Posted on 01/19/2005 8:52:24 AM PST by FeeinTennessee
Pa. Students Learn 'Intelligent Design' By MARTHA RAFFAELE The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. - High school students heard about "intelligent design" for the first time Tuesday in a school district that attracted national attention by requiring students to be made aware of it as an alternative to the theory of evolution.
Administrators in the Dover Area School District read a statement to three biology classes Tuesday and were expected to read it to other classes on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., which was speaking on the district's behalf.
The district is believed to be the only one in the nation to require students to hear about intelligent design - a concept that holds that the universe is so complex, it had to be created by an unspecified guiding force.
"The revolution in evolution has begun," said Richard Thompson, the law center's president and chief counsel. "This is the first step in which students will be given an honest scientific evaluation of the theory of evolution and its problems."
The case represents the newest chapter in a history of evolution lawsuits dating back to the Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee nearly 80 years ago. In Georgia, a suburban Atlanta school district plans to challenge a federal judge's order to remove stickers in science textbooks that call evolution "a theory, not a fact."
The law center is defending the Dover district against a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of eight families by two civil-liberties groups that alleged intelligent design is merely a secular variation of creationism, the biblical-based view that regards God as the creator of life. They maintain that the Dover district's curriculum mandate may violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
"Students who sat in the classroom were taught material which is religious in content, not scientific, and I think it's unfortunate that has occurred," said Eric Rothschild, a Philadelphia attorney representing the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit.
Biology teacher Jennifer Miller said although she was able to make a smooth transition to her evolution lesson after the statement was read, some students were upset that administrators would not entertain any questions about intelligent design.
"They were told that if you have any questions, to take it home," Miller said.
The district allowed students whose parents objected to the policy to be excused from hearing the statement at the beginning of class and science teachers who opposed the requirement to be exempted from reading the statement. About 15 of 170 ninth-graders asked to be excused from class, Thompson said.
A federal judge has scheduled a trial in the lawsuit for Sept. 26.
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Dover Area School District: http://www.dover.k12.pa.us
Thomas More Law Center: http://www.thomasmore.org
January 18, 2005 6:44 PM
Theist evolution has issues, the latest I read it says that God created something then let it run wild with no purpose.
Hmmm. Well I do not believe that.
Huh, what are we doing here? We're talking about Genesis. You don't think the students will do the same thing?
Absolutely this is about religion. Otherwise, why do a bunch of otherwise science unconcious religious people care so much about a specific scientific process like Evolution?
I don't see those people giving a hoot about the study of nuclear forces like gravity, where we know quite a bit less. And gravity is, like, important, you know! Got to say bolted to the ground.
To claim that this is not religious is like the left claiming they "support the troops". Yeah, right.
I read what narby has to say. Sounds like he is asserting some items. Savagemom beware of false assertions. As well, teach your kiddos to guard against this bullying tactic.
I would guess that narby is also the type that says there are no statistical errors with the fossil records.
Not only that, but did you catch where the creationist in the article is not only adopting the terms "micro-evolution" but acknowleging "natural selection" as well... I guess if you keep dancing, you can sell snake oil for a long, long time...
It is? Care to share some of these revelations?
and yet it is taught to children as absolute fact, with no alternative being presented at all!
Absolute fact? BTW, what alternative do you propose?
"The "theory" of "evolution" is an insult to our God given brain."
No moreso than 6-Day Creationism or an idea (ID) that God created mass out of nothing, thus violating the Law of Conservation of Matter.
Very good point. Genesis says that God created the Sun, moon and stars on day 4, I believe it was. Those are distinctly separate words in Genesis, yet science believes that stars are merely different suns a great distance away.
Are the astronomers wrong? Or is Genesis not to be taken litterally?
I have heard stories of apes successfully mating with humans.
Science is open to anything for which evidence can be shown, and which makes predictions, and which is falsifiable. ID has not yet met these criteria and should not be discussed in science class until it has.
"I really liked that scientific theory of Apollo carrying the sun across the sky. We should teach that."
We should also teach the FACT that if you make wings and fly to close to Apollo's Chariot, the wax in the wings will melt and you will fall to your death!
We could call it 'Icarusology'!!
We should also study just how much Hades will be charging our souls to cross the River Styx and how to avoid that 3-headed mutt Cerebrus.
Are you aware of what the word "theory" means in science?
One theory of many, sure, but not the truth. How do we know that God didn't put us here?
How do we know he did? And when you start adding a deity, which deity do you push?
Or that He directed evolution to happen in His own way? Or that it really was aliens? The TRUTH is, we just don't know, and it is arrogant of us to pretend we have all the answers in this one flawed theory.
You are starting to talk abiogenesis here. Not evolution.
Question; Do you doubt gravitation theory?
Evolution is not a religion, it is a fact, despite all the bleatings of creationists to the contrary.
I will agree that environmentalisim (as opposed to, say, climatology) IS a religion. There is an environmental sect that worships Gaia. They believe in things with no significant evidence. They have holy days such as Earth Day.
But Evolution science IS NOT a religion.
"It's a well know scientific fact that God is a man."
A White man with a long flowing beard who sits on a big golden throne.
Thus proving that a day wasn't determined by rotation relative to either the Sun or the stars.
"Just like a "round" earth, right?"
Or stories with 900 year old human beings...
I'm married to a blue-eyed ape. She is really beautiful. And we have two beautiful ape children.
So if you can't "prove" a theory, should it not be taught? Science puts out a lot of theories that may not ever be able to be proved. Should you only teach what can be proved? Why aren't scientists trying to prove or disprove whether God exists or not?
"People disagree on the meaning of the Bible all the time."
Just ask any Jewish person of their opinion about the New Testament...
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