Posted on 08/16/2004 9:40:47 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
Samuel Chen was a high school sophomore who believed in freedom of speech and the unfettered pursuit of knowledge. He thought his public high school did, too, but when it came to the subject of evolution -- well, now he's not so sure.
In October 2002, Chen began working to get Dr. Michael Behe, professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University, to give a lecture at Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
Chen, who was co-chair of a student group that tries to stress the importance of objectivity on controversial issues, knew that Behe would be perfect, since the group was examining evolution as a topic. The author of Darwin's Black Box, a critique of the foundational underpinnings of evolution, Behe had presented his work and debated the subject in universities in the U.S. and England.
Behe agreed to come in February 2004 and give an after-school lecture entitled, "Evolution: Truth or Myth?" As the school year drew to a close in 2003, Chen had all the preliminaries nailed down: he had secured Behe's commitment, received approval from school officials, and reserved the school auditorium.
Then he found out just how entrenched Darwinist orthodoxy was in the science department at Emmaus. By the following August, Chen had entered into a six-month battle to preserve the Behe lecture.
As the struggle unfolded, it became obvious that those who opposed Behe coming to Emmaus didn't seem to care about his credentials. In addition to publishing over 35 articles in refereed biochemical journals, Darwin's Black Box was internationally reviewed in over 100 publications and named by National Review and World magazine as one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century.
Instead, it was Behe's rejection of Darwinism -- in favor of what is called "intelligent design" -- that drove opposition. According to the Discovery Institute, of which Behe is a fellow, this theory holds "that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."
The head of the science department, John Hnatow, sent a statement to every faculty member in the school stressing that Emmaus held to the official policy of the National Science Teachers Association. That policy states: "There is no longer a debate among scientists about whether evolution has taken place."
It appeared there would be no debate at Emmaus, either. Some of the science teachers would not even allow Chen to address their classes and explain to students what Behe's lecture would be about.
Chen said various tactics were apparently used to undercut the event, including an attempt to cancel the lecture and fold the student organization without the knowledge of Chen and other members; requiring that the necessary funds for the lecture be raised much faster than for other student events; and moving the lecture from the auditorium to the school cafeteria.
One science teacher in particular, Carl Smartschan, seemed particularly riled about the upcoming lecture. Smartschan took it upon himself to talk to every teacher in the science department, insisting that intelligent design was "unscientific" and "scary stuff." He asked the principal to cancel the lecture, and then, when the principal refused, asked the faculty advisor for the student group to halt the lecture. Smartschan even approached Chen and demanded that the student organization pay to have an evolutionist come to lecture later in the year.
Smartschan's campaign to get the Behe lecture canceled was surprising to Chen because the event was scheduled after school, and not during class time, and was sponsored by a student group, not the school itself. Nevertheless, Chen persevered. The lecture was a success, attracting more than 500 people.
In the process, however, Chen's struggle took its toll. His health deteriorated over the course of the controversy, to the point where he collapsed three times in one month, including once at school. "My health has been totally junked," he told AFA Journal.
Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney and senior policy advisor for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, is advising Chen on his options for the coming year. Fahling said, "Schools are not allowed to interfere with viewpoints with which they disagree, and schools cannot disrupt the right of the students to participate in the academic and intellectual life."
Despite the hardship, Chen said he would do it all over again because the issue is so important. "I feel that there's a dictatorship on academic freedom in our public schools now," he said, adding, "I refer to evolution education as a tyranny .... You can't challenge it in our schools. Kids have been thrown out of class for challenging it."
That tyranny can be intimidating to students. "Some of the students who support me are afraid to speak out, especially because they saw how the science department reacted," Chen said. "They have a fear of speaking out against it in their classes."
On the other hand, he added that some students "are now questioning evolution, some for the first time."
That may be the first step in the overthrow of Darwin's dictatorship.
I think it was Indiana. I'll look for it and post what I find.
Yeah. Indiana. Lots of websites on it if you search on "pi Indiana".
Thanks!
And Plato was really Santa Claus.
