Posted on 09/27/2001 7:43:35 AM PDT by Nora
SEATTLE, Sept. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- An internal PBS memo made public today reveals an improper political agenda behind WGBH/Clear Blue Sky's ongoing series "Evolution", according to the Seattle-based Discovery Institute. The memo describes how "Evolution" will be used to influence government officials and promote political action in order to shape how evolution is taught in public schools.
Dated June 15, 2001, the memo bears the title "The Evolution Controversy, Use It or Lose It: Evolution Project/WGBH Boston" The document outlines the overall goals of the ongoing PBS series Evolution and describes the marketing strategy for the series. The complete text of the PBS memo is posted at http://www.reviewevolution.com.
According to the document, which was leaked by a source within PBS, one of the goals of "Evolution" is to "co-opt existing local dialogue about teaching evolution in schools." Another goal is to "promote participation," including "getting involved with local school boards."
In addition, the document identifies "government officials" as one of the target audiences for the series, and it describes a publicity campaign accompanying the series that will include writing op-eds for newspapers and "guerilla/viral marketing."
"Clearly, one purpose of 'Evolution' is to influence Congress and school boards and to promote political action regarding how evolution is taught in public schools," says Discovery Institute President Bruce Chapman. "In fact, 'Evolution's' marketing plan seems to have the trappings of a political campaign."
"Public television is funded in part by American taxpayers, and it should be held to high standards of fairness. It is inappropriate for public broadcasting to engage in activities designed to directly influence the political process by promoting one viewpoint at the expense of others," said Chapman.
According to Discovery Institute's John West, the political agenda behind "Evolution" is made even more explicit by its enlistment of Eugenie Scott as one of the official spokespersons for the series.
Scott runs the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), an advocacy group that by its own description is dedicated to "defending the teaching of evolution in the public schools." According to the group's Web site, the NCSE provides "expert testimony for school board hearings," supplies citizens with "advice on how to organize" when "faced with local creationist challenges," and assists legal organizations that litigate "evolution/creation cases."
"The NCSE is a single-issue group that takes only one side in the political debate over evolution in public education," says West, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Seattle Pacific University. "It is inappropriate for public television to enlist NCSE's executive director as an official spokesperson for this program."
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Founded in 1990, Discovery Institute is a non-profit, non- partisan public policy center for science, technology, regional development, environment, and defense. More information about the Institute and its activities can be found at www.discovery.org.
KEYWORDS:
SCIENCE, EDUCATION
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/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
09/27 06:00
Copyright 2001, U.S. Newswire
That's funny. I'm pretty certain that Darwinians have been unable to show evidence of how an inanimate world first evolved into living creatures. If the Theory of Evolution can't explain that first step in the evolutionary process, then what good is it?!
Did that rock or acid pool somehow start breathing or photosynthisizing??
If only we had evidence of such evolution. Without such laboratory evidence, one has to wonder just what that theory is based upon.
Despite your desperate efforts to tie Evolution into Atheism, Evolution is, in fact, pure science and Creationism is pure religion. Since you, like all Creationists, refuse to acknowledge the overwhelming "scientific" evidence supporting Evolution just keep your religious extremism penned up in your churches and out of the public.
Please see post #63...
Evidence?
Please see post #63...
Now, what "facts" show evolution to "true" .... ?
Go "evolve me" a pair of eyes, and all their muscles and nerves, in the lab.
First, I reject the phrase "rabid religious nuts' as nothing more than hyperbolic rhetorical name-calling without any actual meaning. To answer your question: No, I cannot see the parallels and I absolutely reject your contention. However, the differences are quite obvious and I would think impossible to miss by anyone who thought about it for five seconds.
First, the Taliban rule in a self-appointed theocracy and enforce their religious views through coercion, intimidation and violence. Now, as much as you would like to characterize Christians that way, it is simply not the case. Further, if you took the time to review the writings of current Christian leaders, you would see that not only is a Christian theocracy in the United States not desired, it is rejected as a bad idea.
Second, the Taliban encourage violence towards people of other faiths through their support of terrorists like Bin Laden. Such support is not only counter to Christian teachings but also to Islamic teachings.
Third, the Taliban recently arrested and imprisoned aid workers who were sharing Christian teachings in Afghanistan. There is no Christian country in the world today where sharing alternative religious views is a crime.
I could go on but I really don't see the point. You Christian bashers love to talk in generalities and are so quick to throw insults and erroneous and vague accusations - facts don't seem to matter. For some reason, you think you can insult Christians with justification and impunity. Before you shoot your mouth off, you should take some time to make sure you know what you are talking about.
As I have said in other threads on this subject, to a Creationist there is no amount of evidence that would ever suffice to sway a Creationist into believing Evolution. From what I see, the extreme wayward branches of Christianity that are trying to push Creationism into the public domain exhibit a level of zealotry and gullibility that is not much different than the Koran Thumping Mullahs that have plunged the Middle East into a Dark Age of terrorism, anguish and death. God gave Man a brain to think, reason and learn. A Creationist just wants to sit on his brain and refer to the bible in all matters of science and life’s mysteries.
There is ignorance and there's willful ignorance. If you're trying to bludgeon the other guy with what you can misunderstand or forget, that's willful. Information on evolution is publicly available and exists in abundance on this forum.
The posts of Phaedrus, gore3000, and most of the other leading C-siders on FR make the case that there is no making a doctrinaire creationist understand or even remember the existence of a single point against his position. The publications of ID-ers such as Behe and Johnson are simply attacks on the idea that we will ever understand complexity. ID-ers are cheerleaders for the gaps in our knowledge.
This is Ludditism dressed up. There is no information content in such alleged science unless you count the witch-doctor screech that reason is of no avail against magic as information.
That's a pleasant way of admitting that there is no evidence of the first required step in the entire Evolutionary process.
When one has no ethics and no evidence, simply state that no evidence would ever convince "non-believers."
No that is a polite way of saying that there is no way to open up an ignorant Creationist mind with the truth. But if you insist on evidence may I suggest that you go to your local museum and examine the wealth of physical evidence there.
Speaking of mutations, that is essentially the evolutionary nature of the theory, but can you cite one observable example of a mutation that was beneficial to a species? Science is the study of observable phenomena, but there is nothing to evolution that is observable, testable and repeatable in laboratory setting, therefore, by science's own terms, evolution is relegated to a mere theory.
Using the numbers "science has provided, if the evolutionary theory were correct about the number of years that man has been "evolving"(after allegedly existing for BILLIONS of years), the fossils of man would be over three feet thick; but where is this evidence? Non-existant, that's where.
So much for the "fact"...in truth, still a theory; a very weak theory that doesn't have the support of scientific evidence.
baa
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