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 really have no idea what you are talking about, do you?
Yeah, that's the same thing my wife keeps telling me.
You just wanted to jump up on your soap box and condemn passers by, didn't you?
Nah, they told me to be nice. Besides, the One who is greater than I came not to condemn, and neither do I.
If you hopes to know, then you have to have your eyes open:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1343600/posts
But they will continue to blithely prattle their dreck in their self-imposed ignorance. What is worse is they seem to revel about their ignorance. Hold it up like it's a trophy or some such. Sad.
There is another problem in science. Some say that science is public, that is, that it takes two to make a measurement of the speed of light, but it is actually ultimately private. Every scientific measurement has to be done by one scientist or it must be questioned. Who will take up the challenge of the relativists since Ives and Bridgman are gone?
Never seen so many inane comments at the beginning of a thread.
I noticed that too. Posts 3 thru 8 are from creationists with nothing of substance to say. It must be a holiday somewhere in creationistland.
Kind of what I was thinking.
This is a topic that causes very heated discussion between good people that quickly degrades into childish name calling, etc. I do apologize for my part in setting the wrong tone.
Cordially (holding out the olive branch)
GE
Can't say it any better than that. Thanks.
But as for retracting sarcasm, maybe you don't have to go that far. I like good sarcasm myself. What I was commenting on were the truly inane comments, of which there were several.
The "resurgence" of creationism is akin to a "dead cat bounce" - in the end it'll mean nothing as science, intelligence and observation and reality win out.
I hope so. But I have my doubts at times.
First time for everything, I suppose. I admire your optimism.
Well, thanks for recognizing that the typical creation story is unbelievable. The thing about your orginal statement wasn't that it's unbelievable, but that it's a mis-statement of what science currently theorizes that happened. The actual explanation makes more sense than your distortion of it.
On the other hand, my description of the creation story is pretty much exactly what creationists say happened.
The bottom line is that every religion of Mankind has some sort of creation story. They're all pretty different, really, but all involve some kind of sudden, magical appearance of things.
In a way, so does the scientific explanation, given the Big Bang theory and the like.
Both are relatively incomprehensible to the average person. However, the scientific side gets less incomprehensible, the more you study it. The creation side stays just as unbelievable.
Very sad.
I'm going to say a prayer for their poor misguided souls. Hopefully they won't do anymore damage than they've already done.
You can't even measure the one-way speed of light. How can you say anything about science?
I was way too harsh in my earlier post.
My apologies to all!
By the authority of my Father.
And where does he say "every evolutionist will at some point personally see the folly of evolution." Please be specific.
Besides, the One who is greater than I came not to condemn, and neither do I.
Really, then what does "I just hope that their realization happens on this side of their breath." It sounds to me like a warning that you will be condemned unless you "see the folly of evolution" before your death. If that's not what you meant, then what did you mean?
In before Stalin! | Damn you! | ?!? |
True, true. But I do know who created that light that can be measured. Does that count?
Science is like revelation in that it is ultimately private rather than public.
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