Posted on 12/11/2002 6:28:08 AM PST by A2J
By WILL SENTELL
wsentell@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
High school biology textbooks would include a disclaimer that evolution is only a theory under a change approved Tuesday by a committee of the state's top school board.
If the disclaimer wins final approval, it would apparently make Louisiana just the second state in the nation with such a provision. The other is Alabama, which is the model for the disclaimer backers want in Louisiana.
Alabama approved its policy six or seven years ago after extensive controversy that included questions over the religious overtones of the issue.
The change approved Tuesday requires Louisiana education officials to check on details for getting publishers to add the disclaimer to biology textbooks.
It won approval in the board's Student and School Standards/ Instruction Committee after a sometimes contentious session.
"I don't believe I evolved from some primate," said Jim Stafford, a board member from Monroe. Stafford said evolution should be offered as a theory, not fact.
Whether the proposal will win approval by the full state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday is unclear.
Paul Pastorek of New Orleans, president of the board, said he will oppose the addition.
"I am not prepared to go back to the Dark Ages," Pastorek said.
"I don't think state boards should dictate editorial content of school textbooks," he said. "We shouldn't be involved with that."
Donna Contois of Metairie, chairwoman of the committee that approved the change, said afterward she could not say whether it will win approval by the full board.
The disclaimer under consideration says the theory of evolution "still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life.
"Study hard and keep an open mind," it says. "Someday you may contribute to the theories of how living things appeared on earth."
Backers say the addition would be inserted in the front of biology textbooks used by students in grades 9-12, possibly next fall.
The issue surfaced when a committee of the board prepared to approve dozens of textbooks used by both public and nonpublic schools. The list was recommended by a separate panel that reviews textbooks every seven years.
A handful of citizens, one armed with a copy of Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species," complained that biology textbooks used now are one-sided in promoting evolution uncritically and are riddled with factual errors.
"If we give them all the facts to make up their mind, we have educated them," Darrell White of Baton Rouge said of students. "Otherwise we have indoctrinated them."
Darwin wrote that individuals with certain characteristics enjoy an edge over their peers and life forms developed gradually millions of years ago.
Backers bristled at suggestions that they favor the teaching of creationism, which says that life began about 6,000 years ago in a process described in the Bible's Book of Genesis.
White said he is the father of seven children, including a 10th-grader at a public high school in Baton Rouge.
He said he reviewed 21 science textbooks for use by middle and high school students. White called Darwin's book "racist and sexist" and said students are entitled to know more about controversy that swirls around the theory.
"If nothing else, put a disclaimer in the front of the textbooks," White said.
John Oller Jr., a professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, also criticized the accuracy of science textbooks under review. Oller said he was appearing on behalf of the Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian lobbying group.
Oller said the state should force publishers to offer alternatives, correct mistakes in textbooks and fill in gaps in science teachings. "We are talking about major falsehoods that should be addressed," he said.
Linda Johnson of Plaquemine, a member of the board, said she supports the change. Johnson said the new message of evolution "will encourage students to go after the facts."
Instead of wasting so much verbiage in invective, why don't you just refute my statements since you CLAIM to know that they are wrong???????????
Please do pass this on to Luis! His work is absolutely fascinating and I believe his efforts will benefit all of us! I also find his writing style easy to follow.
I'm particularly fond of this one: Syntactic Autonomy: Or Why There is no Autonomy Without Symbols and how Self-Organizing Systems Systems Might Evolve Them
Have you read the book of Job? FAITH is what He is looking for.
BTW, He is your God too -- you just haven't realized it yet. I denied it for years. Dug into Particle physics, Molecular Biology, etc. The more I learned, the more it became obvious.
Hang in there. It'll come.
You don't seem to understand. Many of us have indeed weighed the "evidence" on both sides of the issue -- regardless of religious dogma. Based upon this evidence, the argument for Creationism is overwhelming, while the argument for evolutionism is quite the opposite.
I think that if god created this, it is wonderful to discover how and why it works the way it does. God gave us a mind to think with, and a curiosity to discover it, if he meant us to be without this knowledge that we are gaining, then he could have made us robots.
True. His "creation" doesn't detract one bit from our drive to explore and pursue satisfaction upon further discovery. However our world certainly appears though it was designed, does it not?
If one accepts the premise of God or Creator of all that exist, is it not possible "normal" geographical timelines could be manipulated by a power great enough to design the infinitessimal itself in infinitessimal detail?
My friend, it is an Evolutionist remains inside the box, and outside the realm of real possibility, and thus probability.
The ability of agent/environment couplings to select appropriate attractor states to cope with an environment takes us closer to agent's that can select behavior alternatives. Note, however, that selected self-organization requires that both self-organization and a selective process be specified (4). Not merely state-determined, rule-following, self-organization which would amount to agents with no real alternatives. This notion of selected self-organization leads us now to think of what kinds of selection processes are possible, and more importantly for the present work, does this choice of alternative classifications/behaviors exist in or require some kind of autonomy or closure?
