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The attack on evolution
The Economist ^
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.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: creationism; crevolist; evolution
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To: Junior
So that everyone will have access to the accumulated
Creationism vs. Evolution threads which have previously appeared on FreeRepublic, plus links to hundreds of sites with a vast amount of information on this topic, here's
Junior's massive work, available for all to review:
The Ultimate Creation vs. Evolution Resource [ver 19].
To: whattajoke
Evolution teaches everything 'hatched' out of a mudball!
To: whattajoke
I always hate myself after posting to f.
Schizophrenia is a terrible condition, and I feel guilty prodding someone who can't compose a full, coherent sentence in the English language. But sometimes I just can't help myself.
23
posted on
10/07/2002 1:45:14 PM PDT
by
js1138
To: js1138
Evolution teaches everything 'hatched' out of a mudball!
To: PatrickHenry
Wheeeeeeee!
Oops, I forgot my medication.
(pause)
Harumph! Harumph!
To: js1138
I'm warming up...
gonna wager everything---
the whole farm on one bet!
Prove the age---composition of the earth...
no possible ties!
How and why mountains were formed---THE PROOF/prediction!
To: f.Christian
Not true. Some of us are descended from slimeballs.
27
posted on
10/07/2002 1:51:09 PM PDT
by
js1138
To: f.Christian
28
posted on
10/07/2002 1:51:33 PM PDT
by
APBaer
To: All
To: PatrickHenry
Axelrod, Science 128:7-
"One of the major unsolved problems of geology and evolution is the occurrence of diversified, multi-cellular marine invertebrates in Lower Cambrian rocks on all the continents and their absence in rocks of greater age."
"their absence in rocks of 'greater' age."
The 'greater' age in layers exists if you think the layers formed from the top!
At one pt. the whole of the Earth was hot cooling from the surface in successive layers from below---outward!
Nothing missing in those layers---no mystery!
These invertebrates can only exist above ground level...in water/air---not underground!
To: js1138
Not true. Some of us are descended from slimeballs. And some from fruitcakes. :-)
31
posted on
10/07/2002 1:55:49 PM PDT
by
mlo
To: f.Christian
Speaking of mudballs warming up...
The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair.
The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought if only Casey could but get a whack at that --
We'd put up even money now with Casey at the bat.
No ties allowed...
32
posted on
10/07/2002 1:56:28 PM PDT
by
js1138
To: js1138
"Schizophrenia is a terrible condition, and I feel guilty prodding someone who can't compose a full, coherent sentence"
Perhaps it s not schizophrenia, perhaps he is perched further back on the evolutionary tree and doesn't realize it?
33
posted on
10/07/2002 1:56:31 PM PDT
by
APBaer
To: js1138
Evolution is a criminal conspiracy... You should perhaps be grateful that he's not part of the vanguard that also argues for the currently dormant but theologically consistent "theory" that the Sun and all the planets revolve around the Earth.. (....Or is he??)
To: js1138
Seismology---tests...
can prove/disprove the age of mountains and the Earth...
or at least my theory about them!
Below the ground...there is a plate---DETECTABLE
that matches the perimeter of every mountain---range...
proving the mountain/hills(appalachia types/large openings)...
were formed from beneath---via the plate openings...
and resulted in triangular pointing up extruded masses with plate parts/residue on top.
The tops of the mountain/plateaus/buttes would match the original opening/crack in the plates!
The bottoms of the mountain would match where the plates stopped...
probably still touching!
Raised valleys stuck between mountains would have natural filling and resevoirs below them holding/trapping---water/gas/oil...ect.
A valley would be a central plate floor caught/floating/lifted from the mountains rising...
much higher than submerged plates around the mountains perimeter!
and canyons(small openings)...inverted mountains---the same way!
I am not talking about Himalaya/rocky type mountains whose origins are different...
but this whole evolution idea of erosion---sedimentary levels is bogus!
Post cambrian levels can also be explained by volcanic and flood layering that doesn't take billions of years to complete!
There is a plate---
that matches the perimeter
that is detectable that matches the slopes of all these mountain/hills!
There are always exceptions to the overall theory but basically earth topography is pretty much redundant/same!
Valleys floors...plate tops---surfaces...
mountains/hills/canyons plate...crack---openings!
To: APBaer
I have a close relative with schizophrenia. I'm not being sarcastic when I say I feel bad making fun of the handicapped. But dang it, I'd like to ditch these thread leeches and have an intelligent discussion.
36
posted on
10/07/2002 2:02:55 PM PDT
by
js1138
To: f.Christian
I eagerly await your map. Now get out your crayons and draw it for us.
37
posted on
10/07/2002 2:05:10 PM PDT
by
js1138
To: js1138
We need a civil rights revolution...
specious/martian/alien preferences have destroyed---
free speech/thought...religous liberty---FREEDOM...
human/American life...rights---society/values.
To: js1138
Here's the code---
layering...
post cambrian(older/same) layers from above---volcanic/flooding!
Pre cambrian(younger/same) layers from below...cooling/uplifting!
The pre and post cambrian layers were forming at the same time...above and below ground!
The result...very young earth---no evolution!
Evolution is a man made theory--no evidence...
all ideology/politics---no facts/possibility/science!
Reduces the age of the geologic colummn to less than half!
Evolution requires an inordinate amount of time---the opposite of creation!
To: Hila
Evolutionist have never had concrete evidence of any of their fables
Interesting Freudian slip that you write only a singular "evolutionist" has failed to produce any evidence for the world to see. Because maybe in that case you are right; only about one (of thousands) has failed. While I am, of course, joking, I must also point out your use of the world "fable..." This from a woman who cites that scientific journal called the bible with well known "parables." Puh-leeze.
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