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This just in....... I hope that I've posted this so that everyone can read it. Apologies if not. The complete story can be found at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6841410/ Incidently, the school board in Marietta, Georgia is going to appeal the judge's decision. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6840416/ The Associated Press Updated: 10:39 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2005 HARRISBURG, Pa. - High school students heard about “intelligent design” for the first time Tuesday in a school district that attracted national attention by requiring students to be made aware of it as an alternative to the theory of evolution. Administrators in the Dover Area School District <http://www.dover.k12.pa.us/> read a statement to three biology classes Tuesday and were expected to read it to other classes on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Thomas More Law Center <http://www.thomasmore.org/> in Ann Arbor, Mich., which was speaking on the district’s behalf. The district is believed to be the only one in the nation to require students to hear about intelligent design — a concept that holds that the universe is so complex, it had to be created by an unspecified guiding force. ‘Revolution in evolution’ “The revolution in evolution has begun,” said Richard Thompson, the law center’s president and chief counsel. “This is the first step in which students will be given an honest scientific evaluation of the theory of evolution and its problems.” The case represents the newest chapter in a history of evolution lawsuits dating back to the Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee nearly 80 years ago. In Georgia, a suburban Atlanta school district plans to challenge a federal judge’s order to remove stickers in science textbooks that call evolution “a theory, not a fact.” The law center is defending the Dover district against a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of eight families by the American Civil Liberties Union <http://www.aclu.org/> and Americans United for Separation of Church and State <http://www.au.org/> . The two groups allege intelligent design is merely a secular variation of creationism, the biblical-based view that regards God as the creator of life. They maintain that the Dover district’s curriculum mandate may violate the constitutional separation of church and state. “Students who sat in the classroom were taught material which is religious in content, not scientific, and I think it’s unfortunate that has occurred,” said Eric Rothschild, a Philadelphia attorney representing the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit. Some students upset Biology teacher Jennifer Miller said although she was able to make a smooth transition to her evolution lesson after the statement was read, some students were upset that administrators would not entertain any questions about intelligent design. “They were told that if you have any questions, to take it home,” Miller said. The district allowed students whose parents objected to the policy to be excused from hearing the statement at the beginning of class and science teachers who opposed the requirement to be exempted from reading the statement. About 15 of 170 ninth-graders asked to be excused from class, Thompson said. A federal judge has scheduled a trial in the lawsuit for Sept. 26. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. -----Original Message----- From: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk on behalf of Breandán MacGabhann Sent: Wed 1/19/2005 11:04 AM To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk Cc: Subject: Re: paleonet Good news for evolution and science teaching >Thus, it's particularly important for us to point out >that evolution is good science and compatible with many religious >and philosophical views. I'm sorry, But I disagree with the second half of that entirely. I don't think palaeontologists, as palaeontologists, should get involved with showing how evolution is compatible (or not, as the case may be) with religion. All we need to do is show that evolution is proven by the fossil record. Explaining how evolution is compatible with religion, whether Christian, Islam, Hindu, etc., or one of the fundamentalist-frothing-at-the-mouth-ones or whatever is **entirely** up to the religion to explain. It's nothing to do with palaeontology. If palaeontologists want to get involved with that side as members of a particular religion, that's entirely up to the individual. But palaeontology, or any other science, has NO explaining to do on that count at all. Breandán -- _______________________________________________ For the largest FREE email in Ireland (25MB) and 20MB of online file storage space - Visit http://www.campus.ie Powered by Outblaze
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