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Evolution debate: State board should reject pseudoscience
Columbus Dispatch ^ | February 17, 2002 | Editorial

Posted on 02/18/2002 4:59:53 AM PST by cracker

The Dispatch tries to verify the identity of those who submit letters to the editor, but this message presented some problems. It arrived on a postcard with no return address:

Dear Representative Linda Reidelbach: Evolution is one of my creations with which I am most pleased.

It was signed, God.

The Dispatch cannot confirm that this is a divine communication, but the newspaper does endorse the sentiment it expresses: that there is room in the world for science and religion, and the two need not be at war.

The newspaper also agrees that Reidelbach, a Republican state representative from Columbus, is among the lawmakers most in need of this revelation. She is the sponsor of House Bill 481, which says that when public schools teach evolution, they also must teach competing "theories'' about the origin of life.

Reidelbach says the bill would "encourage the presentation of scientific evidence regarding the origins of life and its diversity objectively and without religious, naturalistic or philosophic bias or assumption.''

What this appears to mean is that any idea about the origin of life would be designated, incorrectly, a scientific theory and would get equal time with the genuine scientific theory known as evolution.

Those who correctly object that the creation stories of various religions are not scientific would be guilty, in the language of this bill, "of religious, naturalistic or philosophic bias or assumption.''

Never mind that science is not a bias or an assumption but simply a rigorous and logical method for describing and explaining what is observed in nature.

What Reidelbach and her co-sponsors are attempting to do is to require that science classes also teach creationism, intelligent design and related unscientific notions about the origin of life that are derived from Christian belief.

So bent are they on getting Christianity's foot in the door of science classrooms that they apparently don't mind that this bill also appears to give the green light to the creation stories of competing religions, cults and any other manifestation of belief or unbelief. Apparently, even Satanists would have their say.

But the real problem is that Reidelbach's bill would undermine science education at the very moment when Ohio should be developing a scientifically literate generation of students who can help the state succeed in 21st-century technologies and compete economically around the globe.

The fact is that religious ideas, no matter how much they are dressed up in the language of science, are not science. And subjecting students to religious ideas in a science class simply would muddle their understanding of the scientific method and waste valuable time that ought to be used to learn genuine science.

The scientific method consists of observing the natural world and drawing conclusions about the causes of what is observed. These conclusions, or theories, are subject to testing and revision as additional facts are discovered that either bolster or undermine the conclusions and theories. Scientific truth, such as it is, is constantly evolving as new theories replace or modify old ones in the light of new facts.

Religious notions of creation work in the opposite fashion. They begin with a preconceived belief -- for example, that God created all the creatures on the Earth -- and then pick and choose among the observable facts in the natural world to find those that fit. Those that don't are ignored.

The scientific approach expands knowledge about the natural world; the religious approach impedes it.

The classic example of this occurred 369 years ago when the Catholic Church forced Galileo to recant the Copernican theory that the Earth revolves around the sun. That theory contradicted the religiously based idea that man and the Earth formed the center of God's creation. Had the church's creationist view of the solar system prevailed, Ohioan Neil Armstrong never would have set foot on the moon.

Today, Copernican theory is established and acknowledged fact.

When it comes to evolution, much confusion grows out of the understanding -- or misunderstanding -- of the words theory and fact. Evolution is a theory, but one that has become so thoroughly buttressed by physical evidence that, for all intents and purposes, it is a fact. No one outside of the willfully obstinate questions the idea that new life forms evolved from older ones, a process conclusively illustrated in biology and the fossil record.

Where disagreement still exists is over how the process of evolution occurs. Scientists argue about the mechanism by which change occurs and whether the process is gradual and constant or proceeds in fits in starts. But while they debate over how evolution occurs, they do not doubt that it does occur.

Another way to understand this is to consider gravity. Everyone accepts the existence of this force, but many questions remain about just what gravity is and how it works. That scientists argue about how gravity works doesn't change the fact that gravity exists. Or, as author Stephen Jay Gould has put it, "Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome.''

Just as with gravity, evolution is a fact.

Those who persist on questioning this fact are a tiny minority, even among people of faith. But they are a loud minority and, to those not well-grounded in science, their arguments can sound reasonable, even "scientific.'' But their arguments are little more than unfounded assertions dressed up in the language of science.

This minority also insists on creating conflict between religion and science where none needs to exist. Major faiths long since have reconciled themselves to a division of labor with science. Religion looks to humankind's spiritual and moral needs, while science attends to the material ones.

The Catholic Church, which once tried to hold back the progress of science, now admits that it was wrong to suppress Galileo. More than a billion Catholics draw sustenance from their faith untroubled by the knowledge that the planet is racing around the sun.

Religion, in turn, provides spiritual and moral guideposts to decide how best to use the awesome powers that science has unlocked and placed at humankind's disposal.

