Hope you've got Bast and not Sobek.
Posted on 06/21/2006 8:33:46 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
In a veiled attack on creationism, the world's foremost academies of science on Wednesday called on parents and teachers to provide children with the facts about evolution and the origins of life on Earth.
A declaration signed by 67 national academies of science blasted the scriptural teaching of biology as a potential distortion of young minds.
"In various parts of the world, within science courses taught in certain public systems of education, scientific evidence, data and testable theories about the origins and evolution of life on Earth are being concealed, denied or confused with theories not testable by science," the declaration said.
"We urge decision-makers, teachers and parents to educate all children about the methods and discoveries of science and to foster an understanding of the science of nature.
"Knowledge of the natural world in which they live empowers people to meet human needs and protect the planet."
Citing "evidence-based facts" derived from observation, experiment and neutral assessment, the declaration points to findings that the Universe is between 11 and 15 billion years old, and the Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
Life on Earth appeared at least 2.5 billion years ago as a result of physical and chemical processes, and evolved into the species that live today.
"Commonalities in the structure of the genetic code of all organisms living today, including humans, clearly indicate their common primordial origin," it said.
The statement does not name any names or religions, nor does it explain why it fears the teaching of evolution or the scientific explanation for the origins of planetary life are being sidelined.
Signatories of the declaration include the US National Academy of Sciences, Britain's Royal Society, the French Academy of Sciences and their counterparts in Canada, China, Germany, Iran, Israel and Japan and elsewhere.
It comes, however, in the context of mounting concern among biologists about the perceived influence of creationism in the United States.
Evangelical Christians there are campaigning hard for schools to teach creationism or downgrade evolution to the status of one of a competing group of theories about the origins of life on Earth.
According to the website Christian Post (www.christianpost.com), an opinion poll conducted in May by Gallop found that 46 percent of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years or so.
Scientists say hominids emerged around six million years ago and one of their offshoots developed into anatomically modern man, Homo sapiens, about 200,000 years ago, although the timings of both events are fiercely debated.
Nearly every religion offers an explanation as to how life began on Earth.
Fundamentalist Christians insist on a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, in which God made the world in seven days, culminating in the creation of the first two humans, Adam and Eve.
A variation of this is called "intelligent design" which acknowledges evolution but claims that genetic mutations are guided by God's hand rather than by Charles Darwin's process of natural selection.
US President George W. Bush said last August that he believed in this concept and that he supported its teaching in American schools.
The academies' statement says that science does not seek to offer judgements of value or morality, and acknowledges limitations in current knowledge.
"Science is open-ended and subject to correction and expansion as new theoretical and empirical understanding emerges," it adds.
"You're stating your own religious belief, not a fact, stormer."
Ah, young Master, you have reached understanding. You may not recognize it yet, but you have spoken wisely.
Evolutionists seem to be trying to stop inquiries, inquiries into the validity of macroevolution (microevolution generally does not involve adding genetic information, but often deleting it).
Hope you've got Bast and not Sobek.
"Ack! Ack ack ack, ack!"
"Well, in this part of the world, children are being taught a theory not testable by science. It is called evolution. Everything else is being concealed."
What is your measure of information?
Everybody has a religious belief. Atheists usually worship either themselves directly or indirectly (worshipping Creation (the Universe), humanism, etc.).
"Hope you've got Bast and not Sobek."
Indeed! Either way, it must be appeased or the consequences are not pretty. I've had to clean out more than one pair of shoes due to tardy offerings.
I believe the one that lives with me is the most recent incarnation of Fat Freddy's Cat.
>>>origins of life on Earth.>>>
Which is still a THEORY.
You mean it might not exist? Just a figment of my imagination?>>>
Yes, you are some non-bodied entity in space that is imagining this whole planet and all it inhabits, lol.
Incorrect.
"Everybody has a religious belief. Atheists usually worship either themselves directly or indirectly (worshipping Creation (the Universe), humanism, etc.)."
Flawed is your understanding, oh young master. Worship atheists do not. Believe in supernatural entities they do not. Religion have they not. Ponder this well.
(1) I don't have children
(2) Are you aware of what children are being taught in public schools?
(3) My post was meant to address that which is being taught in public schools (and most private schools) and the information contained in pretty much all biology textbooks.
The idea here is that the religion being taught by the state is Darwinism. Other religions need not apply.
"(3) My post was meant to address that which is being taught in public schools (and most private schools) and the information contained in pretty much all biology textbooks.
"
Say what you mean to address, then. Be specific with your statements. Public schools are not the only place children are taught.
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