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"One school official, Lexington-Richland 5 science supervisor Kitty Farnell, said the committee's questioning of educators' work sets "a terrible example for our students."
"It's an embarrassment," she said."
Indeed.
Long ago, before there were any people, the world was young and water covered everything. The earth was a great island floating above the seas, suspended by four rawhide ropes representing the four sacred directions. It hung down from the crystal sky. There were no people, but the animals lived in a home above the rainbow. Needing space, they sent Water Beetle to search for room under the seas. Water Beetle dove deep and brought up mud that spread quickly, turning into land that was flat and too soft and wet for the animals to live on.Could have happened that way. It should be seriously studied in science class. You can't prove to me that Water Beetle didn't dive deep bringing up the mud to create the land. This should seriously be discussed in geology class. What? Are you afraid of competing theories?
Grandfather Buzzard was sent to see if the land had hardened. When he flew over the earth, he found the mud had become solid; he flapped in for a closer look. The wind from his wings created valleys and mountains, and that is why the Cherokee territory has so many mountains today.
As the earth stiffened, the animals came down from the rainbow. It was still dark. They needed light, so they pulled the sun out from behind the rainbow, but it was too bright and hot. A solution was urgently needed. The shamans were told to place the sun higher in the sky. A path was made for it to travel--from east to west--so that all inhabitants could share in the light.
The plants were placed upon the earth. The Creator told the plants and animals to stay awake for seven days and seven nights. Only a few animals managed to do so, including the owls and mountain lions, and they were rewarded with the power to see in the dark. Among the plants, only the cedars, spruces, and pines remained awake. The Creator told these plants that they would keep their hair during the winter, while the other plants would lose theirs.
People were created last. The women were able to have babies every seven days. They reproduced so quickly that the Creator feared the world would soon become too crowded. So after that the women could have only one child per year, and it has been that way ever since.
The benefit of public schooling.
I know I've mentioned this before, but it still astounds me that supposedly "conservative" religious types don't see the inherent danger in encouraging the government to take up the business of teaching religious doctrine.
I think they need to start including philosophy of science in grade school science classes.
Obviously not many people understand the nature of science and its limitations.
Like some of the evolution proponents around here who claim evolution is a fact.
Amazing that people can get graduate degrees in science and still do not know what science is.
This is sure making the Republican Party look bad. Sigh.
I'm not sure what the ID "movement's" perspective is, or even if there is just one or many. If it's a veiled attempt restate the world was created in 6 days by a cosmic potter, then it should be opposed. But (and here's where I'm going to raise the ire of both sides) if it's an attempt to understand why evolution happens, I believe it deserves inclusion and discussion in our classrooms! I'm not saying that the theory that everything happened by pure chance must be silenced, but when even the geneticists themselves start doubting the plausibility of that aspect of the evolution theory, I see no reason to oppose the idea that perhaps something else is involved. I'm coming to believe that organic evolution is governed by a set of universal natural laws that we have not yet discovered. If some want to call them the "hands of God" (as I do) what harm is there in saying that to our children? Only the dogmatic atheists could oppose that, and they should have NO SAY in the matter!
BTW, I've recently learned that Hebrew word for "DAY" can mean daylight, 24 hours, or an indeterminate period of time much like the English word "ERA". Just food for thought about the Genesis story.
Except that it seems to spread more easily.
Why do these politicians who are gunning for evolution always seem to have an "R" after their name? Its soon going to be time to start looking at third-party candidates.
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I don't understand the problem at all. Even if you believe fully in evolution and believe creationism is totally false, WHY do you want your children to be closed-minded and ignorant to different theories? Doesn't everyone want their children to learn everything they can? Why shouldn't they learn about both?
Revelation 4:11Intelligent Design
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Spoken by Mad Elsie!!!!
The charges flew at the state capitol yesterday. I.M. Smarternyu, spokesperson for the nonjudgmental and highly qualified education union called the action "treasonous." "These poisonous and dishonest braying fundametalists want to burn books, teach Genesis as the creation myth, bring back witch trials, and burn heretics at the stake. People with such clear ideological bias should never be allowed to be in contact with our students, much less have a say in how we teach them." Senator Futzmeyer's office released a statement which said the charges were "not true." The one page paper looking remarkably similar to talking points script from the right wing religous group "Make Christianity the Law of the Land and Incarcerate the Atheists." The leader of that group, Bob Finklemeyer, was recently jailed for keeping his children in chains because they could not correctly recite the entire book of Leviticus in the original Hebrew, so he was unavailable to comment on the similarity.
The subject has come to the forefront on the national scene recently, with the entire scientific community speaking in a unified voice on the issue. A few rogue pseudoscientists -most of them friends of Karl Rove with ties to Haliburton and the Iraq war - have brought up the charge that 1) the argument that science is done in a secular setting is philosophical, not "scientific" and 2) the universe looks like it might be designed. This attempt to slip religion in under the door has infuriated respectable scientists like Oxford don Richard Dawkins, who stated "these damn religious inquisitionists are going to make my head explode some day. All the really smart people believe like I do."
For more reading on the subject, go to :
For the reasonable side, go to
www.whyreligionisafable.com
www.whyintelligentdesignisjustreligion.com
www.religionisfortheweakminded.com
www.truescienceisatheistic.com
www.onlytheuneducatedareagainstus.com
Religious loons may go to senator Futzmeyer's site for links. You can find it at www.google.com