Bill requiring evolution disclaimer clears House

Claremore Progress ^ | 2/27/04 | Sean Murphy

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

OKLAHOMA CITY (CNHI) — The Oklahoma House passed a bill Monday that would require public school textbooks that discuss evolution to include a disclaimer stating that it is a controversial theory and not fact.

Rep. Bill Graves successfully included the language in House Bill 2194, a measure that originally changed the format for Braille versions of instructional materials.

“I think so many of the textbooks make it appear that evolution is a scientific fact and it’s not,” said Graves, R-Oklahoma City. “Even the U.S. Supreme Court says it’s a theory, so I was just trying to make that clear.

“I think it’s very important for children to know,” Graves said. “If they just believe that they came from some slime in a swamp that’s a whole lot different from being created in the image of God.”

According to the bill, any state school district textbook that discusses evolution would have to include a disclaimer that states, in part, “This textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory which some scientists present as scientific explanation for the origin of living things, such as plants and humans. No one was present when life first appeared on earth. Therefore, any statement about life’s origins should be considered as theory, not fact.”

The disclaimer goes on to state, “Study hard and keep an open mind. Someday you may contribute to the theories of how living things appeared on earth.”

The bill passed on a 96-0 vote and now heads to the Senate.

Officials with the State Department of Education did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Sean Murphy is the Capitol Bureau reporter in Oklahoma for Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. He can be reached at smurphy@cnhi.com.

[Jeff Gordon]

Another case of LWS (Legislating While Stupid)

[Dataman]

nonsense some people made up who want to believe they're decended from monkeys.

Though they're much to "sophisticated" to admit it.

[rwfromkansas]

Hey, that is what the evolutionists do. Get used to it.

Anybody who disagrees with them is just an idiot in the evolutionist mind, even those with doctorates.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

Are you saying that evolution is not a theory?

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

Are you saying that evolution is not a theory?

[rwfromkansas]

If they are biology majors, maybe.

But not if they are a different major.

[rwfromkansas]

The evolutionist strawman; this is really a bunch of hooey but it is peddled out by liberal "Christian" scholars anyway.

The conservatives don't buy it.

I guess that makes you a liberal.

[Stone Mountain]

Scientific theories should always be presented as theories rather than fact.

Well, gravity is just a theory. So is quantum mechanics. So most scientific ideas for that matter. Just because an idea is classified as a theory doesn't mean that the idea is completely speculative. Do you believe that gravity shouldn't be taught as a fact?

[moonman]

Every time this topic comes up, I can't help but remember seeing that fossil on TV of a crocodile which scientists claimed to be over 2 million years older than dinosaurs. The crocodile in the fossil looked EXACTLY like the ones today. "Jes how long does this evolution thingy take before sumpin changes?" LOL

[Stone Mountain]

If I may answer that, genesis actually contains two distinct and incompatible creation stories.

What are the two stories? Thanks...

[atlaw]

Turn off the tv. Read. It's much more informative.

[ZULU]

"Warning: This theory could endanger your future salavation!!!"

How absurd.

Science teachers should always instruct students that all current knowledge indicates..... when referring to Evolution or similar theories. You could say the same thing about the expanding universe.

At one time physicists believed Newton explained it all. The Einstein and quantum theory came along.

Science is a long preocess of refinement of ideas, of experimenting, of postulating, of questioning.

Its not faith. Its science.

Faith is believing that Christ is the Son of God and He will come again to judge us all. That's what I BELIEVE.
I don't question it. I accept it on blind faith.

What I KNOW, is what scientific testing appears to indicate.

[JohnnyZ]

Well, gravity is just a theory. So is quantum mechanics. So most scientific ideas for that matter. Just because an idea is classified as a theory doesn't mean that the idea is completely speculative.

Who said a theory is completely speculative?

Do you believe that gravity shouldn't be taught as a fact?

The theory of gravity, as I pointed out in an earlier post, is an excellent example of why theories should be taught as theories, considering that Newton's theory has given way to Eistein's theory. Sometimes -- quite often -- theories are wrong, at least in some respects.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Good post, critical thinking and scientific method can certainly help these students. Especially when they are told that the world's oceans will be ten feet higher in 30 years and it will be the United States' fault.

[whattajoke]

The crocodile in the fossil looked EXACTLY like the ones today. "Jes how long does this evolution thingy take before sumpin changes?" LOL

Wow. Biology 101 (moonman vernacular): If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Crocs have been relatively unchanged because they've never needed to as a top predator in their stable niche. They've had no selective pressures on them to cause any change in their allele frequencies for quite some time, though they have gotten smaller over the Ages.

What dope would not explain this on TV?

[Stone Mountain]

Every time this topic comes up, I can't help but remember seeing that fossil on TV of a crocodile which scientists claimed to be over 2 million years older than dinosaurs. The crocodile in the fossil looked EXACTLY like the ones today. "Jes how long does this evolution thingy take before sumpin changes?" LOL

What is your specific problem with this? Is it that you don't believe that the fossil was that old? Or is it that you don't believe that natural selection could possibly keep a life form static for that long if other animals were evolving? Or is it something else?

[nmh]

" ... controversial theory and not fact."

They forgot this theory lacks objective evidence. To suggest it is a theory is pushing the envelope. It's really an agenda laden hypothesis.

[Dimensio]

The evolution supporters will soon be here to tell everyone how stupid they are for not believing in evolution even though there are HUGE gaps in evolution theory that they simply make up

Actually, it's typically creationists (though not all creationists) who just "make up" these alleged gamps in the theory.

[nmh]

LOL!

Will "natrual selection" ever kick in? If it has, then why are you here? Surely YOU would have been weeded out.

[Stone Mountain]

I told her it was some nonsense some people made up who want to believe they're decended from monkeys.

Why do you think some people WANT to believe that they're descended from monkeys?

Incidentally, if you care, the theory is not that we are descended from monkeys - it's that monkeys and people had ancestors in common.