PBS NOVA tonight did a story on DNA production and then creation of viruses in cells. Other laboratory research programs are making "organisms". The scientists do not call the organisms "life" because they are made from inanimate powders that can be combined to create the specific DNA. Scientists are also growing organisms on inamimate rocks fallen from space.
Science also proves that the universe is billions of years.
Intelligent Design and Creationism teaches that the world is less than 10000 years old based on the Bible.
We have a rock shelter in Western PA that is at least 14000 years old.
C-span today had on a former Lockheed Martin CEO who chaired Bush's panel for education reform. He said we are lagging behind China and India in scientists and engineers. This will further threaten our job situation and national security.
ID and Creationism are bad for this country for economic and security reasons and blurs the line between Church and State.
Full Version: The Teaching of Evolution Devolves
'Intelligent Design' Battle Goes to Polls
Updated 1:35 PM ET November 1, 2005
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8djrb6g1&src=ap
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
DOVER, Pa. (AP) - A battle over a policy requiring that ninth-graders in this rural community learn about "intelligent design" in biology class is being fought on two fronts _ one political, one legal.
In a federal courtroom in Harrisburg, 20 miles away, a judge is hearing arguments in the sixth week of a landmark trial over whether the concept can be introduced in public school. The non-jury trial is expected to conclude Nov. 4; it is unclear when the judge will issue a decision.
At the polls in Dover, voters will render their decision Nov. 8 on whether to retain eight of the nine Dover Area School Board members _ all Republicans _ or replace them with a Democratic slate whose platform calls for removing intelligent design from the curriculum.
Republican voters outnumber Democrats in the district nearly 8-5. But party affiliation may not matter in the election: While the challengers are running on the Democratic ticket, half of them are actually registered Republicans, according to a spokesman.
Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some kind of higher force.
The school board voted a year ago to require students to hear a statement about intelligent design before learning about evolution. The statement says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps."
Eight families sued to have intelligent design removed, contending that it is biblical creationism in disguise and therefore violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
Around town, one billboard erected by the current school board exhorts voters to "support academic freedom." The challengers _ supported by a group called Dover CARES, for Dover Citizens Actively Reviewing Educational Strategies _ tout themselves as "the right choice for a new school board."
A similar dispute is unfolding in Kansas, where the state Board of Education is considering adopting language _ sought by advocates of intelligent design _ that suggests there are weaknesses in the theory of evolution. The board is set to vote Nov. 8.
One of the Pennsylvania plaintiffs, Bryan Rehm, is also running for the school board. "A lot of people in the community are fed up with intelligent design either way. They'd like for it to go away," he said.
Vincent Farrell, a retired Agway store manager, said he is leaning heavily toward keeping the incumbents and sees nothing wrong with making students aware of intelligent design.
"I think that to sue the Dover school board over this is overkill," said Farrell, 69. "There are a lot of closed minds, from what I've seen."
Saundra Roldan, a preschool teacher at the YMCA, is planning to vote for the slate of challengers. Even if the courts side with the school board, "we as voters and taxpayers should say, `You put us into this mess and we're not happy about it and we want you out of here.'"
"It should not have come to that point," Roldan said as she took a break from reading her Bible.
___
On the Net:
Dover school board: http://www.doverfirst.net
Dover CARES: http://www.dovercares.org
Updated 1:35 PM ET November 1, 2005
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8djrb6g1&src=ap
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
DOVER, Pa. (AP) - A battle over a policy requiring that ninth-graders in this rural community learn about "intelligent design" in biology class is being fought on two fronts _ one political, one legal.
In a federal courtroom in Harrisburg, 20 miles away, a judge is hearing arguments in the sixth week of a landmark trial over whether the concept can be introduced in public school. The non-jury trial is expected to conclude Nov. 4; it is unclear when the judge will issue a decision.
At the polls in Dover, voters will render their decision Nov. 8 on whether to retain eight of the nine Dover Area School Board members _ all Republicans _ or replace them with a Democratic slate whose platform calls for removing intelligent design from the curriculum.
Republican voters outnumber Democrats in the district nearly 8-5. But party affiliation may not matter in the election: While the challengers are running on the Democratic ticket, half of them are actually registered Republicans, according to a spokesman.
Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some kind of higher force.
The school board voted a year ago to require students to hear a statement about intelligent design before learning about evolution. The statement says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps."
Eight families sued to have intelligent design removed, contending that it is biblical creationism in disguise and therefore violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
Around town, one billboard erected by the current school board exhorts voters to "support academic freedom." The challengers _ supported by a group called Dover CARES, for Dover Citizens Actively Reviewing Educational Strategies _ tout themselves as "the right choice for a new school board."
A similar dispute is unfolding in Kansas, where the state Board of Education is considering adopting language _ sought by advocates of intelligent design _ that suggests there are weaknesses in the theory of evolution. The board is set to vote Nov. 8.
One of the Pennsylvania plaintiffs, Bryan Rehm, is also running for the school board. "A lot of people in the community are fed up with intelligent design either way. They'd like for it to go away," he said.
Vincent Farrell, a retired Agway store manager, said he is leaning heavily toward keeping the incumbents and sees nothing wrong with making students aware of intelligent design.
"I think that to sue the Dover school board over this is overkill," said Farrell, 69. "There are a lot of closed minds, from what I've seen."
Saundra Roldan, a preschool teacher at the YMCA, is planning to vote for the slate of challengers. Even if the courts side with the school board, "we as voters and taxpayers should say, `You put us into this mess and we're not happy about it and we want you out of here.'"
"It should not have come to that point," Roldan said as she took a break from reading her Bible.
___
On the Net:
Dover school board: http://www.doverfirst.net
Dover CARES: http://www.dovercares.org
Kansas approved teaching ID.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/08/evolution.debate.ap/
The Dover, PA case has 3 more weeks to go. The entire school board got voted out on Tuesday.
Kansas school board redefines science
New standards question accuracy of evolutionary theory
Tuesday, November 8, 2005; Posted: 8:10 p.m. EST (01:10 GMT)
QUICKVOTE [vote] so far 70% say NO; total 129511 votes
Do you think intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution in schools?
TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- At the risk of re-igniting the same heated nationwide debate it sparked six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.
The 6-4 vote was a victory for "intelligent design" advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.....
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/08/evolution.debate.ap/
The Dover, PA case has 3 more weeks to go. The entire school board got voted out on Tuesday.
Kansas school board redefines science
New standards question accuracy of evolutionary theory
Tuesday, November 8, 2005; Posted: 8:10 p.m. EST (01:10 GMT)
QUICKVOTE [vote] so far 70% say NO; total 129511 votes
Do you think intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution in schools?
TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- At the risk of re-igniting the same heated nationwide debate it sparked six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.
The 6-4 vote was a victory for "intelligent design" advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.....
QUOTE(heritage @ Nov 10 2005, 12:32 PM)
Kansas approved teaching ID.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/08/evolution.debate.ap/
The Dover, PA case has 3 more weeks to go. The entire school board got voted out on Tuesday.
Kansas school board redefines science
New standards question accuracy of evolutionary theory
Tuesday, November 8, 2005; Posted: 8:10 p.m. EST (01:10 GMT)
QUICKVOTE [vote] so far 70% say NO; total 129511 votes
Do you think intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution in schools?
TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- At the risk of re-igniting the same heated nationwide debate it sparked six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.
The 6-4 vote was a victory for "intelligent design" advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.....
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/08/evolution.debate.ap/
The Dover, PA case has 3 more weeks to go. The entire school board got voted out on Tuesday.
Kansas school board redefines science
New standards question accuracy of evolutionary theory
Tuesday, November 8, 2005; Posted: 8:10 p.m. EST (01:10 GMT)
QUICKVOTE [vote] so far 70% say NO; total 129511 votes
Do you think intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution in schools?
TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- At the risk of re-igniting the same heated nationwide debate it sparked six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.
The 6-4 vote was a victory for "intelligent design" advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.....
I live in Kansas and I find it very difficult to believe that the Kansas Board of Education is representative of the majority of Kansans. I think the people who are fighting the hardest are the Intelligent Design fanatics so that's why they got their vote. Now, those of us who oppose Intelligent Design in Science class will get more motivated and we may end up overturning this decision.
