Utah House kills evolution bill

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ^ | 28 February 2006 | JENNIFER DOBNER

[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.

[Coyoteman]

Just for the halibut I google a bit myself. I'll let you know what comes down the pike. It cod be interesting.

OK now that is funny! I think you guys have too much time on your brain. LOL!!

Yeah, sometimes we have a whale of a good time here. But seriously, this site serves a great porpoise for all of us.

[P-Marlowe]

Well I don't know any of those people. A person is known by the company they keep.

BTW, if Elvis were alive, he'd be dead by now.

[pby]

Your conclusion isn't logical, if Mark's report is accurate.

One could have been by the Sea of Galilee and also in the region, district or border/boundary of Decapolis...The region of Decapolis was a big place and you are, without evidence, going farther south to make your point.

Even if it was like going from D.C. to New York via Boston, you don't know, or can't prove, that Jesus didn't do it (and thus, that Mark's report is inaccurate).

But...You are a man of many talents, Professor - very interesting.

[wyattearp]

Born agains eat their daily bread, which is sufficient for all their needs.

Yet they're not willing to get their own, and they make repeated demands that it be given to them.

[zeeba neighba]

If that made any sense, you'd be almost ready for prime time posting

[pby]

"I wasn't rain. It was invisible pink unicorn tears."

And you said that you didn't discuss religion...This is the second time.

[wyattearp]

Never heard of the Lord's Prayer?

[zeeba neighba]

So?

[ml1954]

Peace be upon her.

[zeeba neighba]

I think it;s Jolly Roger time, and I'm not talkin piratese

[wyattearp]

My sense of humor may be a bit dry, but yours appears to be missing entirely. ;-)

[js1138]

I'm not discussing religion. I'm discussing claims made about the world that are susceptable to testing. If you are basing your faith on assertions that can be falsified you might hear from me.

I have no problem with people believing in miracles provided they do not make false claims about the physical world.

[pby]

Your looniness scale aside...that is what the Bible says.

How does your looniness scale operate anyway?

Are you absolutely positive that all of the springs of the deep bursting forth is an implausible event?

How do you know?

[phantomworker]

Why do I find that so extremely funny!! ROFL! (maybe 'cuz I'm listening to an online systems engineering class through USC? It must be mind-warping. LOL!)

Very punny! Thanks!

[zeeba neighba]

Oh, okay. That was a kneeslapper. Yes it was.

[ml1954]

How do you know?

How do you know the Bible is literally true?

[Stultis]

Hmm. Every English Bible, aside from the NIV, seems to agree with you too. It's often been asserted that the NIV has an inerrantist bias. This appears to be an illustration. From here:

Stephens 1550 Textus Receptus
kai palin exelqwn ek twn oriwn turou kai sidwnos hlqen pros thn qalassan thV galilaiaV ana meson twn oriwn dekapolewV

Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus
kai palin exelqwn ek twn oriwn turou kai sidwnos hlqen pros thn qalassan thV galilaiaV ana meson twn oriwn dekapolewV

Byzantine Majority
kai palin exelqwn ek twn oriwn turou kai sidwnos hlqen pros thn qalassan thV galilaiaV ana meson twn oriwn dekapolewV

Alexandrian
kai palin exelqwn ek twn oriwn turou hlqen dia sidwnos eis thn qalassan thV galilaiaV ana meson twn oriwn dekapolewV

Hort and Westcott
kai palin exelqwn ek twn oriwn turou hlqen dia sidwnoV eiV thn qalassan thV galilaiaV ana meson twn oriwn dekapolewV

Latin Vulgate
7:31 et iterum exiens de finibus Tyri venit per Sidonem ad mare Galilaeae inter medios fines Decapoleos

King James Version
7:31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

American Standard Version
7:31 And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.

Bible in Basic English
7:31 And again he went out from Tyre, and came through Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the country of Decapolis.

Darby's English Translation
7:31 And again having left the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

Douay Rheims
7:32 And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him.

Noah Webster Bible
7:31 And again, departing from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.

Weymouth New Testament
7:31 Returning from the neighbourhood of Tyre, He came by way of Sidon to the Lake of Galilee, passing through the district of the Ten Towns.

World English Bible
7:31 Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.

Young's Literal Translation
7:31 And again, having gone forth from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis,

[pby]

Please present to us then your method for testing and falsifying the veracity of the Biblical claim that all the springs from the deep burst forth, which contributed to Noah's flood.

Do you have evidence that these springs did not burst forth contributing to the flood?

And seeing how Noah's flood involves supernatural elements, your scientific disciplines can't trespass into it's territory...as science doesn't deal in the supernatural.

[pby]

arrrgh, matey!

[zeeba neighba]

For him to do that you are going to have to send him a gazillion dollars, more if he claims to be a scientist