM PST by Ogmios (Since when is 66 senate votes for judicial confirmations constitutional?)
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To: William McKinley
However, evolution and creationism are not completely unrelated. Both are trying to answer "where did we come from".

The problem, however, is that evolution is science while creationism is typically religion. There is some debate as to how evolution occured, but the debate is over minor details. There are countless creation stories, many of them wildly different.
48 posted on 10/30/2003 10:39:45 PM PST by Dimensio (The only thing you feel when you take a human life is recoil. -- Frank Jones (as "Earl"))
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To: William McKinley
Teaching creationism would be OK. I like the Navaho version, but the Hopi version is cool as well. They make the '7 days and 7 nights' thing look pretty boring in comparison.
49 posted on 10/30/2003 10:45:17 PM PST by Mr Crontab
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To: William McKinley
>How are we supposed to function as a nation if half the people aren't taught what the other half believe

By that reasoning, we should teach that 'reality' TV shows are really real, and that AOL is a good internet provider... (shudders)
50 posted on 10/30/2003 10:48:06 PM PST by Mr Crontab
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To: Doctor Stochastic
I must have been tripping in the 70s then. Nice try.
51 posted on 10/31/2003 3:51:27 AM PST by William McKinley
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To: Mr Crontab
Non sequitor.
52 posted on 10/31/2003 3:52:21 AM PST by William McKinley
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To: Dales
The alternative, according to the given definition of 'creationism', is that matter [science wants to guess] came out of nowhere, and improbably organized itself into living molecules, and then impossibly 'evolved upwards by pure chance. Who admits to have faith in this dogma?
53 posted on 10/31/2003 6:19:12 AM PST by metacognative
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To: Dimensio
The Darwinite Myth IS religion..not true science.
54 posted on 10/31/2003 6:21:27 AM PST by metacognative
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To: jennyp
That reveals a lot about your thinking...that Marx has 'logical and scientific' support!
55 posted on 10/31/2003 6:23:58 AM PST by metacognative
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To: metacognative
What does Marx have to do with anything on this thread?
56 posted on 10/31/2003 6:57:12 AM PST by PatrickHenry (Preserve the purity of your precious bodily fluids!)
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To: metacognative
"Darwinite Myth?" I'm not familiar with that term. Please describe it.
57 posted on 10/31/2003 7:13:53 AM PST by whattajoke (Neutiquam erro.)
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To: metacognative
You make a lot of bold statements, care to back them up?
58 posted on 10/31/2003 8:17:27 AM PST by Ogmios (Since when is 66 senate votes for judicial confirmations constitutional?)
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To: Ogmios
Speaking of backing up...what would you call belief that you can turn algae into ecosystems. Isn't it like lead into gold? The world is obviously running down. Who would believe that evolution could build it up if not a superstitious darwinite?
59 posted on 10/31/2003 9:49:08 AM PST by metacognative
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To: metacognative
Running down? What are you talking about?

Did the sun go out while I wasn't looking? Nope, just looked outside, there seemes to be just as much sun today as there was yesterday.

Sun=energy, therefore, as long as the sun shines, the earth will not run down.

Not sure where you came up with such an idea, but it is ridiculous.
60 posted on 10/31/2003 9:54:53 AM PST by Ogmios (Since when is 66 senate votes for judicial confirmations constitutional?)
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