The Evolution Controversy in Our Schools (Letter from NAS President Bruce Alberts)

National Academy of Sciences ^ | 04 March 2005 | Bruce Alberts

[PatrickHenry]

Bold and underlining added by me.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is an honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare.

The NAS was signed into being by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863, at the height of the Civil War. As mandated in its Act of Incorporation, the NAS has, since 1863, served to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government. [Skip] The Academy membership is comprised of approximately 2,000 members and 350 foreign associates, of whom more than 200 have won Nobel Prizes. Members and foreign associates of the Academy are elected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research; election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer. Source: About the NAS.

[PatrickHenry]

EvolutionPing

A pro-evolution science list with over 290 names. See the list's description at my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added or dropped.

[kharaku]

Radical evolutionists intent to throw science to the whims and assume they're theory is best sans evidence. This sort of public crushing of scientific reason and discourse in the favor of popular theory hasn't been seen since the heliocentric theory. The athiests continue to wage Jihad on the Religious.

[mlc9852]

"If this controversy arrives at your doorstep, I hope that you will both alert us to the specific issues in our state or school district and be willing to use your positon and prestige as a member of the NAS in helping to work locally."


Please help us! They aren't teaching we descended from monkeys. What shall we do? bah wah wah

[weegee]

Could they see fit to introduce a presentation on when life begins in human procreation?

After all, that is observable and repeatable. They should be able to do the necessary case studies to prove for once and for all when life begins.

Meanwhile, at best evolution will be a theory. It may be correct in principle but there can always be some details that are wrong on not know (a leap of faith must be made to fill in for the "missing links" between one species and the next).

When we permit theory to be taught as fact, we wind up with things like "global warming" and "Marxist philosophy" being taught in public schools.

Call it a theory and let the young ones know that just because we are adults does not mean that we know it all. This is why scientists continue to do research. Maybe a young student will get the spark to choose that as a path to unlock the answers we don't know.

[Tax-chick]

I hate "bold and underlining added."

I hate government schooling, too.

I guess I'm just in a hate-filled mood today. Better go find some chocolate.

[Dimensio]

Radical evolutionists intent to throw science to the whims and assume they're theory is best sans evidence.

1) It's "their", not "they're".

2) Pretending that the theory is "sans evidence" does not make it so.

The athiests continue to wage Jihad on the Religious.

Ah, not even five posts in and already a creationist has dishonestly equivocated acceptance of evolution with atheism.

[PatrickHenry]

Never too soon to post a source of information. Alas, those who are most in need are the least likely to look:
The List-O-Links.
How to argue against a scientific theory.

[TOWER]

The theory of evolution has nothing to do with athiesism. Of course, that fact is not important to you.

[Tax-chick]

let the young ones know that just because we are adults does not mean that we know it all

This is something I regularly reinforce with my kids. You can't just believe everything you hear from an adult ... he could be lying, honestly mistaken, or joking with you. Always be ready to evaluate the source.

[CasearianDaoist]

o you really think it is approriate for the NAS to be involved in this. They are supported by the taxpayer after all.

This would seem inappropriate to me.

[Tax-chick]

"athiesism"?

[kharaku]

As has been evidenced in every debate on FR evolutionists do not respond with evidence, they respond with accusations of spelling mistakes. The theory is full of holes and assumptions most of those based on other assumptions. The theory even in it's relatively short life span has frequently relied on falsifying, or ignoring evidence to the contrary. The point of the article is to convince people to eliminate any other teaching from the schools or colleges. This is no less radical than removing references to Russian history from US textbooks during the cold war. Darwinian evolution is athiesm. Pure and simple. Heck even the pope says so.

