Kansas science students:
Hairless monkeys in the middle?
"For the conservative forces engaged in the struggle for America's soul [my soul is my own, thank you, and they should focus on taking care of their own --ed.], the true battleground is public education, the laboratory of the next generation, and an opportunity for the religious right to effect lasting change on popular culture.
"Officially, the teaching of creationism has been outlawed since 1987 when the Supreme Court ruled that the inclusion of religious material in science classes in public teaching was unconstitutional. In recent years, however, opponents of evolution have regrouped, challenging science education with the doctrine of 'intelligent design,' which has been carefully stripped of all references to God and religion. Unlike traditional creationism, which posits that God created the earth in six days, proponents of intelligent design assert that the workings of this planet are too complex to be ascribed to evolution. There must have been a designer working to a plan -- that is, a creator.
[and i'd be inclined to agree with that... the problem is that i don't believe that these people's god is that creator (and that their holy text is the manual). i definitely don't think that any such implied (much less overt) assertion belongs in public education. --ed.]
"In their campaign to persuade parents in Kansas to welcome the new version of creationism into the classroom, subscribers to intelligent design have appealed to a sense of fair play, arguing that it would be in their children's interest to be exposed to all schools of thought on the Earth's origins.
"'We are looking for science standards that would be more informative, that would open the discussion about origins, rather than close it,' said John Calvert, founder of the Intelligent Design Network, the prime mover in the campaign to discredit the teaching of evolution in Kansas...
"In Kansas, as in the rest of America, it would seem a slim majority continue to believe God created the heaven and the earth. During the past five years, subscribers to intelligent design have assembled a roster of influential supporters in the state, including a smattering of people with PhDs, to lend their cause a veneer of scientific credibility. When conservative Republicans took control of the Kansas state school board last November, the creationists seized their chance, installing supporters on the committee reviewing the high school science curriculum.
"The suggested changes under consideration seem innocuous at first: 'A minor addition makes it clear that evolution is a theory and not a fact,' says the proposed revision to the eighth grade science standard.
"However, Jack Krebs, a high school maths teacher on the committee drafting the new standards, argues that the campaign against evolution amounts to a stealth assault on the entire body of scientific thought. 'There are two planes [upon which] they are attacking. One is evolution, and one is science itself," he said.
"'They believe that the naturalistic bias of science is in fact atheistic, and that if we don't change science, we can't believe in God. And so this is really an attack on all of science. Evolution is just the weak link.'"
"Officially, the teaching of creationism has been outlawed since 1987 when the Supreme Court ruled that the inclusion of religious material in science classes in public teaching was unconstitutional. In recent years, however, opponents of evolution have regrouped, challenging science education with the doctrine of 'intelligent design,' which has been carefully stripped of all references to God and religion. Unlike traditional creationism, which posits that God created the earth in six days, proponents of intelligent design assert that the workings of this planet are too complex to be ascribed to evolution. There must have been a designer working to a plan -- that is, a creator.
[and i'd be inclined to agree with that... the problem is that i don't believe that these people's god is that creator (and that their holy text is the manual). i definitely don't think that any such implied (much less overt) assertion belongs in public education. --ed.]
"In their campaign to persuade parents in Kansas to welcome the new version of creationism into the classroom, subscribers to intelligent design have appealed to a sense of fair play, arguing that it would be in their children's interest to be exposed to all schools of thought on the Earth's origins.
"'We are looking for science standards that would be more informative, that would open the discussion about origins, rather than close it,' said John Calvert, founder of the Intelligent Design Network, the prime mover in the campaign to discredit the teaching of evolution in Kansas...
"In Kansas, as in the rest of America, it would seem a slim majority continue to believe God created the heaven and the earth. During the past five years, subscribers to intelligent design have assembled a roster of influential supporters in the state, including a smattering of people with PhDs, to lend their cause a veneer of scientific credibility. When conservative Republicans took control of the Kansas state school board last November, the creationists seized their chance, installing supporters on the committee reviewing the high school science curriculum.
"The suggested changes under consideration seem innocuous at first: 'A minor addition makes it clear that evolution is a theory and not a fact,' says the proposed revision to the eighth grade science standard.
"However, Jack Krebs, a high school maths teacher on the committee drafting the new standards, argues that the campaign against evolution amounts to a stealth assault on the entire body of scientific thought. 'There are two planes [upon which] they are attacking. One is evolution, and one is science itself," he said.
"'They believe that the naturalistic bias of science is in fact atheistic, and that if we don't change science, we can't believe in God. And so this is really an attack on all of science. Evolution is just the weak link.'"
Kansas science students:
Hairless monkeys in the middle?
mr damon, 14:18
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