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Dispute over evolution goes on trial in U.S. court
Baltimore Sun ^ | September 26, 2005 | Arthur Hirsch

Posted on 09/26/2005 1:53:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

A Pennsylvania school district's use of "intelligent design" in its high school biology curriculum goes on trial in federal court today in the nation's first legal challenge to the idea, which contends that evolutionary theory alone does not explain how life on Earth took shape.

The lawsuit, brought by 11 parents in the Dover Area School District, attacks as unconstitutional the year-old policy of telling ninth-grade biology students that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution "is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is no evidence." School officials also recommend a book on intelligent design, or ID.

The plaintiffs, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, argue that the policy -- which does not require students to study intelligent design -- serves religious, not secular ends, violating the First Amendment.

ID proponents say scientists can look at life forms and identify the work of a controlling "intelligence," although ID advocates are not specific about the nature of that force. While they do not reject all evolutionary theory, ID proponents argue that it incorrectly insists life took shape purely through a mindless process.

(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: allcrevoallthetime; anothercrevothread; crevolist; crevorepublic; education; enoughalready; evolution; id; lawsuit; religion; scienceeducation
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To: RadioAstronomer

Yeah, months ago. Not convinced - sorry.


221 posted on 09/26/2005 11:28:01 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: hyperkitty
Brillant...,

Ask a fatuous question and expect a contemptuous answer.

222 posted on 09/26/2005 11:34:17 AM PDT by Thatcherite (Conservative and Biblical Literalist are not synonymous)
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To: mlc9852
Yeah, months ago. Not convinced - sorry.

Do tell then, explain why you find the arguments unconvincing.

223 posted on 09/26/2005 11:35:02 AM PDT by Thatcherite (Conservative and Biblical Literalist are not synonymous)
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To: Thatcherite

They aren't logical. Why would one kind of animal turn into a different kind of animal? How and why would an ape turn into a human? Just isn't logical. And do you really believe "evolution" could account for the myriad flora and fauna? I don't.


224 posted on 09/26/2005 11:37:18 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: metmom
Don't scientists even do that at times or are they ALWAYS in agreement?

Actually, scientists are constantly at each others throats. Its very competitive, and actual errors of reasoning can result in endless humiliation. Factual errors are not rare, which is why major new ideas have to be confirmed by independent observations and multiple lines of evidence. It's a rather dense fabric, and you are not going to unravel any theory that's 150 years old. At best you will add some new threads.

Or, as with Newtonian laws, add a new border, enlarging the picture.

225 posted on 09/26/2005 11:39:41 AM PDT by js1138 (Great is the power of steady misrepresentation.)
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To: mlc9852
They aren't logical. Why would one kind of animal turn into a different kind of animal? How and why would an ape turn into a human? Just isn't logical. And do you really believe "evolution" could account for the myriad flora and fauna? I don't.

That isn't a response to the evidence. It's just the opinions that you had before you looked at the evidence. (if you ever did look)

226 posted on 09/26/2005 11:39:47 AM PDT by Thatcherite (Conservative and Biblical Literalist are not synonymous)
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To: Antonello; Thatcherite; Quark2005
OK, so what is the scientific community's prediction about the next step in the evolutionary process?

That it will occur.

Yeah, this type of prediction seems to prove that the theory of evolution is practically useless for any truly predictive purposes.

I thought "classical scientific method" had something to do with making a "pre" diction (not a "retrodiction") and then devising some experimental process to verify or falsify the prediction.

227 posted on 09/26/2005 11:41:20 AM PDT by KMJames
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To: mlc9852

You can refute the data provided in those links????

A Nobel is in your future!


228 posted on 09/26/2005 11:42:41 AM PDT by RadioAstronomer (Senior member of Darwin Central)
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To: Thatcherite

I don't have to accept evidence I don't believe. Just like a jury doesn't have to accept evidence they don't believe.


229 posted on 09/26/2005 11:43:33 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: RadioAstronomer

How does your head fit through the door???


230 posted on 09/26/2005 11:44:15 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: mlc9852; Thatcherite
They aren't logical. Why would one kind of animal turn into a different kind of animal? How and why would an ape turn into a human? Just isn't logical. And do you really believe "evolution" could account for the myriad flora and fauna? I don't.

Most of those links were cosmology and geology. Hmmm... Guess you really didn't look, did you.

231 posted on 09/26/2005 11:44:38 AM PDT by RadioAstronomer (Senior member of Darwin Central)
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To: RadioAstronomer

Get over yourself. The world will go on long after you are gone.


232 posted on 09/26/2005 11:46:01 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: mlc9852

And this has what to do with the links provided?

Just attempting to actually teach you something. However, I am beginning to realize that is a futile endeavor.


233 posted on 09/26/2005 11:52:54 AM PDT by RadioAstronomer (Senior member of Darwin Central)
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To: KMJames
Yeah, this type of prediction seems to prove that the theory of evolution is practically useless for any truly predictive purposes.

Read my previous link more carefully - there are many predictions that can be made with it.

I thought "classical scientific method" had something to do with making a "pre" diction (not a "retrodiction") and then devising some experimental process to verify or falsify the prediction

Not necessarily. Direct experimentation is only one method of data collection (otherwise there would be very little astronomy, meteorology, etc.). Data is also collected in the field. Evolutionary biology predicts certain data will be found, and has been successfully tested in this manner. Also, many direct genetic experiments confirm predictions made by the theory; a good example is in the article in this concurrent FR thread. Plainly speaking, the theory works and has not been falsified.

234 posted on 09/26/2005 11:55:44 AM PDT by Quark2005 (Where's the science?)
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To: RadioAstronomer

You should have realized that long ago. My mind is closed to evolution - just as yours is to creation.


235 posted on 09/26/2005 11:56:52 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: RadioAstronomer
Educating the ineducable is a struggle.
236 posted on 09/26/2005 11:57:03 AM PDT by Thatcherite (Conservative and Biblical Literalist are not synonymous)
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To: mlc9852
The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State once again - communism continues to try push God out of our society and culture and no doubt they will continue to win.

I'm on their side in this case. Superstition has no place in a science class.

237 posted on 09/26/2005 11:58:25 AM PDT by Zeroisanumber
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To: Zeroisanumber

I didn't realize you had a vote in the litigation. Are you the judge?


238 posted on 09/26/2005 11:59:59 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: mlc9852; RadioAstronomer
My mind is closed to evolution - just as yours is to creation.

I am glad that you admit to being closed-minded; but I'll speak for RadioAstronomer and myself in declaring that you need merely show us ample physical evidence in support of your position that evolution is false to persuade us.

Is your position that no physical evidence could persuade you of the truth of evolution?

239 posted on 09/26/2005 12:01:32 PM PDT by Thatcherite (Conservative and Biblical Literalist are not synonymous)
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To: DesertSapper
Though not a direct reflection on the "science" of the case, does it not bother you that your "side" of this issue is headed by "the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State"?

If there were a conservative institution that had the guts to take on these creationist lunatics, then I would happily support them. Since there isn't, I side with whoever is on my side of the argument, regardless of my other political differences.

240 posted on 09/26/2005 12:01:55 PM PDT by Zeroisanumber
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