Posted on 02/28/2006 4:05:45 AM PST by PatrickHenry
House lawmakers scuttled a bill that would have required public school students to be told that evolution is not empirically proven - the latest setback for critics of evolution.
The bill's sponsor, Republican state Sen. Chris Buttars, had said it was time to rein in teachers who were teaching that man descended from apes and rattling the faith of students. The Senate earlier passed the measure 16-12.
But the bill failed in the House on a 28-46 vote Monday. The bill would have required teachers to tell students that evolution is not a fact and the state doesn't endorse the theory.
Rep. Scott Wyatt, a Republican, said he feared passing the bill would force the state to then address hundreds of other scientific theories - "from Quantum physics to Freud" - in the same manner.
"I would leave you with two questions," Wyatt said. "If we decide to weigh in on this part, are we going to begin weighing in on all the others and are we the correct body to do that?"
Buttars said he didn't believe the defeat means that most House members think Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is correct.
"I don't believe that anybody in there really wants their kids to be taught that their great-grandfather was an ape," Buttars said.
The vote represents the latest loss for critics of evolution. In December, a federal judge barred the school system in Dover, Pa., from teaching intelligent design alongside evolution in high school biology classes.
Also last year, a federal judge ordered the school system in suburban Atlanta's Cobb County to remove from biology textbooks stickers that called evolution a theory, not a fact.
Earlier this year, a rural California school district canceled an elective philosophy course on intelligent design and agreed never to promote the topic in class again.
But critics of evolution got a boost in Kansas in November when the state Board of Education adopted new science teaching standards that treat evolution as a flawed theory, defying the view of science groups.
That chart is from The Fossil Record: Evolution or "Scientific Creation" by Clifford A. Cuffey. It is on part 5 of a multipart article.
The beginning of the article is here.
It effectively demolishes the entire creationist argument. Excellent reading!
I've seen several people come to these threads and change their mind. This is not a total waste of time.
More important, it's a demonstration to whatever conservative political lurkers we have that they'd best not climb in bed and promote creationism. Because there are genuine conservatives around here who will not tolerate such foolishness. And conservatives who do such things will be defeated by a combination of outraged political moderates, lefties, and educated conservatives.
Rick Santorum once talked up ID, but he's recoiled from it. Both Bush brothers, same thing. Rush Limbaugh won't touch the subject. Even Fred Barnes on Fox News, who's obviously a Christian and once implied something positive about ID won't touch the subject now.
I think we're succeeding in preventing a real screwup by the Republican party. I hope so anyway.
Evolution is the new "third rail" in American politics.
[that's not a bad tagline]
Argue with Ichemonuen (sp?)
HE'S the one that posted this thing before, letting folks ASSUME that they all linked together.
Um-m, y'know about that math being the queen **and servant** thingy?
I use math, don't worship it.
Oh, and at least when I come from, you don't get a degree in bio without calc. Useful, in its place.
Proof of a global flood? I have yet to see any, and my own research contradicts it.
What!?
No SPAM tag for the MORMON stuff??
Interesting.........
You can be a Jew, and still believe in Christ for your salvation!
Yeah; me.
Do you have empirical evidence to refute this?
Is it "scientific" to make such conclusions?
That's probably what is plugging it up: Pencils!!
There is pretty good empirical evidence that Mark's gospel is not eyewitness testimony, in that he is confused about the geography of Palestine.
(Insert joke about constipated mathematician here)
Well... if HE doesn't speak DIRECTLY to YOU, then yopu have to rely on others for input.
Who knows, they may have faulty memory, or have an agenda, or an ax to grind, or be mentally off or (Heaven forbid!) a liar.
I've noticed it wasn't one of MY replies....
His ol' lady had just died. He was just 'being consouled'. Poor fellow.....
And Bode Miller is proof that he wasn't taking 'performance enhancing' drugs!
I'll stick this on it for future posting. Thanks!
I have no interest in discussing religion. I only get into religious discussions when people say things that are demonstrably untrue.
For example I have no evidence proving the Biblical flood did not happen. It is false, however, to assert that there is physical evidence for such an event.
If your faith requires physical evidence for support, I would expect you to be frequently and continuously disappointed.
Science can only deal with things that can be observed, or with regular, recurring phenomena. It can only base its picture of history on evidence that can be found and on extrapolating processes that can currently be observed.
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