School board that backed intelligent design ousted
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
By Tracie Mauriello, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05313/603128.stm
Challengers unseated eight out of nine Dover Board of Education members yesterday in a tight race that centered on the issue whether the theory of intelligent design has a place in science classes.
The ninth member of the York County school board was not up for re-election.
The eight board members unseated were all are proponents of a policy -- now the subject of a federal court case -- requiring high school freshmen to hear a statement about intelligent design before biology lessons about evolution.
The challengers, who said the policy violated the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state, are not expected to revamp the biology curriculum right away.
"They want to have a discussion with the community and see the results of the court case. They are very interested in community input," said Sharon Wetzel, spokeswoman for Dover CARES, the slate of challengers.
Intelligent design advocates hold that life's development is too complex to be explained by natural evolution unguided by a higher power.
The trial, which brought yesterday's election into the national spotlight, was the talk of the town and overshadowed the candidates' attempts to run on other platforms.
"Everybody is making this the No. 1 issue and we think ... other things are more important," said Phillip Herman, a Democrat who ran with Dover CARES.
That's something both slates agreed on.
"The voters were so mixed up with the intelligent-design case that it's been tough for us to get our message out about anything else," said ousted member David Napierskie.
That was reflected on the campus of York College, where students discussed the trial and the election both in and out of classes, said Melvin Kulbicki, chairman of the political science department.
"This trial had the effect of galvanizing and polarizing a community," Dr. Kulbicki said.
Eight families sued the school system, saying intelligent design was another term for creationism and that inserting it in public schools violates the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state.
Testimony wrapped up Friday and a decision is expected by January. The new board members are to be sworn in Dec. 5.
It was unclear last night whether turnover on the board would render any court decision moot. That would be up to the trial judge, John E. Jones III.
"If he does declare this one moot, you're going to be hearing about other cases in other federal courts throughout the land," said Kevin Alan Lewis, who has been following the case from La Mirada, Calif, where he is assistant professor of law and theology at Biola University. "This case will have ramifications for people in every state."
In York, testimony from incumbent Alan Bonsell, the board's former president, may have ruined any chance his slate had of pulling through yesterday's election.
In sworn depositions, Mr. Bonsell said he didn't know the source of Dover High School's books promoting intelligent design, but William Buckingham, a former board member, testified that he handed $850 to Mr. Bonsell so his father, Donald Bonsell, could buy the books.
Mr. Buckingham was caught in a blunder. as well. During a deposition he had said he didn't know where the $850 came from but in court he testified his church raised the money.
"The incumbents have not done a good job making their case because they can't seem to remember anything," Dr. Kulbicki said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Tracie Mauriello can be reached at tmauriello@post-gazette.com or 717-787-2141.)
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
By Tracie Mauriello, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05313/603128.stm
Challengers unseated eight out of nine Dover Board of Education members yesterday in a tight race that centered on the issue whether the theory of intelligent design has a place in science classes.
The ninth member of the York County school board was not up for re-election.
The eight board members unseated were all are proponents of a policy -- now the subject of a federal court case -- requiring high school freshmen to hear a statement about intelligent design before biology lessons about evolution.
The challengers, who said the policy violated the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state, are not expected to revamp the biology curriculum right away.
"They want to have a discussion with the community and see the results of the court case. They are very interested in community input," said Sharon Wetzel, spokeswoman for Dover CARES, the slate of challengers.
Intelligent design advocates hold that life's development is too complex to be explained by natural evolution unguided by a higher power.
The trial, which brought yesterday's election into the national spotlight, was the talk of the town and overshadowed the candidates' attempts to run on other platforms.
"Everybody is making this the No. 1 issue and we think ... other things are more important," said Phillip Herman, a Democrat who ran with Dover CARES.
That's something both slates agreed on.
"The voters were so mixed up with the intelligent-design case that it's been tough for us to get our message out about anything else," said ousted member David Napierskie.
That was reflected on the campus of York College, where students discussed the trial and the election both in and out of classes, said Melvin Kulbicki, chairman of the political science department.
"This trial had the effect of galvanizing and polarizing a community," Dr. Kulbicki said.
Eight families sued the school system, saying intelligent design was another term for creationism and that inserting it in public schools violates the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state.