The Dead sea Scrolls, dated Before Christ, have been compared to the modern available transcripts and have proven to be accurate beyond that which is statistically probable. This goes to the meticulousness of the scribes commissioned to handle the manuscripts and to the Holy Spirit's preservation of the Word of God.
The evidence speaks this information, but those who wish to cast it off, do so recklessly.
The Bible is an integrated message system from an all knowing Creator to His created souls. 2000 years of the brightest minds (often with very sinful lives) have tried to tear down the Bible. (Many were transformed into Godly people of character in the process because of their newfound belief in Jesus Christ). The testimonials are endless, and should become part of anyones pursuit of truth.
The Bible is 66 books written by 40 authors with a seamless integrity that defies anything short of omnipotence. The puzzle that is the Bible has so many layers that a full concerted effort by mankind for 4000 years can only begin to plumb Scriptures depths. (Compare the # commentaries on the Holy Bible to any other religious or nonreligious body of work, a staggering disparity).
There are prophecies that lay out the history of mankind integrated throughout the entirety of the text, hundreds and often thousands of years in advance. Link 1 The Jews will be scattered throughout the world then God will regather them back into the land in the end times beyond any precedent in human history. Those people will then resurrect the dead language of Hebrew, making it the national language. Link 2
I have many more non-faith related reasons. In hindsight, Christians all testify to the realization that the Holy Spirit is the one who reveals the true nature of what Jesus Christ did for us on and after the cross. However, the Bible teaches us to reason with others regarding Scripture, because we serve a reasonable God who did not remain nebulous off in space, but became a human like us so that we could completely relate to Him.
God wants a relationship with us, and He reestablished fellowship with us through the Cross for those that believe. Fellowship with God is our purpose in life! There is nothing better.
Panspermia Theories: Annotated Bibliography, Section III
You asked if the theory could be tested:
CAN THE THEORY BE TESTED?
Directed Panspermia
A second prominent proponent of panspermia is Nobel prize winner Francis Crick, along with Leslie Orgel who proposed the theory of directed panspermia in 1973. This suggests that the seeds of life may have been purposely spread by an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation. Crick argues that small grains containing DNA, or the building blocks of life, fired randomly in all directions is the best, most cost effective strategy for seeding life on a compatible planet at some time in the future. The strategy might have been pursued by a civilisation facing catastrophic annihilation, or hoping to terraform planets for later colonisation.
And look, just for grins, panspermia has an opinion on thermo:
THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
If you are looking for someone to argue for or against panspermia, “I” am not that person.
Creationism is also the only discipline in which they still solve problems in terms of cubits too. And the speed of light? pshaw!
The first link was a bibliography on panspermia. All well and good. There is strong evidence that life may have arisen in dust clouds between the stars. The second part, your quote, doesn't actually address the testability of "directed panspermia" and simply says Crick advocates it.
You're in preach mode again, but that's OK.
I just said that you take it on faith that the bible has not been messed with, you don't have proof, you take it on faith, and the dead sea scrolls are not the best example you could have come up with.
I was just stating that you take it on faith, no facts or proof are necassary, and that's fine.
Why do you get all upset about that statement, is faith actually not enough?
BTW, what is one arguing when one states, life cannot somehow arise naturally from nonliving chemicals?
Never say never, because you don't know.
What if we figure out a way to time travel and are able to go back and actually watch, then science will indeed know how it happened, what if we are able to speed time up locally around an experiment, and we are able to figure it out that way.
Or, what if we get a strong enough computer, that is able to figure out all of the variables and give us a very good statistical analysis of what took place?
Never say never, when it comes to science, because many people have said it, and they have all been wrong.
So, we're all descended from microorganisms hitching rides on time travellers. That explains quite a bit.
Thought that you might find this interesting:
A Y3K bug
What if, we are our own ancestors.
In this thread: DNA to reveal source of Dead Sea Scrolls, there's an article about DNA testing of the parchment the Dead Sea Scrolls are written on. What I find interesting is that if the results are what's considered desirable, they will be accepted; otherwise ... . It's curious how, for some people, science is okay, but only if it supports their religious views.
Ah ... trying to use the Clintonian defense of "everybody does it" are you?
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