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Science is the basis of public schooling
Anchorage Daily News ^ | 10-14-05 | Stephen Haycox

Posted on 10/14/2005 10:28:52 AM PDT by akdonn

It's odd there should be so much "science abuse" in popular discourse today, attacks based on the proposition that science might be wrong and should be "debated" with faith.

Science is the basis of our public education system; everything we teach in school is based on science, not on faith. The U.S. Constitution prohibits teaching based on faith, for the very good reason that in a democracy there's no way to choose which faith the education might be based on.

Rejecting what de Tocqueville called the "tyranny of the majority," i.e., majority rule, against which the Bill of Rights is our chief protection, science is the only possible basis for education, for it is neutral.

Science abuse abounds. Evolution and global warming are the two most prevalent examples, but there are many more, including stem cell research, relativity and even plate tectonics. The call for "debate" on these basic explanations of reality manifests a confusion regarding the nature of science and faith.

Faith is a phenomenon understood as truth based on the word of another. In the case of religion, the "other" is sacred scripture. Science, on the other hand, is phenomena understood as truth based on measured observation and rational analysis of the results. Science is empirical; faith is spiritual.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Philosophy; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: creationism; crevolist; evolution; homophones; intellegentdesign; moose; publicschools; science; scienceeducation
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To: sittnick; ninenot; Tax-chick; ArrogantBustard; Petronski
Wait a minute! That's Mike Kekich, the actual (original) Mrs. Fritz Peterson's husband of sorts who later married and was divorced by the original Mrs. Peterson and the former husband of a sort of what now passes for Mrs. Peterson (unless there has been yet another divorce which I have not noticed. I think I have that straight. Well, that was all several decades ago. If it happened today, two washed up pitchers seeking press attention would have "married" each other during a series at Fenway and upon being released, would have claimed victim status with Selig ordering their reinstatement as Yankee pitchers and a Steinbrenner apology to avoid infuriating the pervo-American community.

Because it all happened a few decades ago, it was sufficient to perform mere formalized wife-swapping in accordance with the, ahem, "rule of law."

Wait, wait! Have Kekich and Peterson married each other while the ex-wives (according to law) whom they have shared are now married to each other? Probably no longer newsworthy! What about the household pets????? Modern life is soooo needlesly complicated!

201 posted on 10/22/2005 10:02:02 AM PDT by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline of the Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 192 | View Replies]

To: BlackElk

I knew the wombat was relevant when I googled it ... just wasn't sure how.


202 posted on 10/22/2005 3:23:47 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Neither the depth of despondency nor the height of euphoria tells you how long either will last. ")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 201 | View Replies]


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