Testimony wrapped up Friday and a decision is expected by January. The new board members are to be sworn in Dec. 5.
It was unclear last night whether turnover on the board would render any court decision moot. That would be up to the trial judge, John E. Jones III.
"If he does declare this one moot, you're going to be hearing about other cases in other federal courts throughout the land," said Kevin Alan Lewis, who has been following the case from La Mirada, Calif, where he is assistant professor of law and theology at Biola University. "This case will have ramifications for people in every state."
In York, testimony from incumbent Alan Bonsell, the board's former president, may have ruined any chance his slate had of pulling through yesterday's election.
In sworn depositions, Mr. Bonsell said he didn't know the source of Dover High School's books promoting intelligent design, but William Buckingham, a former board member, testified that he handed $850 to Mr. Bonsell so his father, Donald Bonsell, could buy the books.
Mr. Buckingham was caught in a blunder. as well. During a deposition he had said he didn't know where the $850 came from but in court he testified his church raised the money.
"The incumbents have not done a good job making their case because they can't seem to remember anything," Dr. Kulbicki said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Tracie Mauriello can be reached at tmauriello@post-gazette.com or 717-787-2141.)
Intelligent design passed without exam
Saturday, October 29, 2005
By Martha Raffaele, The Associated Press
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05302/597224.stm
HARRISBURG -- A school board member who voted to include "intelligent design" in a high-school biology curriculum testified yesterday that she never independently researched the concept and relied on the opinions of two fellow board members to make her decision.....
-----------------------------
First Person: Dover's innocent bystanders
As debates over intelligent design fill a courtroom, my formerly sleepy hometown is divided and sore
Saturday, November 05, 2005
By Alex Muller
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05309/601043.stm
Alex Muller is a journalism major at Penn State and a reporter for The Daily Collegian
----------------------------
Darwin's kin hears end of intelligent-design testimony
Saturday, November 05, 2005
By Tracie Mauriello, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05309/601209.stm
-------------------------
PostScript: Thanks a bunch, Charlie Darwin
Sunday, November 06, 2005
By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05310/601023.stm
-----------------
Saturday, October 29, 2005
By Martha Raffaele, The Associated Press
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05302/597224.stm
HARRISBURG -- A school board member who voted to include "intelligent design" in a high-school biology curriculum testified yesterday that she never independently researched the concept and relied on the opinions of two fellow board members to make her decision.....
-----------------------------
First Person: Dover's innocent bystanders
As debates over intelligent design fill a courtroom, my formerly sleepy hometown is divided and sore
Saturday, November 05, 2005
By Alex Muller
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05309/601043.stm
Alex Muller is a journalism major at Penn State and a reporter for The Daily Collegian
----------------------------
Darwin's kin hears end of intelligent-design testimony
Saturday, November 05, 2005
By Tracie Mauriello, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05309/601209.stm
-------------------------
PostScript: Thanks a bunch, Charlie Darwin
Sunday, November 06, 2005
By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05310/601023.stm
-----------------
In Kansas, flare-up in war over evolution
Friday, October 28, 2005
By Rick Weiss, The Washington Post
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05301/596432.stm
WASHINGTON -- In a new escalation of the nation's culture war over the teaching of evolution, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association announced yesterday that they will not allow Kansas to use key science education materials developed by the two organizations.
The refusal came after the groups reviewed the latest draft of the state Department of Education's new science education standards and concluded that they overemphasize uncertainties about the theory of evolution and fail to make clear that supernatural phenomena have no place in science.
Until those issues are properly dealt with, the two groups said in a letter to Kansas' Assistant Education Commissioner Alexa Posny, the state will not be granted permission to use their science curriculum materials.
Those include the academy's National Science Education Standards, which serve as the foundation for science curricula in virtually every state in the nation, and the science teachers' Pathway to Science Standards, which help to translate the academy guidelines for everyday use. Both are protected by copyrights.
The new draft of the Kansas education standards, written by a committee appointed by the former state education commissioner and subject to an up-or-down vote by the state school board in November, "inappropriately singles out evolution as a controversial theory despite the strength of the scientific evidence supporting evolution as an explanation for the diversity of life on Earth and its acceptance by an overwhelming majority of scientists," the science groups said in a joint statement.