Nor are scientists themselves antagonistic to religion. Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientific geniuses in history, was deeply reverent: "My comprehension of God comes from the deeply felt conviction of a superior intelligence that reveals itself in the knowable world,'' he once said.

Others have made similar observations. The more the scientific method reveals about the intricacies of the universe, the more awestruck many scientists become.

The simplest way to reconcile religion and evolution is to accept the view propounded early last century by prominent Congregationalist minister and editor Lyman Abbott, who regarded evolution as the means God uses to create and shape life.

This view eliminates conflict between evolution and religion. It allows scientists to investigate evolution as a natural process and lets people of faith give God the credit for setting that process in motion.

As for what to do about creationism and evolution in schools, the answer is easy. Evolution should be taught in science classes. Creationism and related religiously based ideas should be taught in comparative-religion, civics and history classes.

Religion was and remains central to the American identity. It has profoundly shaped American ideals and provided the basis for its highest aspirations, from the Declaration of Independence to the civil-rights movement. There is no question that religion is a vital force and a vital area of knowledge that must be included in any complete education.

But not in the science classroom, because religion is not science. There is no such thing as Buddhist chemistry, Jewish physics or Christian mathematics.

The Earth revolves around the sun regardless of the faiths of the people whom gravity carries along for the ride. Two plus two equals four whether that sum is calculated by a Muslim or a Zoroastrian.

Reidelbach and her supporters genuinely worry that a crucial element -- moral education and appreciation of religion's role in America -- is missing in education. But they will not correct that lack by injecting pseudoscience into Ohio's science curriculum.

And Reidelbach is not the only one making this mistake. Senate Bill 222, sponsored by state Sen. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, is equally misguided. This bill would require that science standards adopted by the State Board of Education be approved by resolution in the General Assembly. This is a recipe for disaster, injecting not only religion, but also politics, into Ohio's science classes.

These two bills should be ignored by lawmakers.

In a few months, when the State Board of Education lays out the standards for science education in Ohio's public schools, it should strongly endorse the teaching of evolution and ignore the demands of those who purvey pseudoscience.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: crevolist; educationnews; evolution; ohio
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To: lexcorp
"The 18th and 19th centuries witnessed the rise of positive sciences, and with this an intensification in skepticism about God and the claims of traditional religion, especially among the educated classes. This inclination became most marked after the publication of The Origin of the Species and The Descent of Man by the naturalist Charles Darwin. Darwin ascribed man's immediate ancestry to the anthropoids, supposedly through a process of gradual evolution. Man was no longer a creature made in the image of God, but merely a natural extension of certain lower forms of life, a... refined gorilla---as it were. It was these circumstances, and this intellectual milieu, that led philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to declare that "God is dead" and to predict the rise of new and terrible manisfestations of barbarism in the century that was to come. As he put it, "For ... we shall have upheavals, a convulsion of earthquakes, a moving of mountains and valleys, the like of which have never yet been dreamed of ... there will be wars the like of which have never yet been seen on earth." The non-believer Nietzsche would agree wholly with the Christian believer Dostoyevsky about one thing: Without faith in God, all horrors, all of man's worst nightmares, would become possible. And so they did. What men believe really matters. "

A John? Huss? in the 15th century was burned to death for singing songs and reading the Bible not in Latin---tyranny is tryanny of any stripe/color--especially intellectual--govt. state sponsored--established--enforced!

Why do some people only--NOT think---two-dimensional in a multi-dimensional world--dynamics?

181 posted on 02/21/2002 12:23:51 PM PST by f.Christian
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To: biblewonk
Science = truth. It's a pretty simple definition.

False. Science deals with methods, experiments, evidence, etc. There are too many truths.

182 posted on 02/21/2002 12:24:16 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: Sabertooth
Adam and Eve were free to sin.

Obviously.

183 posted on 02/21/2002 12:26:20 PM PST by xzins
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Comment #184 Removed by Moderator

To: Doctor Stochastic
Indeed.

If all scientific conclusions are tentative, subject to revision at any time based upon new evidence and further study...

And if truth is fixed, constant, and immutable...

There is no such thing as a truth in science.
185 posted on 02/21/2002 12:29:39 PM PST by BikerNYC
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To: Doctor Stochastic
Science = truth. It's a pretty simple definition.

False. Science deals with methods, experiments, evidence, etc. There are too many truths.

Sorry but you're wrong. Science = knowledge = truth. There aren't more than one truths. The scientific method is a system but it is not the definition of science.

186 posted on 02/21/2002 12:30:27 PM PST by biblewonk
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To: biblewonk
It is also impossible to disprove that God didn't just create me in the middle of typing this sentence.

It's likewise impossible to disprove that the Flute-Playing Locust didn't create you earlier today either. Neither of these possibilities helps you decide anything about scientific inquiry.

187 posted on 02/21/2002 12:31:59 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: lexcorp
Wrong

wrong

wrong

wrong

wrong

If you think we understand snow than that shows a lot about your knowledge of snow.

