Posted on 03/07/2006 2:34:37 PM PST by SirLinksalot
Darwin smacked in new U.S. poll
Whopping 69 percent of Americans want alternate theories in classroom
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Posted: March 7, 2006 5:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A new poll shows 69 percent of Americans believe public school teachers should present both the evidence for and against Darwinian evolution.
The Zogby International survey indicated only 21 percent think biology teachers should teach only Darwin's theory of evolution and the scientific evidence that supports it.
A majority of Americans from every sub-group were at least twice as likely to prefer this approach to science education, the Zogby study showed.
About 88 percent of Americans 18-29 years old were in support, along with 73 percent of Republicans and 74 percent of independent voters.
Others who strongly support teaching the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory include African-Americans (69 percent), 35-54 year-olds (70 percent) and Democrats (60 percent).
Casey Luskin, program officer for public policy and legal affairs with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture said while his group does not favor mandating the teaching of intelligent design, "we do think it is constitutional for teachers to discuss it precisely because the theory is based upon scientific evidence not religious premises."
The Seattle-based Discovery Institute is the leading promoter of the theory of Intelligent Design, which has been at the center of challenges in federal court over the teaching of evolution in public school classes. Advocates say it draws on recent discoveries in physics, biochemistry and related disciplines that indicate some features of the natural world are best explained as the product of an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection.
"The public strongly agrees that students should be permitted to learn about such evidence," Luskin said.
The Discovery Institute noted Americans also support students learning about evidence for intelligent design alongside evolution in biology class 77 percent.
Just over half 51 percent agree strongly with that. Only 19 percent disagree.
As WorldNetDaily reported, more than 500 scientists with doctoral degrees have signed a statement expressing skepticism about Darwin's theory of evolution.
The statement, which includes endorsement by members of the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences, was first published by the Discovery Institute in 2001 to challenge statements about Darwinian evolution made in promoting PBS's "Evolution" series.
The PBS promotion claimed "virtually every scientist in the world believes the theory to be true."
At least one mod has cautioned us against using the "L" word in reference to blatant mendacity. I'm sure you can express yourself well enough without it.
I wouldn't count on help from authority on this topic.
So, I thought we'd agreed you weren't going to bother me. You really don't want me to put you in the ignore file, do you?
Not if he's adopted.
"So what exactly is the empirical evidence against evolution? And 'dunno how it happened so Goddidit' is not evidence."
I'd say how about listening to some folks that have had a NDE (Near Death Experience) they can give you a idea of what happens to us when we die...millions have gotten a glimpse into eternity!
Here is a neat testimony from a Godless atheist...
Saved From Hell
Rev. Howard Storm's near-death experience
Before his near-death experience, Rev. Howard Storm, a Professor of Art at Northern Kentucky University, was not a very pleasant man. He was an avowed atheist and was hostile to every form of religion and those who practiced it.
He often would use rage to control everyone around him and he didnt find joy in anything. Anything that wasnt seen, touched, or felt, he had no faith in.
He knew with certainty that the material world was the full extent of everything that was. He considered all belief systems associated with religion to be fantasies for people to deceive themselves with. Beyond what science said, there was nothing else.
On June 1, 1985, at the age of 38, Howard Storm had a near-death experience due to a perforation of the stomach and his life was forever changed. His near-death experience is one of the most profound, if not the most profound, afterlife experience I have ever documented.
His life was so immensely changed after his near-death experience that he resigned as a professor and devoted his time to attending the United Theological Seminary to become a United Church of Christ minister.
The following is the account of Pastor Howard Storm's near-death experience, which is an excerpt from his book, My Descent Into Death, reprinted by permission.
For those of you who wish to read about his adventure:
http://www.near-death.com/storm.html
No one has "proof" of how we got here... guesses... ideas...thoughts...yes, but no solid proof.
But where we're going to spend eternity is a choice each one of us has to make on our own, and I'd like to suggest that each of you ponder your future after you leave here (die).
Do you picture "nothing" after death? Life is over.
What if you're wrong?
Or know how to access Mr. Roget.
Here's a useful list for evos posting on these threads.
aspersion, backbiting, calumniation, calumny, complete distortion of the facts, corker, deceit, deception, defamation, detraction, dishonesty, disinformation, distortion, evasion, fable, fabrication, falsehood, falseness, falsification, falsity, fib, fiction, fish story, forgery, fraudulence, guile, hyperbole, inaccuracy, invention, libel, mendacity, misrepresentation, misstatement, myth, obloquy, perjury, prevarication, revilement, reviling, slander, subterfuge, tale, tall story, terminological inexactitude, vilification, white lie, whopper
Or if you need the verb:
be untruthful, beguile, break promise, bull, con, concoct, deceive, delude, dissemble, dissimulate, distort, dupe, equivocate, exaggerate, fabricate, fake, falsify, fib, forswear, frame, fudge, invent, jazz, jive, make believe, malign, misguide, misinform, misinstruct, mislead, misrepresent, misspeak, misstate, overdraw, palter, perjure, pervert, phony up, plant, prevaricate, promote, put on, queer, snow, soft-soap, string along, victimize
Maybe we can have DarwinCentral announce the 'synonym of the day' every morning?
I happen to know that although your screen name suggests a voluptuous female, you are actually a 57 year old balding, hairy-chested man.
There are three methods of acquiring knowledge known to man. Philosophy is argument for proof of the unknown(faith and belief). Science is observation of facts, and the evidence and explanation of the fact. Mathematics determines absolutes. Changes occur (evolution is a fact) is of science. Theology (faith and belief) is of philosophy. Philosophy has provided little or no new knowledge in a thousand years. All new knowledge since the middle ages has been of math and science. Opinion is void of both knowledge and fact. It is despised by philosophy, science and mathematics.
Yes, put me there, it'll be a blessed relief, and I can stop laughing at the pompous elitism in your posts.
Oh, OK. Done. Watch out for the 57 year old balding frog. He's desperate for attention.
I've had something that sounds like the NDE while in surgery. It was 50 years ago, and the term NDE wasn't in commmon use.
It was, however, quite memorable, and I still have some visual imagery from it.
I never considered it anything but a hallucination.
What are the facts? Again and again and again - what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what 'the stars foretell,' avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable 'verdict of history' - what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only clue. Get the facts!Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love, 1973
Well your friend is working on getting a date to make candy.
Well that is good news, better than a GED even.
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