Posted on 10/07/2002 12:44:39 PM PDT by wallcrawlr
A suburban school board declares that evolution is just another theory
NEWT GINGRICH, while he was a Georgia congressman and then as speaker of the House, was known for his interest in scientific research. Some Georgians prefer a different approach. On September 26th the school board of Cobb County, in the north-western Atlanta suburbs, voted to amend existing policy to allow discussion of “disputed views of academic subjects”, specifically the idea that God created the universe in six days—Charles Darwin, Stephen Jay Gould and the rest of them be damned.
The vote came after a month of deliberation, at a meeting crowded with concerned parents. Some 2,000 of the county's residents signed a petition last spring to have the board put stickers on biology textbooks telling students that evolution is a theory, not a fact. “What they're trying to do is appease the religious right,” says Michael Manely, the lawyer representing a local parent who wanted the stickers removed.
The war between creationists and evolutionists had recently fallen quiet. In 1999, the Kansas state board of education dropped evolution from state examinations; but by 2001 the three most prominent anti-evolutionists had been voted out of office, and the decision quietly reversed. Of late, the Christian right has focused on other topics. But the anti-evolutionists' victory in Cobb County may stimulate similar-minded people elsewhere. In Ohio, the state board of education is under pressure to include “intelligent design”—the idea that the complexity of the universe proves the existence of the divine—when it issues a new science curriculum.
Cobb County's new policy argues that providing information on “disputed views” is “necessary for a balanced education” and will help to promote “acceptance of diversity of opinion”. A poll commissioned in 2000 by People for the American Way, a liberal-minded group, shows that many Americans think this way. Nearly half of the respondents believed that the theory of evolution had not yet been proved. And of those who believe in evolution—only a fifth wanted evolution taught alone—three-quarters liberally agreed that students should be presented with “all points of view” and “make up their own minds”. In this post-modern reasoning, evolution and the Book of Genesis are equally valid.
The losers have already begun worrying aloud that this will hurt Cobb County's reputation as a place where children can get a good education. Cobb's schools consistently rank above the state average, which is not saying much. But what happens if superior schools insist that previously accepted facts have become mere theory? No comment from Mr Gingrich, who now lives in Virginia.
Thank God most kids go to Sunday School before they hit public school.
That way they have a chance at realizing what is/isn't fact.
Twist that however you want.
Evolution has always been a theory and never a fact. It is a good theory as measured by the number of attempts to refute it. Its value is not in its ultimate validity or lack thereof but in its ability to generate debate and discussion. Odd that this writer would not recognize that. I think he has his own agenda.
The specific details of evolution -- everything from specific lineages, the mechanisms of mutations, and the details of selection, are, and always have been open for debate.
Evolution is a bit like the O.J. Crime scene. You can never prove a historical fact in the same sense that you can prove a mathematical theorem, but people who take the time to see the evidence come to a conclusion.
Another vast conspiracy I'm proud to be a member of.
knowledge being absolute/unchanging--personal as opposed to public...forced/repressed---POLITICAL!
Religous/faith liberty is gone...thanks to evolution/liberals(stealth religion/science)!
Originally the word liberal meant social conservatives(no govt religion--none) who advocated growth and progress---mostly technological(knowledge being absolute/unchanging)based on law--reality... UNDER GOD---the nature of GOD/man/govt. does not change. These were the Classical liberals...founding fathers-PRINCIPLES---stable/SANE scientific reality/society---industrial progress...moral/social character-values(private/personal) GROWTH(limited NON-intrusive PC Govt/religion---schools)!
Evolution...Atheism-dehumanism---TYRANNY(pc-religion/rhetoric)...
Then came the SPLIT SCHIZOPHRENIA/ZOMBIE/BRAVE-NWO1984 LIBERAL NEO-America---the post-modern age
Having evolution mentioned as a disputed theory along with other ideas of the origin of man should be the least of anyone's concerns about their child's "education". It seems clear that anyone who would worry about such is more interested in indoctrination than education. Kids can't read, speak english correctly and understand math, but mentioning theories other than evolution may harm a school's reputation as giving a good education? Typical looney arguments from the God-haters.
I think the article unintentionally got it right when it called them "losers".
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