188 posted on 02/21/2002 12:32:33 PM PST by biblewonk
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To: xzins
not obvious...did Adam and Eve have the possibilty to not sin?
189 posted on 02/21/2002 12:33:21 PM PST by f.Christian
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To: biblewonk
Science = knowledge = truth

Name one scientific conclusion that is not subject to future revision based upon further evidence and study? Those who thought that Newtonian Mechanics was the Truth had a rude awakening when Einstein came along.

Or is is that you believe truth is fluid, forever changing as we gather more and more evidence?
190 posted on 02/21/2002 12:38:08 PM PST by BikerNYC
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To: BikerNYC
Einstein didn't change the definition of science at all, but scientific method will never be able to prove the past. It can't even prove whether a person has a soul or not. It will never ever prove a big bang though millions will and do swear that it does.

PS. I know a biker who considers himself "a true natures child". What a great theme for an evolutionist, "Born to be Wild".

191 posted on 02/21/2002 12:57:26 PM PST by biblewonk
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To: biblewonk
That is the most rediculous thing I've ever heard on one of these threads. A 100 million yearold fossil of a human skeleton to disprove evolution? HELLO!

I don't see the problem. Evolution predicts that anatomically modern humans have only existed for a few million years. Prior to that, they had not evolved. If a skeleton were unearthed tomorrow of an anatomically modern human, but which was dated by rigorous methods to be 100 million years old, that would tend to disprove evolution.

The fact that you find it so hard to beleive that a 100 million year old human fossil could exist is a testament to the explanatory power of evolution.

This is true of both. You are sadly in a state of denial. The only way to disprove creation is for it not to be true. I can't imagine how to disprove that 2+2=4 either. It is also impossible to disprove that God didn't just create me in the middle of typing this sentence. Science can only prove how things are now, not how they came to be.

2+2=4 is not science, it is math. (it's also not a theory, it's a definition) Falsifiability is not a good criteria of mathematical propositions because theories in mathematics are not the same as theories in physics or biology. Mathematics relies on proofs and lemmas; science relies on observation and hypothesis.

It would be more appropriate to suggest that you don't know how to disprove gravity, or the existence of the neutron. Of course, we can think of how to disprove gravity: if an object fell at a velocity that was constant (but not terminal wrt the atmosphere), then Newton and Einstein would be wrong. Falsifiability is a very good test of theories because it eliminates useless theories (i.e. those with no explanatory or predictive power). If there is no conceivable fact that could disprove a theory, then the theory explains nothing. (See, e.g., Karl Popper)

The only way to disprove creation is for it not to be true.

You hint at the real issue here: what observation, if it could be made and confirmed in the world today, would disprove creationism? I daresay you shoudl be able to come up with many such examples if creationism is falsifiable. In addition to the skeleton and DNA examples above, it is possible to think of millions of such observations which if made would damage or destroy the theory of evolution. The fact that those observations are NOT made (the dog does not bark), is itself strong evidence for evolution. Suffice it to say that creationism is unfalsifiable.

192 posted on 02/21/2002 12:58:00 PM PST by cracker
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To: biblewonk
I call them government churches because evolution is a religion. The Darwin fish proves that at least some evolutionists admit that truth.

The Darwin Fish is a joke on creationists. Also, they're out there and have been out there.

193 posted on 02/21/2002 1:00:19 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: biblewonk
That wasn't my point. My point was that since science's conclusions are always tentative and subject to revision, science does not give us truth (as long as truth is understood to be eternal and unchanging).
194 posted on 02/21/2002 1:01:59 PM PST by BikerNYC
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To: BikerNYC
Sorry, I totally missed your point and was arguing a small use of the word truth instead of THE big use of the word Truth.
195 posted on 02/21/2002 1:06:47 PM PST by biblewonk
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To: gore3000
Please show me proof of ANY "how we got here" theory.

Oldcats

196 posted on 02/21/2002 1:09:16 PM PST by oldcats
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To: VadeRetro
It's way more than that. I love the things. They prove my whole point about evo being a religion.
197 posted on 02/21/2002 1:09:38 PM PST by biblewonk
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To: BikerNYC
If God is spirit, what is spirit?

Good question. As far as I know the best way to find out is to look up the word translated "spirit" and see how it is used in other writings. And then find out what that word meant in the culture and time it was written.

I've heard the idea described as we are the only creatures with the ability to commune with God. But, contrary to what some women have told me, I'm not really a pig, so I can't tell you if pigs can commune with God. Then again, this idea may be way off base.

198 posted on 02/21/2002 1:09:53 PM PST by scripter
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To: scripter
Would it be fair to say that, in other words, you don't know?
199 posted on 02/21/2002 1:12:00 PM PST by BikerNYC
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To: biblewonk
It's way more than that. I love the things. They prove my whole point about evo being a religion.

Creationists only think everything's about religion.

200 posted on 02/21/2002 1:12:01 PM PST by VadeRetro
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