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Charles Darwin Knew: Science and Freedom
BreakPoint with Charles Colson | 1 Mar 04 | Charles Colson

Posted on 03/01/2004 1:02:07 PM PST by Mr. Silverback

Almost 150 years ago, Charles Darwin knew something that the scientific establishment seems to have forgotten -- something that is being endangered today in the state of Ohio.

In Ohio, high school science students are at risk of being told that they are not allowed to discuss questions and problems that scientists themselves openly debate. While most people understand that science is supposed to consider all of the evidence, these students, and their teachers, may be prevented from even looking at the evidence -- evidence already freely available in top science publications.

In late 2002, the Ohio Board of Education adopted science education standards that said students should know "how scientists investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory." The standards did not say that schools should teach intelligent design. They mandate something much milder. According to the standards, students should know that "scientists may disagree about explanations . . . and interpretations of data" -- including the biological evidence used to support evolutionary theory. If that sounds like basic intellectual freedom, that's because it is.

The Ohio Department of Education has responded by implementing this policy through the development of an innovative curriculum that allows students to evaluate both the strengths and the weaknesses of Darwinian evolution.

And that has the American scientific establishment up in arms. Some groups are pressuring the Ohio Board to reverse its decision. The president of the National Academy of Sciences has denounced the "Critical Analysis" lesson -- even though it does nothing more than report criticisms of evolutionary theory that are readily available in scientific literature.

Hard as it may be to believe, prominent scientists want to censor what high school students can read and discuss. It's a story that is upside-down, and it's outrageous. Organizations like the National Academy of Sciences and others that are supposed to advance science are doing their best to suppress scientific information and stop discussion.

Debates about whether natural selection can generate fundamentally new forms of life, or whether the fossil record supports Darwin's picture of the history of life, would be off-limits. It's a bizarre case of scientists against "critical analysis."

And the irony of all of this is that this was not Charles Darwin's approach. He stated his belief in the ORIGIN OF SPECIES: "A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question." Darwin knew that objective science demands free and open inquiry, and while I disagree with Darwin on many things, on this he was absolutely right. And I say what's good enough for scientists themselves, as they debate how we got here, is good enough for high school students.

Contact us here at BreakPoint (1-877-322-5527) to learn more about this issue and about an intelligent design conference we're co-hosting this June.

The Ohio decision is the leading edge of a wedge breaking open the Darwinist stranglehold on science education in this country. The students in Ohio -- and every other state -- deserve intellectual freedom, and they deserve it now.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: charlescolson; crevolist; education; evolution; scienceeducation
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To: Last Visible Dog
Dude, what is your trip? Did you pop in to try and start a fight? I did more than MEANT to say it - THAT IS WHAT I SAID! This is my original statement: I come form a philosophical background so I believe all certitude is overrated.

Don't get too upset LVD, I just wanted to see just how attached you were to your belief. For if you take your statement "I believe all certitude is overrated," to its logical conclusion, then it's a wonder why you even bother to post any comments, let alone communicate with your fellow man, knowing in advance that anything you say or believe is already mere dust in the wind.

We might as well just shut down all the internet chat rooms and discussion boards, for if there is nothing certain to know, other than all certitudes are overrated, then lets not bother with even trying to get at the truth of something via discussion, dialouge, insult, pain, suffering, scientific method or what-have-you, since the final product is no more certain that the question that caused the search to begin with.

So just why are you posting anything on the 'net, let alone here, if your are already uncertain as to the truth of what you posted?

My real intention is to find out why you think the way you do, and why you felt in was necessary to tell they world that you believe all certitude is overrated. (And who, exactly, is overrating it? philosophers? scientists? Republicans?)

921 posted on 03/05/2004 4:03:48 PM PST by Ronzo (GOD alone is enough.)
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To: greenwolf
Darwinism is a religion. They need to send the stinking darwinists off to convert all the muslims in Saudi Arabia; they've had their chance in Ohio long enough.

Excellent idea!

922 posted on 03/05/2004 5:01:16 PM PST by Mr. Silverback (Pre-empt the third murder attempt-- Pray for Terry Schiavo!)
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To: RightWingNilla
I am looking at this from a philosophers point of view. It is clear from your posts that you have no respect whatsoever for logic or philosophy.

Care to back up that statement? Or is this more of your empty rhetoric?

923 posted on 03/05/2004 5:03:36 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: Mr. Silverback
Excellent idea!

I would prefer that we send all the fundamentalists off to do missionary work in Iran.

924 posted on 03/05/2004 5:30:05 PM PST by balrog666 (Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.)
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To: Ronzo
Don't get too upset LVD, I just wanted to see just how attached you were to your belief. For if you take your statement "I believe all certitude is overrated," to its logical conclusion, then it's a wonder why you even bother to post any comments, let alone communicate with your fellow man, knowing in advance that anything you say or believe is already mere dust in the wind.

So you need certitude to post comments and communicate with your fellow man. I think you live in a world of delusion. There is very little certainty in this world. I know it is comforting to think we live in a world of certainty - but that is illusion.

"When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things." I Cor. xiii. 11.

BTW: the opposite of certainty is not "Dust in the Wind" but "Dust in the Wind" was a cool Kansas song.

We might as well just shut down all the internet chat rooms and discussion boards, for if there is nothing certain to know, other than all certitudes are overrated, then lets not bother with even trying to get at the truth of something via discussion, dialouge, insult, pain, suffering, scientific method or what-have-you, since the final product is no more certain that the question that caused the search to begin with.

Nonsense. Knowledge is not contingent on certainty. Rarely is there one answer to a question or only one way to do things. Rarely is there only one truth (BTW: truth is not contingent on certainty). Certainty is something we crave but rarely find. No, your certainty is an illusion(IMHO). The only place I know of that is truly trying to offer certainty is religion.

