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Politics and religion enter into evolution debate (71% of Bush voters support teaching ID
MSNBC ^ | Feb. 10, 2005 | Jon Hurdle (Reuters)

Posted on 02/10/2005 6:39:50 PM PST by gobucks

PHILADELPHIA - Evangelical Christians, buoyed by the re-election of President Bush, are turning American schools into a battleground over whether evolution explains the origins of life or whether nature was designed by an all-powerful force.

In at least 18 states, campaigns have begun to make public schools teach “intelligent design” — a theory that nature is so complex it could only have been created by design — alongside Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

“It’s pretty clear that there is a religious movement behind intelligent design,” said Steve Case, chairman of the Science Standards Committee, a group of educators that advises the Kansas Board of Education. The board will decide later this year whether to include intelligent design in biology classes.

Some scientists who espouse the theory say intelligent design does not question that evolution occurred, but how it occurred: They believe more was at play than random mutation and natural selection. The theory, they insist, does not support the religious concept of a creator.

Those who advocate giving it equal treatment in schools have a different interpretation.

*snip*

The poll found greater support for teaching creationism among Republican voters — 71 percent of Bush voters favored teaching creationism alongside evolution.

*snip*

John West, (located) at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, which pioneered intelligent design research, said the theory was too complex to teach at high schools and was better-suited to a college setting.

“There is a concern that intelligent design has been hijacked by people who don’t really know what it says,” he said. “We don’t think it should be a political football.”

*snip*

“Intelligent design is a religious doctrine,” said Wayne Carley, executive director of the National Association of Biology Teachers. “There is no research to support it, and it is clearly religious in that it posits a higher being.”

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: crevolist; evangelicals; evolution; scienceeducation
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To: general_re

Interesting post.

This is my re-read afterwork marker.


61 posted on 02/11/2005 5:02:51 AM PST by From many - one. (formerly e p1uribus unum)
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To: PatrickHenry
From the article:

In at least 18 states, campaigns have begun to make public schools teach “intelligent design” — a theory that nature is so complex it could only have been created by design — alongside Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

A theory based on a fallacy and which states its support in poll numbers. This can only be ID.

62 posted on 02/11/2005 6:00:01 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: curiosity
I'm skeptical. Many unknowns in the mix.
63 posted on 02/11/2005 6:02:01 AM PST by onedoug
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To: VadeRetro
Here's a couple of my "education" links. The second one has an interactive map, like some of the election maps we've all seen. Click on a state and you get an update on what's going on there. I don't know how often they revise their info, but it probably doesn't really matter. Litigation moves very slowly.

Antievolutionism and Creationism in the United States. Great summary of the issues.
Political Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution. American Geological Institute. Interactive map.

64 posted on 02/11/2005 6:17:27 AM PST by PatrickHenry (<-- Click on my name. The List-O-Links for evolution threads is at my freeper homepage.)
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To: LiteKeeper
And in that you are totally wrong

Uh huh.

Well, I'm convinced.

65 posted on 02/11/2005 6:28:40 AM PST by Right Wing Professor (Evolve or die!)
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To: general_re
Note that the article also contains this little gem:

"Those who advocate giving it equal treatment in schools have a different interpretation. 'Intelligent design promotes a rational basis for belief in God,' said John Calvert, managing director of the Kansas-based advocacy group Intelligent Design Network Inc."

In other words, ID isn't creationism, it just promotes creationism. Do you see walking and talking ducks too?

66 posted on 02/11/2005 6:44:07 AM PST by atlaw
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To: cripplecreek

http://www.icr.org/starlightandtime/starlightandtime.html

Part of it is here


67 posted on 02/11/2005 6:47:53 AM PST by RaceBannon ((Prov 28:1 KJV) The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.)
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To: RaceBannon

Thanks, I'll save that and give it a good read.


68 posted on 02/11/2005 6:58:25 AM PST by cripplecreek (they call me tater.)
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To: curiosity
What a stupid cause to waste our political capital on: fighting science.

Succinct. And exactly correct.
69 posted on 02/11/2005 7:04:32 AM PST by crail (Better lives have been lost on the gallows than have ever been enshrined in the halls of palaces.)
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To: cripplecreek

you have to get the book, though, her website is a tease, not informative.

She is a little excentric, but I do still have her book, and I did copy the footnotes, she didn't lie.


70 posted on 02/11/2005 7:06:47 AM PST by RaceBannon ((Prov 28:1 KJV) The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.)
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To: curiosity
What a stupid cause to waste our political capital on: fighting science.

It's more like fighting reality, IMHO.

71 posted on 02/11/2005 7:24:17 AM PST by Modernman (What is moral is what you feel good after. - Ernest Hemingway)
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To: Junior
The state of scientific schooling in our public schools is terrible. We're dooming ourselves to second-tier nation status.

It is amazing. Science education in this country gets squeezed by both sides. From the left, you have PC-lovers who would rather that the schools focus on women's studies and instilling high self-esteem while on the right you have people trying to replace science with theology.

I imagine, if you go into the average school in China, you have none of this nonsense. All you'll see is a bunch of kids learning science as part of their government's plan to supplant us as the world's #1 power.

72 posted on 02/11/2005 7:31:42 AM PST by Modernman (What is moral is what you feel good after. - Ernest Hemingway)
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To: Diva Betsy Ross

Ask him who invented evolution? Who invented the physical laws of the universe?

The only truthful answer is that no one knows. Any other answer is not based on faith. That is, these are religious/philosophical questions, not scientific questions. Any attempted answers taught in school should be in religion or philosophy classes, not in a science class.

73 posted on 02/11/2005 7:35:42 AM PST by ml1954
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To: gobucks

I'm sure this came as a surprise on FR. /sarcasm


74 posted on 02/11/2005 7:37:09 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Junior

The state of scientific schooling in our public schools is terrible. We're dooming ourselves to second-tier nation status.

Other than in graduate schools, I think we are already there and rapidly heading to third-tier nation status.

The only bright light is that an intelligent and self-motivated student has access to an enormous quantity of information to read and study and arrive at his/her own conclusions, regardless of what is being taught in our schools/indoctrination centers.

75 posted on 02/11/2005 7:41:57 AM PST by ml1954
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To: PatrickHenry

educational placemarker


76 posted on 02/11/2005 7:45:56 AM PST by longshadow
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To: longshadow

If this is going to become an educational thread, then I might be interested - otherwise - - - same old, same old....


77 posted on 02/11/2005 7:52:16 AM PST by furball4paws ("These are Microbes."... "You have crobes?" BC)
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To: atlaw
Naahhh - ID is just good science, right?

Quack quack, waddle waddle...

78 posted on 02/11/2005 8:05:58 AM PST by general_re ("Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith, but in doubt." - Reinhold Niebuhr)
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To: ml1954

Any other answer is not based on faith.

Self correction: Any other answer is based on faith

79 posted on 02/11/2005 8:23:12 AM PST by ml1954
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To: Right Wing Professor

Actually Dembski did write one paper a few years ago.

Dembski, William A. Uniform probability. J. Theoret. Probab. 3 (1990), no. 4, 611--626.


80 posted on 02/11/2005 8:26:06 AM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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