The organizations said they were also disappointed that a crucial statement present in an earlier draft had been deleted. It had defined science as "a search for natural explanations of observable phenomena." The deletion could lead students to believe that supernatural explanations also may fall within the purview of science, said Jay Labov, a senior adviser for education at the academy, which is chartered by Congress to advise it on science matters.
Kansas school board spokeswoman Kathy Toelkes said the board was reviewing the draft standards, but not with the goal of changing the contested sections.
Rather, she said, the current goal is to paraphrase those parts that had been taken from the two national organizations, so the copyright issues would become moot. Ms. Toelkes said she anticipated that the board would approve "the substance of the standards" as written.
The standoff is a reprise of events in 1999, when the academy, the science teachers group, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science withheld copyright permission for materials that Kansas sought to incorporate into science education standards it developed that year. At the time, the board had a majority who espoused creationism or intelligent design -- beliefs that hold, respectively, that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and that complex life could not have arisen without help from a superintelligent being.
Scientific evidence indicates that the Earth is about 4 billion years old and that evolution can explain all of life's biological complexities.
The Kansas standards were revised to accommodate scientists' complaints after antievolutionists lost their majority on the state board in 2000, but the balance of power recently reversed again.
Friday, October 28, 2005
By Rick Weiss, The Washington Post
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05301/596432.stm
WASHINGTON -- In a new escalation of the nation's culture war over the teaching of evolution, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association announced yesterday that they will not allow Kansas to use key science education materials developed by the two organizations.
The refusal came after the groups reviewed the latest draft of the state Department of Education's new science education standards and concluded that they overemphasize uncertainties about the theory of evolution and fail to make clear that supernatural phenomena have no place in science.
Until those issues are properly dealt with, the two groups said in a letter to Kansas' Assistant Education Commissioner Alexa Posny, the state will not be granted permission to use their science curriculum materials.
Those include the academy's National Science Education Standards, which serve as the foundation for science curricula in virtually every state in the nation, and the science teachers' Pathway to Science Standards, which help to translate the academy guidelines for everyday use. Both are protected by copyrights.
The new draft of the Kansas education standards, written by a committee appointed by the former state education commissioner and subject to an up-or-down vote by the state school board in November, "inappropriately singles out evolution as a controversial theory despite the strength of the scientific evidence supporting evolution as an explanation for the diversity of life on Earth and its acceptance by an overwhelming majority of scientists," the science groups said in a joint statement.
The organizations said they were also disappointed that a crucial statement present in an earlier draft had been deleted. It had defined science as "a search for natural explanations of observable phenomena." The deletion could lead students to believe that supernatural explanations also may fall within the purview of science, said Jay Labov, a senior adviser for education at the academy, which is chartered by Congress to advise it on science matters.
Kansas school board spokeswoman Kathy Toelkes said the board was reviewing the draft standards, but not with the goal of changing the contested sections.
Rather, she said, the current goal is to paraphrase those parts that had been taken from the two national organizations, so the copyright issues would become moot. Ms. Toelkes said she anticipated that the board would approve "the substance of the standards" as written.
The standoff is a reprise of events in 1999, when the academy, the science teachers group, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science withheld copyright permission for materials that Kansas sought to incorporate into science education standards it developed that year. At the time, the board had a majority who espoused creationism or intelligent design -- beliefs that hold, respectively, that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and that complex life could not have arisen without help from a superintelligent being.
Scientific evidence indicates that the Earth is about 4 billion years old and that evolution can explain all of life's biological complexities.
The Kansas standards were revised to accommodate scientists' complaints after antievolutionists lost their majority on the state board in 2000, but the balance of power recently reversed again.
C-span had three segments on today on ID. Also conservatives are against ID.
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...ST&f=16&t=43044
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...ST&f=16&t=43044
University Cancels Class on Creationism
Updated 4:12 PM ET December 1, 2005
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8e7me401&src=ap
By JOHN MILBURN
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A University of Kansas course devoted to debunking creationism and intelligent design has been canceled after the professor who planned to teach it caused a furor by sending an e-mail mocking Christian fundamentalists.
Twenty-five students had enrolled in the course, originally called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and Other Religious Mythologies," which had been scheduled for the spring.
