Christian medical students want anti-evolution lectures

Aftenposten (Norway News) ^ | 19 Nov 2003 | Jonathan Tisdall

[yonif]

Medical student John David Johannessen and the leader of the Christian Medical Students Circle have petitioned the medical faculty at the University of Oslo for lectures "that not only argue the cause for evolution, but also the evidence against", student newspaper Universitas reports.

"The theory of evolution doesn't stand up and does not present enough convincing facts. It is one theory among many, but in education it is discussed as if it is accepted by everyone," Johannessen said.

Johannessen is a believer in creationism, based on the biblical account.

"Of course one has to know the theory of evolution, it is after all part of the curriculum. But certain lecturers demand that one believe it as well. Then it becomes a question of faith and not subject," Johannessen said.

Johannessen told the newspaper that he and his fellows are often compared to American extremists. Besides not being taken seriously or being able to debate the topic relevantly, Johannessen said that 'evolutionists' practically harass those who do not agree with them.

Dean Per Brodal said it was regrettable if any university staff were disparaging to creationists, but that there was no reason to complain about a lack of relevant evidence. Brodal also felt that evolution had a rather minor spot in medical education.

Biology professor Nils Christian Stenseth argued that instead of indulging an 'off-topic' debate the medical faculty should offer a course in fundamental evolutionary biology, saying that nothing in biology could be understood out of an evolutionary context.

The Christian Medical Students Circle want three basic points to be included in the curriculum:

1 According to the theory of evolution a mutation must be immediately beneficial to survive through selection. But many phenomena explained by evolution (for example the eye) involve so many, small immediately detrimental mutations that only give a long-term beneficial effect.

2 There is no fossil evidence to indicate transitional forms between, for example, fish and land animals or apes and humans.

3 Evolution assumes too many extremely improbably events occurring over too short a span of time.

[stanz]

These are the future doctors I would not want treating me.

[stuartcr]

Shouldn't they just go to a Christian medical school instead of dictating curriculum?

[Gunslingr3]

Evolution assumes too many extremely improbably events occurring over too short a span of time.

Whereas creationism insists a magic being whipped up the universe from nothing in six days. What's their point again?

[Axolotl]

LOL...amen brother!

[stanz]

Sister....

[Chancellor Palpatine]

ping

[Axolotl]

beg your pardon...sis...

[Tac12]

In a related development, other students ask to
teach Tibetan medicine and zen shiatsu therapy
as well. ``Western medicin has only lead to more
suffering. It is time for non-racist ...''

[observer5]

"Evolution" as taught in most schools today is a religion.

[job]

Magic being...? Don't stand so close to me. Course their is no magic in belieiving that we all arrived by evolution, yet no one knows what it is that we evolved from. Life form zero.

Course, you might just use the old "lightening zapped a tidal pool" argument. I always liked that story/fable/fairy tale. It seems that evolution should not be taught at all unless the proponents of theory acknowledge there has to be, a priori, something to evolve from, and two, we don't know what that original organism that all life evolved from is.

Oh, that's just too picky. Let's go ahead with evolution without caveats, we seem to be so much more high-brow that way.

[PatrickHenry]

PING. [This ping list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. FReepmail me to be added or dropped.]

[Unam Sanctam]

I'm just glad to know that there are still some real Christian believers left in Norway.

[RightWingNilla]

2 There is no fossil evidence to indicate transitional forms between, for example, fish and land animals or apes and humans.

How did these idiots get into medical school? They must have been fingerpainting in their undergrad bio courses.

[job]

Where and when.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the ping! The selected issues are quite interesting.

[RightWingNilla]

Where and when.

In the observatory, with the candlestick at 8:00 pm

[Abe Froman]

"Whereas creationism insists a magic being whipped up the universe from nothing in six days. What's their point again?"


Funny how a biology department would insist on teaching a view of origins that is entirely incompatible with their own observedly and heretofore unbroken Law of Biogenesis.

We have never observed life springing from non-life in the natural world nor the laboratory. We are being asked to believe that what has never been observed to actually happen somehow did happen in the primeval past? When someone can create a living cell out of a bunch of non-living amino acids I'll plant my foot firmly in my mouth. Until then, I'm interested in what you can prove, not your faith. Believing evolution is incontrovertible fact requires just as much faith as the creationist.

[Kuksool]

How many posts will it take before this thread is kicked into the Smokey Backroom?

[js1138]

All lies. Here is the truth...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1025049/posts