Right where they have always been. That life requires a CREATOR.
Like the science book my kids former private school had that showed a divided tongue, with different types of "taste" buds (sweet, sour, etc) for each section.
That's what happens with science. They present things as fact until they are proven to be wrong, which is a constant condition.
God's Word is unchanging. Heisenberg also figured out that there are limits to what we can know.
It's incredible that you have it backwards and can't see it.
I study Molecular Biology, Particle Physics and other higher-echelon fields of study in the physical sciences. It has only strengthened my faith. My faith, which is an implicit trust in our Creator, may seem a folly to you. However, I will live my lifetime in this faith. You, perhaps, may not. When we die, contrary to what you have mentioned above, I believe that I will go to Heaven to be with God. I will die happy. You, should you stay on this path, will live a seemingly happy and fulfilling life. When you die, you have no expectation to go to Heaven, because you do not believe in a Creator.
If you are right, that is wonderful! We both died happy! I chose to serve my Creator by loving others and doing my best to make the lives of those less fortunate than I am more meaningful -- and that makes me happy.
If *I* am right, what then happens to you? In my scenario, there is a ZERO percent chance of sorrow. In your scenario, there is a 50% chance of sorrow.
I have seen enough of creation to convince me that mankinds attempts to mimic the Creator are folly.
TO come to your other topic: You suggest above that "it will finally be proven" that Creation is a myth. That, my friend, is an IMPOSSIBILITY. It was, is, and always will be impossible to prove that there is no Creator. So, MY world will not "fall" down around me, as you say. You, and ONLY you, have the chance to be proven wrong in this life. When you ARE proven wrong, which is a CERTAINTY when you get to the molecular level, and truly UNDERSTAND what goes on inside a cell, your world will NOT fall down around you EITHER. It will most likely be the single-most euphoric condition you will ever experience. It is UPLIFTING.
I've been there, pal. I denied it JUST LIKE YOU. I thought I knew it all -- even ridiculing my family.
Please, do some serious research at the molecular level, and don't take my word for it or anyone elses -- let it be through your own effort. All of the FACTS are there today. This is not like relativity, where we test observations to see if they fit the theory. This is KNOWABLE facts that are 100% observable -- TODAY! The tide is turning, and it is ALL because of the study of the cell with today's technology.
I bid you well. Don't close your eyes on this. If you are SERIOUS, have the strength to do some serious research. You will be amazed at what you find.
Yeah, and every scientific experiment ever done was designed, therefore no scientific experiment can tell us anything about the natural world.
If you follow your logic, you'd destroy the very basis of any kind of rational inquiry into the natural world. To be willing to destroy that pillar of modern civilization in order to protect one's religious belief is evil.
That's what happens with science. They present things as fact until they are proven to be wrong, which is a constant condition.Yes, and the Holy Qur'an is inscribed on gold tablets in heaven, and was recited by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad (dpp), who wrote it all down. Thus the Holy Qur'an is the unchanging word of Allah (xyz), unlike your science books, which you weak kaffir rewrite every time some new fact comes along to beguile your minds. You materialist scientists are weak like women!God's Word is unchanging. Heisenberg also figured out that there are limits to what we can know.
OK, in all seriousness, if you're so afraid of having to revise your understanding of things in light of new data, why don't you just get an old copy of a science book, and never read anything newer? Then you'll have the comfort of an unchanging science. I'm sure it would be very comfortable.
Please, do some serious research at the molecular level, and don't take my word for it or anyone elses -- let it be through your own effort. All of the FACTS are there today. This is not like relativity, where we test observations to see if they fit the theory. This is KNOWABLE facts that are 100% observable -- TODAY! The tide is turning, and it is ALL because of the study of the cell with today's technology.That reminds me: Kenneth Miller has written a wonderful critique of Behe's favorite icon of irreducible complexity, the flagellum. Briefly:
The great irony of the flagellum's increasing acceptance as an icon of anti-evolution is that fact that research had demolished its status as an example of irreducible complexity almost at the very moment it was first proclaimed. The purpose of this article is to explore the arguments by which the flagellum's notoriety has been achieved, and to review the research developments that have now undermined they very foundations of those arguments.
What's ironic about this is, a theory is an explanation for the facts. So, the stickers are warning the students that "evolution is not a fact; it's an explanation for the facts." Oh-kaaaaaaayyyyy. And knowing this distinction will save the students' souls because...?
Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle placed the odds of unguided abiogenesis at 10^40000 to 1. (That's 40,000 zeros.)
This short script provides a better picture of the odds:
#!/usr/bin/perlThe output is here.
print "1 in 10";
for ($i=1; $i < 40000; $i++) {
print "0";
}
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