Professor Paul Mirecki, chairman of religious studies, canceled the class Wednesday, the university said.
Mirecki recently sent an e-mail to members of a student organization in which he referred to religious conservatives as "fundies" and said a course depicting intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face."
He later apologized, and did so again Thursday in a statement issued by the university.
"I made a mistake in not leading by example, in this student organization e-mail forum, the importance of discussing differing viewpoints in a civil and respectful manner," he said.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Mirecki's comments were "repugnant and vile."
"It misrepresents everything the university is to stand for," Hemenway said.
The class was added to the curriculum after the Kansas Board of Education decided recently to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for public school students.
State Sen. Kay O'Connor, a Mirecki critic, said the university did the right thing.
"I'm glad they decided to listen to the public. The public response was so negative because of what seemed to be so hateful coming from the KU professor," said O'Connor, a Republican. "I am critical of his hatefulness toward Christians."
___
On the Net:
University of Kansas: http://www.ku.edu
Statement from university on course cancellation: http://www.news.ku.edu/2005/December/Dec1/course.shtml
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated 4:12 PM ET December 1, 2005
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8e7me401&src=ap
By JOHN MILBURN
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A University of Kansas course devoted to debunking creationism and intelligent design has been canceled after the professor who planned to teach it caused a furor by sending an e-mail mocking Christian fundamentalists.
Twenty-five students had enrolled in the course, originally called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and Other Religious Mythologies," which had been scheduled for the spring.
Professor Paul Mirecki, chairman of religious studies, canceled the class Wednesday, the university said.
Mirecki recently sent an e-mail to members of a student organization in which he referred to religious conservatives as "fundies" and said a course depicting intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face."
He later apologized, and did so again Thursday in a statement issued by the university.
"I made a mistake in not leading by example, in this student organization e-mail forum, the importance of discussing differing viewpoints in a civil and respectful manner," he said.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Mirecki's comments were "repugnant and vile."
"It misrepresents everything the university is to stand for," Hemenway said.
The class was added to the curriculum after the Kansas Board of Education decided recently to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for public school students.
State Sen. Kay O'Connor, a Mirecki critic, said the university did the right thing.
"I'm glad they decided to listen to the public. The public response was so negative because of what seemed to be so hateful coming from the KU professor," said O'Connor, a Republican. "I am critical of his hatefulness toward Christians."
___
On the Net:
University of Kansas: http://www.ku.edu
Statement from university on course cancellation: http://www.news.ku.edu/2005/December/Dec1/course.shtml
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
QUOTE(Gabrielle @ Oct 18 2005, 09:52 AM)
I find this whole argument about evolution laughable. It's like arguing whether the sun is hot. It's a senseless argument. While they're "devolving" teacher's lesson plans the bacteria are continuing to evolve more and more drug resistance and the viruses like H5N1 (avian influenza) are continuing to evolve as well.
That's one point. A good one. But you seem to miss another point.
While, in my opinion, there should be no dispute about the fact of evolution, -- it is proven by the fossil record, the bacteriological/microbiological facts you refer to, and other empirical evidence---there is real and legitimate *scientific* basis for disputing the mainstream scientific THEORY (neo-Darwinism) that purports to EXPLAIN those facts. One can accept the facts, while disputing a specific theory. One can accept the fact that the sun is hot, but reject a *specific theory* as to how and why that heat is produced. Einstein could accept the reality of gravitation, while at the same time disputing Newton's particular theory of gravitation.
See the difference?
Per MSNBC....
Judge Jones in PA just ruled that the Dover school was wrong. Intelligent design is not science. it is unconstitutional to teach it in public schools. It was just to recast religion as science. It was a strong statement.
Judge Jones in PA just ruled that the Dover school was wrong. Intelligent design is not science. it is unconstitutional to teach it in public schools. It was just to recast religion as science. It was a strong statement.
Per CNN: -- Federal judge rules "intelligent design" cannot be included in Pennsylvania public school biology courses.
Final decision
Kitzmiller v. Dover Memorandum Opinion (12/20/2005)
http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/23137lgl20051220.html
http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file179_23137.pdf
Kitzmiller v. Dover Memorandum Opinion (12/20/2005)
http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/23137lgl20051220.html
http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file179_23137.pdf
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