So just why are you posting anything on the 'net, let alone here, if your are already uncertain as to the truth of what you posted?

"What is truth?" - Pontius Pilot

One can and does have knowledge without the childish need for certainty. I have knowledge of the "truth" but I don't claim certain knowledge of the truth - from my understanding the only one that has certain knowledge or the truth is God and I am not 100% sure God exists.

My real intention is to find out why you think the way you do, and why you felt in was necessary to tell they world that you believe all certitude is overrated. (And who, exactly, is overrating it? philosophers? scientists? Republicans?)

Well if you wanted to know why I think the way I do - why didn't you ask me rather than starting out by trying to pick a fight. "is Overrated" is a colloquialism and is commonly used in an information context - I was not trying to be literal. Let me break it down for you (to use hip jargon) - I can't point to one thing in this world that possess certainty. I would not say there is no certainty because absolute statements require certainty. Certainty is an illusion that meets a childish need - the need to feel life has certainty and Mom and Dad will make everything better. Unfortunately that is not real. Nothing in life is dependent on certitude: knowledge, truth, love, life - none of these are dependent on certitude. Let me turn this back to you - in what do you claim certitude (other that God)?

925 posted on 03/05/2004 5:35:22 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: Last Visible Dog
There is very little certainty in this world. I know it is comforting to think we live in a world of certainty - but that is illusion.

Do you have a really solid source for this? Can you back it up or is this more of your emptry rhetoric?

Rarely is there one answer to a question or only one way to do things.

So Ronzo isn't wrong. So why bother attacking what he said?

"What is truth?" - Pontius Pilot

"What's one more martini?" - Airline Pilot

The only place I know of that is truly trying to offer certainty is religion.

Are you sure?

926 posted on 03/05/2004 5:41:07 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: PatrickHenry
"Festival of Epistemologically Obtuse Tractionless Trolls" placemarker
927 posted on 03/05/2004 5:50:39 PM PST by longshadow
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To: VadeRetro
LVD: There is very little certainty in this world. I know it is comforting to think we live in a world of certainty - but that is illusion.

VadeRetro: Do you have a really solid source for this? Can you back it up or is this more of your emptry rhetoric?

VadeRetro - always here to try and stir up a fight.

It's an opinion, nimrod.

The source is my mind and my life's experience. I am not claiming I am certain (teehee) or claiming it is fact.

LVD: The only place I know of that is truly trying to offer certainty is religion.

VadeRetro: Are you sure?

No. (you would think you might catch on by now)

LVD: Rarely is there one answer to a question or only one way to do things.

VadeRetro: So Ronzo isn't wrong. So why bother attacking what he said?

So you think there is one answer to every question. OK.

What do women like? (you are claiming there is one answer)

How was the universe created? (you are claiming there is one answer)

(you don't spend much time thinking out your statements, do you)

928 posted on 03/05/2004 5:53:58 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: Last Visible Dog
My mistake! I left the </troll_mode> tag off.
929 posted on 03/05/2004 5:59:44 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: PatrickHenry; RightWingNilla; js1138
Unanimity is indeed too strong a term. So long as Behe is alive here will be no unanimity.

Even Behe accepts evolution. He doesn't think it accounts for absolutely everything. But he ain't no creo.

Nor is he a biologist. It's d@mn close to unanimity among biologists.

930 posted on 03/05/2004 6:08:56 PM PST by Virginia-American
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To: Virginia-American; VadeRetro; RightWingNilla; js1138
Only 0.15% of Biologists and Geologists Are Creationists .
931 posted on 03/05/2004 6:21:13 PM PST by PatrickHenry (A compassionate evolutionist.)
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To: PatrickHenry
Using their claimed numbers, that's fifteen percent of one percent. (Wonder if some of them won't manage to drop that inconvenient decimal point. Wonder if their numbers aren't inflated.)
932 posted on 03/05/2004 6:34:22 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
It's a real crisis. No doubt about it.
933 posted on 03/05/2004 6:46:23 PM PST by PatrickHenry (A compassionate evolutionist.)
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To: VadeRetro; PatrickHenry
Whoops! The figure is not from creationist sources. Anyway, it's more than the usual list of 200 that somebody (Discovery Institute?) keeps trumpeting.
934 posted on 03/05/2004 6:48:13 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
However many they are, they certainly haven't produced any creationist research (whatever that might be), so what are they doing?
935 posted on 03/05/2004 6:52:19 PM PST by PatrickHenry (A compassionate evolutionist.)
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To: PatrickHenry
creationist research (whatever that might be)...

You don't need research to show that, whatever it is, God could have left it looking just like that.

936 posted on 03/05/2004 7:01:02 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
Yeah, but just look at all the evidence!
937 posted on 03/05/2004 7:03:06 PM PST by PatrickHenry (A compassionate evolutionist.)
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To: Last Visible Dog
Fiscally conservative because they don't want anyone taking their money for any reason.

Socially liberal because they want to be able to do and say anything they like without consequences. (i.e. shamed out of the community).

That isn't conservative. Try mentioning Gary Bauer in mixed company sometime.
938 posted on 03/05/2004 7:13:29 PM PST by bondserv (Alignment is critical!)
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To: bondserv
Hello! This is a crevo thread, not a libertarian-vs-paleo-vs-Bushie thread.
939 posted on 03/05/2004 7:16:04 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
Oh! I thought I saw a couple posts by Howard Stern.

My Bad. :-)
940 posted on 03/05/2004 7:19:29 PM PST by bondserv (Alignment is critical!)
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