Posted on 10/27/2005 1:41:22 PM PDT by Right Wing Professor
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A former school board member who denied advocating that creationism be taught alongside evolution in high-school biology classes changed his story Thursday after lawyers in a federal courtroom played a TV news clip that recorded him making such a comment.
William Buckingham explained the discrepancy by saying that he "misspoke."
Buckingham's testimony came in the fifth week of testimony in a lawsuit filed by eight families who are challenging the Dover Area School District's policy that students hear a statement about intelligent design in biology classes. Critics say intelligent design is a repackaging of the biblical view of creation and thus violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
Buckingham, who led the board's curriculum committee when it approved the policy a year ago, confirmed Thursday that he said during a June 2004 board meeting that the biology textbook is "laced with Darwinism." The clip that was shown later in the day came from an interview that he gave to a news crew from WPMT-TV in York later in the month.
"It's OK to teach Darwin," he said in the interview, "but you have to balance it with something else, such as creationism."
Asked to explain by a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Buckingham said he felt "ambushed" by the camera crew as he walked across a parking lot to his car and that he had been consciously trying to avoid mentioning creationism.
"I had it in my mind to make sure not to talk about creationism. I had it on my mind. I was like a deer in the headlights. I misspoke," he told U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, who is presiding over the non-jury trial.
Earlier in Thursday's court session, Buckingham claimed that he had been misquoted in stories from two newspapers that reported his advocating the teaching of creationism to counterbalance the material on evolution.
"It's just another instance when we would say intelligent design and they would print creationism," he said.
When Stephen Harvey, the plaintiffs' lawyer, noted the similarity of the newspaper reports to what he told the TV crew, Buckingham replied, "That doesn't mean it's accurate."
Buckingham moved to North Carolina in July and resigned from the board, citing health problems.
The statement that the Dover teachers are required to read before ninth-grade biology lessons on evolution says Darwin's theory is not a fact and has inexplicable gaps. It refers students to a textbook, "Of Pandas and People," for more information.
Intelligent design supporters argue that natural selection, an element of evolutionary theory, cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms.
The trial began Sept. 26 and could last through early November.
The plaintiffs are represented by a team put together by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The school district is being represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that says its mission is to defend the religious freedom of Christians.
This can result in the loss of a wheel during sharp turn.
indoctrinate a captive audience of children into the 'proper' points of view.
But indoctrinating is fun for us teachers. You can't ruin that! It would take all the fun away from teaching reading, writing, and math, not to mention respect for family and parents, working hard, being honest, and the wonderful associations I have with my students and their parents. Do I need to give my mind control device away then?
YES! It will sound to the creationists like being caught in a compromising position. They ABHOR compromise.
This strict ceationist does not.
Serial sayer of "the thing which is not."
You mean Tony the Tiger can't say, "It's GRRRRRRREAT!"???????
I am not sure why you would ask this concerning privatization of education, but I would leave that up to the parents.
Don't you think atheist parents or some who think God is dead should be able to tell their children that viewpoint or send them to a private school that does if they want. I think it should be up to them at any rate and not the government.
My post was inoperative.
Get a doctor.
Lots of factors involved in society in education too--
Some of us would just like the choice to be able to raise a child too. But I'm not going to go get government money to pay for that personal choice.
I appreciate good teachers and the positive influence that many of them have. You sound like a great teacher and you would be just as good in a fine private school of the parent's choice. :)
I love being able to serve some of my own neighbors and my community.
Most of my beef is locally, so I do not have any with you and think that you are probably a fine parent. My grandpa was a state teachers' union president and all of his grandchildren have gone to neighborhood schools. His legacy has continued and the great majority of his progeny are god-fearing, family-oriented people. Many of his grandsons are Eagle Scouts. My parents and many of my studetns' parents are wonderful people who know THEY are the main shapers of their children's futures. We had a speed bump here and there in public ed, but we also had many good teachers as well (this includes my brother still in it today). Even with the bad teachers, we were expected to respect the teacher and learn something and that we did. We didn't have comforts like cable TV or video game stystems (even though they were widely available), but we enjoyed our time together as a family and still do today. None of us are graduates of Harvard or Yale, but that didn't matter to my mom. She wanted us to turn out to be "good kids" and do well in life and we have.
I don't get many of my own choices. I would be rich if I had a nickel for all the things that have not gone my way, but I remain very thankful to the guy upstairs for the things with which he has blessed me.
I wish that I could say that I could complain about not having a "choice" for a child. I've wanted one for a dozen years (as have many other people). Others have much bigger things to deal with so I just am thankful for my blessings and work for the better.
Another creationist liar
I lie down pretty well:)
misplacemarker.
studetns'
See how good I am???:)
va-va-vrrrooooom!
I am .... I'm also cognizant this if parents send their kiddies to schools that teach garbage, there'll be significant consequences. But I think everyone ought to chose the child's education the same way they choose the food they feed them; from the free market. If you feed your kid Wing-Dings, don't be surprised if the kid grows up to be a mess; if you educate your kid on the intellectual equivalent of Wing-Dings (astrology, Creationism, ID, numerology, etc.), dont' be surprised if the kid ends up an intellectual mess.
LOL
You just made me choke on my Tums.
"You just made me choke on my Tums."
Don't get a tumsyachy.
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