[kharaku]

In an attempt to further their careers and justify the claims that evolution is a legitimate theory, many scientists have fraudulently deceived the world by planting or reconstructing fossils which they would claim to be authentic finds. The most widely published evolution fraud was committed in China in 1999, and published in in the National Geographic


Human Ancestral Frauds

Piltdown man: Found in a gravel pit in Sussex England in 1912, this fossil was considered by some sources to be the second most important fossil proving the evolution of man—until it was found to be a complete forgery 41 years later. The skull was found to be of modern age. The fragments had been chemically stained to give the appearance of age, and the teeth had been filed down!


Nebraska man: A single tooth, discovered in Nebraska in 1922 grew an entire evolutionary link between man and monkey, until another identical tooth was found which was protruding from the jawbone of a wild pig. This fossil was part of the evidence entered to substantiate evolution in the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" (source: Henry M. Morris & Gary E. Parker, What Is Creation Science?, [Master Books 1987], pp.155-156)


Java man: Initially discovered by Dutchman Eugene Dubois in 1891, all that was found of this claimed originator of humans was a skullcap, three teeth and a femur. The femur was found 50 feet away from the original skullcap a full year later. For almost 30 years Dubois downplayed the Wadjak skulls (two undoubtedly human skulls found very close to his "missing link"). (source: Hank Hanegraaff, The Face That Demonstrates The Farce Of Evolution, [Word Publishing, Nashville, 1998], pp.50-52)


Orce man: Found in the southern Spanish town of Orce in 1982, and hailed as the oldest fossilized human remains ever found in Europe. One year later officials admitted the skull fragment was not human but probably came from a 4 month old donkey. Scientists had said the skull belonged to a 17 year old man who lived 900,000 to 1.6 million years ago, and even had very detail drawings done to represent what he would have looked like. (source: "Skull fragment may not be human", Knoxville News-Sentinel, 1983)


Neanderthal: Still synonymous with brutishness, the first Neanderthal remains were found in France in 1908. Considered to be ignorant, ape-like, stooped and knuckle-dragging, much of the evidence now suggests that Neanderthal was just as human as us, and his stooped appearance was because of arthritis and rickets. Neanderthals are now recognized as skilled hunters, believers in an after-life, and even skilled surgeons, as seen in one skeleton whose withered right arm had been amputated above the elbow. (source: "Upgrading Neanderthal Man", Time Magazine, May 17, 1971, Vol. 97, No. 20)

Taken from: http://www.nwcreation.net/evolutionfraud.html

[NJ_gent]

"when the Kansas Board of Education first removed portions of biological evolution from their science standards in 1998, they also eliminated statements mandating that Kansas students learn about the Big Bang, that there is overwhelming evidence that the earth is much older than 10,000 years, and the theory of plate tectonics."

Why not take the next step, Kansas? Eliminate all science from your schools now. That way, you can make sure your students are as uneducated as possible and doomed to failure in the high tech workforce of the 21st century. School districts that take these sorts of actions will see an incredible proportion of their students serving fries and wearing funny hats the rest of their lives. Regardless of whether or not you believe Big Bang theory and the ToE, it's vital to have a strong background in the science behind them. No one benefits from removing science from the classroom and replacing it with Raelian pseudoscience. I tend to wonder if, when ID starts being taught in some schools, they'll have Rael come out and talk to the kids about the origins of the species.

[wallcrawlr]

ping

Revelation 4:11
See my profile for info

[RadioAstronomer]

You can't just believe everything you hear from an adult ... he could be lying, honestly mistaken, or joking with you. Always be ready to evaluate the source.

Hmmm. The entire scientific community on one side with over 150 years of data to back them up vs. few strident "God-in-the-gaps" voices on the other. How to choose.... How to choose...

Well Duh!

[Junior]

Wow, a grammatical and scientific abomination in the same post.

With opponents like this, evolution is in no danger whatsoever.

[kharaku]

And yet evolutionists continually sue schools which teach anything but the theory of evolution. Students are routinely, as was I, forced to acknolwedge only the theory of evolution as a valid theory on tests in the science programs. Evolutionists will delete eany evidence contrary to their theory from the curriculum, and falsify evidence as needed to satisfy the curious.

[TOWER]

Typo