Bush's Creationism in schools remarks (1 Viewer)

[erawamai]

School to make evolution optional

Teaching a religious concept that is untested within the field of science as a valid scientific theory? Only out in the Hills...

Pacific Hills

Cries for the poor kids that go there

 

[gerhard]

Do you really think the schools that are teaching intelligent design in science classes are really going to push critical thinking on their students?

 

[Raginsheep]

And the science syllabus does now?

 

[withoutaface]

Hey has anyone read about this, it's even on wikipedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

http://www.venganza.org/index.htm

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/FSM

 

[MoonlightSonata]

hahaha ........

Barry

A notable, yet mostly overlooked figure in the history of the faith is the prophet Barry, who took his apostolic name from the great and devout disciple Ishmali Canuwundra, who clearly had no need of it. Born in the small town of Gympie, Queensland in 1896 to an agnostic family and later receiving the faith through the witnessing of a particularly vivid apparition shortly after accidentally consuming a barrel of hash-pickled chillies, prophet Barry devoted the later half of his life to the task of divining The Flying One's intent through dreams and visions - transferred to him via a pet parrot that he kept in his trouser pocket - which he then translated to the page as a compendium of prophecies. The resulting publication "Testament of a Noodle-Envious Disciple", while initially receiving little recognition, became a pseudo-bible of the faith shortly after Barry's unfortunate and slightly odd death by tram in 1936 (Odd, in that the tram was stationary at the time). Sadly, the popularity of his writings began to wane to the point of obscurity by the 1950s due to the fact that none of the predictions seemed intent on coming true. Take for example, one of his most notable prophecies regarding the fantastic Great Contraption:

"THE GREAT CONTRAPTION (10:3-5)Yea, so it shall come to pass that He will descend to the very earth, and He shall touch the tainted sands with His divine noodly appendage and He shall write in the sand and the writing that He shall scribe upon the sand will be writing that does tell of the means to construct the Great Contraption about which He shall write upon the sand. And the Great Contraption shall be built by His humble children who dwell upon the earth upon which lays the tainted sand onto which the writing about the Great Contraption shall be written by Him ... (10:15-21) And so shall the Great Contraption serve the humble children and transport them to all corners of the world in half the time of the fastest contemporary propeller-driven aircraft, thus shall the need no longer be great for the consumption of the foul inflight meal, nor the mingling with the wicked air hostess in her offensive garment which does reveal the calfs of her shapely, comely and smooth white legs and nubile curvaceous buttocks which call as like a siren to the very soul of a devout man, and her breasts. Did I mention breasts? Oh yes, breasts. Round, firm, pointy... (10:28-33) And this Great Contraption will need not fuel, and it shall have not wings. nor will its use demand payment of fare, and no longer will His children need travel across land or sea, no, but upon the winds of the air as like He does, and shall dwell upon the clouds in great floating cities away from the foulness of the earth's sand upon which will crawl the wicked children, and the wicked hostesses except those which He sees fit to allow to visit the cloudy cities for reasons of firm discipline... (10:45) Round shapely .... (10:63) And as it is written so shall it come to pass while I do live."

 

[erawamai]

Sydney is a really really big suburb, or what is known as an übersuburb, that is located on a City Rail train still yet to arrive at the station somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Sydney is home to many snails and a population of over 600 million ants.

The Bondi Ferry is a great Sydney icon, passengers tell of fantastic journeys of the ferry beaching itself on rocks, slamming into wooden stops at Circular Quay, dying midway between its destinations and most importantly sinking off of Narrabeen Beach.

In the year 2000, Sydney hosted the Olympics but when the city could not afford to repay money owed to Melbourne that it had borrowed to host the games, the entire city's population was to be moved so Melbourne could take their land as payment. Unfortunately for them, Melbourne refused to take the land.

Oh dear :\

 

[erawamai]

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Jesus

 

[Generator]

JJJ right now - Intelligent Design.

 

[Rafy]

'Intelligent design' debate back in court

Monday, September 26, 2005 1811 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- "Intelligent design" is a religious theory that was inserted in a school district's curriculum with no concern for whether it had scientific underpinnings, a lawyer told a federal judge Monday as a landmark trial got under way.

