Frist backs 'intelligent design' teaching

AP ^ | 8/19/5 | ROSE FRENCH

[SmithL]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Echoing similar comments from President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said "intelligent design" should be taught in public schools alongside evolution.

Frist, R-Tenn., spoke to a Rotary Club meeting Friday and told reporters afterward that students need to be exposed to different ideas, including intelligent design.

"I think today a pluralistic society should have access to a broad range of fact, of science, including faith," Frist said.

Frist, a doctor who graduated from Harvard Medical School, said exposing children to both evolution and intelligent design "doesn't force any particular theory on anyone. I think in a pluralistic society that is the fairest way to go about education and training people for the future."

The theory of intelligent design says life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation. Nearly all scientists dismiss it as a scientific theory, and critics say it's nothing more than religion masquerading as science.

Bush recently told a group of Texas reporters that intelligent design and evolution should both be taught in schools "so people can understand what the debate is about."

That comment sparked criticism from opponents, including Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, who called Bush "anti-science."

Frist, who is considering a presidential campaign in 2008, recently angered some conservatives by bucking Bush policy on embryonic stem cell research, voicing his support for expanded research on the subject.

Frist said his decision to endorse stem cell research was "a matter of science," but he said there was no conflict between his position on stem cell research and his position on intelligent design.

"To me, I see no disconnect between that and stem cell research," Frist said. "I base my beliefs on stem cell research both on science and my faith.

[Moral Hazard]

"Personally I'd like to see protections for employers who would rather employ workers who have been taught values like thou shall not steal or lie, and more reliance on faith charities to help solve problems like drug addiction and poverty are a step in the right direction."

Personally I'd like to see protections for employers who would rather not employ workers who have been taught that killing all the first born children of Egypt was a good thing.

[Once-Ler]

Remember all those Islamic charities we've been shutting down?

That is a very good point.

[Once-Ler]

Any evidence for the contention that Christians are less likely to steal or lie than anyone else?

I'm sure there are studies that could be sited but I am relying on personal observations.

[Once-Ler]

I think an employer should be allowed to hire heathens if he chooses. The market place will eventually determine if that was a wise business choice.

[AdmSmith]

I think government and faith based charities can do more if they share resources and knowledge.

They do that here:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/10/stories/2005081000931000.htm
"There are strong suspicions that government-backed Saudi charities such as the Al Harmain Islamic Foundation, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, and the International Islamic Relief Organisation continue to fund extremist and terrorist activities worldwide and disturb peace and harmony in pluralistic societies."

[Lord_Baltar]

Amen Professor, Amen.

However, it is amusing watching the Zealots try to shoe horn their religion into the category of science, without anything but scripture as their "evidence".

Didn't we do away with this fundimentalist nonsense when ID-like views about the Sun, the Stars, and the Universe orbiting the Earth (the flat one, mind you) was proven to be so much religious drivel?

If people are so desperate to teach children about Creationism, why not just teach it in Sunday School, where it belongs, and leave Science to be taught in Science Class.

Or, would they prefer having Science Professors bellying up to their Pulpits and Teaching Science in their Church?

[Right Wing Professor]

I'm sure there are studies that could be sited but I am relying on personal observations.

I'm not. I took the percentage of Christians in the 50 states, from the Statistical Abstract of the United States, and plotted it against the FBI's reported total crime rate by state. The result was that there was almost no correlation between the population of Christians and the total crime rate.

[Vive ut Vivas]

Scientists should start demanding equal time to teach evolution in church. They should demand that churches "teach the controversy" that exists with the literal Genesis reading of the Bible, and other problems they have.

[Lord_Baltar]

There ya go.

I mean, since they want things to be so "equal" then the IDers should have no problem with this idea.

[JohnnyZ]

Does Astrology and scientology fall into this category?

As alternate theories to ..... what, exactly?

I think it would be useful for people to learn about astrology. It would help their cultural literacy and their understand of Chaucer and other literature. Where that might fit into a curriculum, I'm not sure.

Scientology should properly be taught in a historical context along with Mormonism, as new American religions. I think I did learn about both in school.

[Once-Ler]

Here is the nifty combination of science and government.

An Unhappy Anniversary: The Alar 'Scare' Ten Years Later

D&X procedure (a.k.a.Partial Birth Abortion) - All sides

The procedure is usually performed during the fifth month of gestation or later. The woman's cervix is dilated, and the fetus is partially removed from the womb, feet first. The surgeon inserts a sharp object into the back of the fetus' head, removes it, and inserts a vacuum tube through which the brains are extracted. The head of the fetus contracts at this point and allows the fetus to be more easily removed from the womb.

Federal Mastodon Tusk Study--Taxpayer Funded

[Borges]

I think it would be useful for people to learn about astrology. It would help their cultural literacy and their understand of Chaucer and other literature. Where that might fit into a curriculum, I'm not sure.

Scientology should properly be taught in a historical context along with Mormonism, as new American religions. I think I did learn about both in school.

That's all well and good. But they certainly shouldn't be taught in a science class.

[Natty Boh III]

This issue isn't going away. You Evol-Doers will have to start defending your 'belief-system' with actual Science, instead of blind belief. P.S. Science must be observable and repeatable. Have fun kiddies.

How is Intelligent Design observable and repeatable?

[taxesareforever]

I don't think "sulk" is the word. More like "angry".

[PatrickHenry]

I found a pic of Frist using ID theory in the practice of medicine:

[wallcrawlr]

ping

Revelation 4:11
See my profile for info

[taxesareforever]

Thus far, IDers have done nothing more than jump up and down about how science hasn't explained everything yet.

You are absolutely wrong about this. You are just reluctant to open your eyes and mind to the evidences. http://www.icr.org/ I know what your answer will be to this. "Oh, they have an agenda". But in the end it is evolutionaries who will not listen to points of view from creation science. Why should they? They think they have all the answers.

[taxesareforever]

You are one of the few.

[muleskinner]

The Flying Spaghetti monster is, in fact, the Great Cthulhu.

"...A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings... It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence...” (“The Call of Cthulhu”)

[Lord_Baltar]

The question really should be "Why Should they?"

Adding the word Science to your argument no more makes it science, then putting on a cape makes you Superman.