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Evolution Disclaimer Supported
The Advocate (Baton Rouge) ^ | 12/11/02 | WILL SENTELL

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."


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: crevolist; evolution; rades
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1 posted on 12/11/2002 6:28:09 AM PST by A2J
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To: A2J
More creationist BS. In another 20 years we'll be able to create life from scratch using amino acids. Where will the cretionist arguments go then?
2 posted on 12/11/2002 7:09:20 AM PST by Soliton
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To: balrog666; Condorman; *crevo_list; general_re; Gumlegs; jennyp; longshadow; PatrickHenry; ...
Ping
3 posted on 12/11/2002 7:12:05 AM PST by Junior
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To: Soliton
Man has come a long way in the few thousands years the universe has existed. /sarcasm off
4 posted on 12/11/2002 7:15:54 AM PST by Gary Boldwater
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To: Junior
Atari 2600 marker (Pong!).
5 posted on 12/11/2002 7:25:22 AM PST by balrog666
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To: A2J
YEC bump for later
6 posted on 12/11/2002 7:47:31 AM PST by LiteKeeper
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To: VadeRetro; jennyp; Junior; longshadow; *crevo_list; RadioAstronomer; Scully; Piltdown_Woman; ...
Probably duplicating a lot of junior's ping list, but I guess that's unavoidable.

[This ping list for the evolution -- not creationism -- side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. If you want to be included, or dropped, let me know.]

A very few links from the famous "list-o-links" (so the creationists don't get to start each new thread from ground zero).

From Scientific American: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense.

01: Site that debunks virtually all of creationism's fallacies. Excellent resource.
02: Creation "Science" Debunked.

The foregoing is just a tiny sample. 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].

7 posted on 12/11/2002 8:10:15 AM PST by PatrickHenry
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To: A2J
...still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life.

One cannot argue against this statement if it is taten out of context, nor can anyone deny that textbooks are riddled with errors. My son's advanced biology teacher gave up trying to find a decent textbook and wrote his own. Everyone in the class passed the AP exam, so he couldn't have been a complete fraud.

The biggest threat to teaching is not creationists, but the socialized, centralized textbook purchasing systems of the public schools.

8 posted on 12/11/2002 8:22:15 AM PST by js1138
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: Soliton
What is the problem? There will be a sentence in the front of the book stating that evolution is a theory, which of course, it is.

If, in another 20 years we'll be able to create life from "scratch" using amino acids, it will STILL have nothing to do with the Theory of evolution.

Also, I would like to see you create life from "scratch" using amino acids by FIRST creating the amino acids, etc.

You sound mightily impressed with yourself. There will come a time when you'll see some objective truth to having a Creator. Whether you discard the notion at that time is your choice, of course.

I'd choose wisely.

10 posted on 12/11/2002 8:48:54 AM PST by ImaGraftedBranch
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: js1138
If the issue is really errors in textbooks, why does the disclaimer single out evolution? Is anyone still fooled by all the smoke and mirrors?

Same old witch doctors.
12 posted on 12/11/2002 8:54:38 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
If the issue is really errors in textbooks, why does the disclaimer single out evolution?

I hear you, but I was kind of hoping for the elimination of printed text books. It would be cheaper to issue interactive CDs in HTML format, even if you had to distribute Web-TV units to the computer-deprived.

Textbooks are always at the mercy of politics and social trends. My fourth grade health book had rules for what time of day to use the bathroom.

13 posted on 12/11/2002 9:07:08 AM PST by js1138
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To: ImaGraftedBranch
Also, I would like to see you create life from "scratch" using amino acids by FIRST creating the amino acids, etc.

No problem creating amino acids from scratch. Decades old technology available to high school kids.

You sound mightily impressed with yourself. There will come a time when you'll see some objective truth to having a Creator. Whether you discard the notion at that time is your choice, of course.

Sounds like a threat. Does your God punish people for asking questions?

14 posted on 12/11/2002 9:11:55 AM PST by js1138
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To: A2J
The South is so progressive.
15 posted on 12/11/2002 9:15:14 AM PST by stanz
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: Soliton
In another 20 years we'll be able to create life from scratch using amino acids. Where will the cretionist arguments go then?

Noplace. They'll smugly trot out the same old pointless "you-get-your-own-dirt" parable.

The evolutionist version goes like this:

A bunch of scientists figured out all the secrets of life. They said to God, "We don't need you anymore. We can do all of this ourselves."

And God said, "                        ."

So the men said, "You want to see us to make a man out of dirt? We can do it, you know."

God said, "                        ."

The men said, "Hello, is anybody there?"

And God said, "                        ."

Eventually one of the scientists suggested they stop wasting their time, and they went back to their labs to get some work done.

17 posted on 12/11/2002 9:31:59 AM PST by Physicist
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To: stanz
The main problem with this topic, is that so many people enter the subject with a particular bias, one way or the other.

I do not claim to be an expert on the subject, but read extensively both sides of the subject, and at this point in my like, Behe and Dembski make the most logical sense, since the evidence on side of the evolutionary apologists consists of speculation, and conjecture, at best.
18 posted on 12/11/2002 9:34:07 AM PST by matthew_the_brain
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To: Physicist
I ran across this statement in a piece not long ago, and I wonder if you'd care to comment.

"No scientific theory has ever explained all the phenomena that fall within its domain."

19 posted on 12/11/2002 9:39:50 AM PST by forsnax5
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To: matthew_the_brain
"I do not claim to be an expert on the subject, but read extensively both sides of the subject, and at this point in my like, Behe and Dembski make the most logical sense, since the evidence on side of the evolutionary apologists consists of speculation, and conjecture, at best."
__________________________________________________________

Time to read a little more. By my count, there is one bible and perhaps 100 quirky little creationist books from tiny publishing houses and about 10 large release books by hacks like Dembski and Behe. Stack that up against the THOUSANDS of books by scientists, 10's of thousands of journal articles by scientists, and thousands more textbooks by scientists that support evolution. If you make the effort, you will find your supposition of "speculation and conjecture" to ring rather hollow. Happy reading!
20 posted on 12/11/2002 9:45:20 AM PST by whattajoke
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