"They did everything you would do if you wanted to incorporate a religious point of view in science class and cared nothing about its scientific validity," said Eric Rothschild, an attorney representing eight families who are challenging the decision of the Dover Area School District.

But in his opening statement, the school district's attorney defended Dover's policy of requiring ninth-grade students to hear a brief statement about intelligent design before biology classes on evolution.

"This case is about free inquiry in education, not about a religious agenda," argued Patrick Gillen of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "Dover's modest curriculum change embodies the essence of liberal education." The center, which lobbies for what it sees as the religious freedom of Christians, is defending the school district.

Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial, the opening of the trial in federal court marked the latest legal chapter in the debate over the teaching of evolution in public school.

The eight families argue that the district policy violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

About 75 spectators crowded the courtroom of U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III for the start of the non-jury trial. But the scene outside the courthouse was business as usual except for a lone woman reading the Bible.

Arguing that intelligent design is a religious theory, not science, Rothschild said he would show that the language in the school district's own policy made clear its religious intent.

Dover is believed to be the first school system in the nation to require students be exposed to the intelligent design concept, under a policy adopted by a 6-3 vote in October 2004.

It requires teachers to read a statement that says intelligent design differs from Darwin's view and refers students to an intelligent-design textbook, "Of Pandas and People," for more information.

Intelligent design, a concept some scholars have advanced over the past 15 years, holds that Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms. It implies that life on Earth was the product of an unidentified intelligent force.

Critics say intelligent design is merely creationism -- a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation -- camouflaged in scientific language, and it does not belong in a science curriculum.

Brown University professor Kenneth Miller, the first witness called by the plaintiffs, said pieces of the theory of evolution are subject to debate, such as where gender comes from, but told the court: "There is no controversy within science over the core proposition of evolutionary theory."

On the other hand, he said, "Intelligent design is not a testable theory in any sense and as such it is not accepted by the scientific community."

Miller also challenged the accuracy of "Of Pandas and People" and said it almost entirely omits any discussion of what causes extinction. If nearly all original species are extinct, he said, the intelligent design creator was not very intelligent.

The history of evolution litigation dates back to the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, in which Tennessee biology teacher John T. Scopes was fined $100 for violating a state law that forbade teaching evolution. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed his conviction on the narrow ground that only a jury trial could impose a fine exceeding $50, and the law was repealed in 1967.

In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an Arkansas state law banning the teaching of evolution. And in 1987, it ruled that states may not require public schools to balance evolution lessons by teaching creationism.

The clash over intelligent-design is evident far beyond this rural district of about 3,500 students 20 miles south of Harrisburg. President Bush has weighed in, saying schools should present both concepts when teaching about the origins of life.

In August, the Kansas Board of Education gave preliminary approval to science standards that allow intelligent design-style alternatives to be discussed alongside evolution.

Richard Thompson, the Thomas More center's president and chief counsel, said Dover's policy takes a modest approach.

"All the Dover school board did was allow students to get a glimpse of a controversy that is really boiling over in the scientific community," Thompson said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Intelligent design not science: experts

By Deborah Smith Science Editor
October 21, 2005

Intelligent design is as unscientific as the flat Earth theory and should not be taught in school science classes, a coalition representing 70,000 scientists and science teachers has warned.

Yesterday they expressed "grave concern" that the subject was being presented in some Australian schools as a valid alternative to evolution. Proponents of intelligent design claim that some living structures are so complex they are explicable only by the action of an unspecified "intelligent designer".

But the scientists and teachers say this notion of "supernatural intervention" is a belief and not a scientific theory, because it makes no predictions and cannot be tested.

"We therefore urge all Australian governments and educators not to permit the teaching or promulgation of intelligent design as science," they say in an open letter to newspapers.

"To do so would make a mockery of Australian science teaching and throw open the door of science classes to similarly unscientific world views - be they astrology, spoon bending, flat Earth cosmology or alien abductions."

The signatories to the letter include the Australian Academy of Science, the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies and the Australian Science Teachers Association. The coalition was brought together by the executive of the faculty of science at the University of NSW, led by its dean, Professor Mike Archer. [...]

- Full Article, SMH

"The coalition was brought together by the executive of the faculty of science at the University of NSW, led by its dean, Professor Mike Archer."

Brings a tear to my eye. Couldn't be more proud of my uni

 

[Sarah]

For those interested, Catalyst did a segment on it's program tonight (well thursday night)

Here's the transcript:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1486827.htm

Opponents of ID provided scientific reasoning to refute the scientific claims that proponents have put forth.

 

[SGB_J]

Bush is a knob. Who cares what he says?

 

[trompettiiste]

Students! Say NO to Intelligent Design

http://andrewv.blogsome.com/2005/10/23/an-open-letter-to-federal-education-minister-brendan-nelson/

Please support it as i think it is a great idea

 

[katie_tully]

I'm pretty sure there was a paragraph in our biology text books about creationism. Why do we care what Bush implements anyway? Half of the American's are raging born again Christians anyway, and it isn't getting implemented in Australia, so who cares?

- discuss the ways in which developments in scientific knowledge may conflict with the ideas about the origins of life developed by different cultures

Yeah, we already have a snippet of it in our Bio syllabus.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I'm pretty sure there was a paragraph in our biology text books about creationism. Why do we care what Bush implements anyway? Half of the American's are raging born again Christians anyway, and it isn't getting implemented in Australia, so who cares?

"The Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson, alarmed scientists earlier this year when he said schools should be able to teach intelligent design, but he later clarified his position, saying it should be restricted to religion or philosophy classes."

Following the remarks of Nelson, some were/are pushing for it to be taught here.

 

[katie_tully]

Atleast he specified religion/philosophy and not a science course.

 

[insert-username]

I'm happy with Intelligent Design being taught as part of the Religion or Philosophy courses, but I'm flat out against it being taught in the science cirriculum. Evolution is by no means the ultimate answer based on the evidence we have, but it has far more scientific backing to it than Intelligent Design does.


I_F

 

[stainmepink]

Well Mr Bush is proposing that schools should teach creationism along side evolution in school science classes. He says that it will present a 'fair' picture of the debate by presenting 'the other side' however i coulndt agree move with what Susan Spath says at the end of the article. Its not the other side. It is just one ALternative view.

Schools should be moving toward secularism, and not teaching things disguised as arguments for god. Leave the religion for home.

/me hates bush more.

hooray more christian brainwashing!

fanatical christians are infultrating the system

 

[stainmepink]

some of my friends like COMPLETELY beleive in science. they treat it like a religion, its disturbing perhaps dangerous, they block out all religion in the quest for the 'truth'. the best solution is to reignite the debate between science and religion (personally i don't believe science and religion really contradict each other, they only serve to support each other)

Sorry to break it to you, but religion is essentially designed as a means of mass oppression. In the past, the rich (king/chieftain etc.), would collude with the priesthood to create an environment that was safe for them to continue to exist in the lap of luxury whilst the poor endured bad living conditions, poor land rights etc. By telling the poor that God has placed them in their place and that their reward will come in the afterlife, revolution is avoided.

religion should stay out of politics well. (refer to The Crucible by Arthur Miller). Fortunately the rising living standards and education of the poor now allows them time to think and to realise that religion is a lie that should be abandoned as soon as possible.

and excuse me, but "treating science like a religion?" while ur exaggeration doesn't make any sense, some of us chose to use our common sense and think rationally, rather than obey a carpenter that supposedly lived 2000 years ago.

 

[katie_tully]

some of my friends like COMPLETELY beleive in science. they treat it like a religion, its disturbing perhaps dangerous, they block out all religion in the quest for the 'truth'. the best solution is to reignite the debate between science and religion (personally i don't believe science and religion really contradict each other, they only serve to support each other)

Actually, what I find more disturbing is that people block science out completely and live their lives according to a manuscript written 2000 years ago in the quest to find "truth" and validity of their lives.