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"Not to belabor this ID/Creationism v. Evolution discussion, because I fear that it might be annoying those outside of the US," I totally agree with you! Here in Europe we do not suffer such Creationism v. Evolution discussions. However, this last weekend's The Guardian Magazine showed clearly links between our Prime Minister Tony Blair and a radical non-catholic Christian that is trying to take over boarding schools! By my time in USA, I tend to think that USA people either are very knowlegable in variaous fields; or very ignorant indeed due to theirsocial and Education system lack of more pragmatical. There is not middle ground in that sense. Also, their questions seem to be very technical and supported by regulations, constitution, etc. For example I remember somebody asking me how worth I am in $? I though he was joking and he became very angry at my answer:"sorry I do not define people on $$" "I am sorry, I cannot answer" I accepted how people in USA were, and I adapted without problem though not submitting myself to their believes totally! My point that this Creationism v. Evolution or other discussions get so heated up, because in USA there is not a pragmatic middle ground to agree..It is nothing against them, it is like they are not better or worse, and I respect them! but here is an excellent New York Times Editorial on the subject (see below). By the way, I attended a study session at a local Lutheran church on Intelligent Design yesterday morning. I figured that I should educate myself on what exactly is being said in churches about Evolution and Intelligent Design. The speaker was a medical doctor, head of internal medicine at a local Children's Hospital. He also teaches at one of our regional medical schools. He said things like: "61% of people in America believe in the Biblical account of Creation. They have the microphone, but they are losing ground." "Evolution is a religion." (ironic that I was in a church, when he said that.....) "When children learn about Evolution, that is when we start to lose them." "They [people who study evolution] do not believe in a personal God." "Evolutionists do not hypothesis test and therefore do not do science." When comparing Intelligent Design to evolution: "Darwinism tells you where you came from, where you are going, and what you should do along the way." "As I get older there are fewer and fewer things that I am certain of. But, one thing that I am certain of is that you should not trifle with Sacred things." When explaining the increased resistence of bacteria to antibiotics he said, "sure they change, but there are no new structures, and no new functions....they are still bacteria." The scariest moment is when he told the audience that Joseph Stalin once told a fellow seminary student that "They are fooling us--there is no God" and then he gave his friend a copy of Origin of Species. He then went on to remind the audience that Stalin went on to kill hundreds of thousands of people, making the direct link with believing in evolution and mass murder. It was a little troubling, to say the least, that evolution was attacked in this way. Clearly, this man, a medical doctor and head of a large unit at a major hospital, as well as a faculty member in a medical school does not understand modern evolutionary theory. But that is sort of beside the point. This was the third of eight sessions. The last session is going to be dedicated to "What we can do about this." I am at a loss at what we, who study evolution, should do about ID. Any thoughts and suggestions would be welcome...... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The article below from NYTimes.com Editorial: The Crafty Attacks on Evolution January 23, 2005 Critics of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution become more wily with each passing year. Creationists who believe that God made the world and everything in it pretty much as described in the Bible were frustrated when their efforts to ban the teaching of evolution in the public schools or inject the teaching of creationism were judged unconstitutional by the courts. But over the past decade or more a new generation of critics has emerged with a softer, more roundabout approach that they hope can pass constitutional muster. One line of attack - on display in Cobb County, Ga., in recent weeks - is to discredit evolution as little more than a theory that is open to question. Another strategy - now playing out in Dover, Pa. - is to make students aware of an alternative theory called "intelligent design," which infers the existence of an intelligent agent without any specific reference to God. These new approaches may seem harmless to a casual observer, but they still constitute an improper effort by religious advocates to impose their own slant on the teaching of evolution. . The Cobb County fight centers on a sticker that the board inserted into a new biology textbook to placate opponents of evolution. The school board, to its credit, was trying to strengthen the teaching of evolution after years in which it banned study of human origins in the elementary and middle schools and sidelined the topic as an elective in high school, in apparent violation of state curriculum standards. When the new course of study raised hackles among parents and citizens (more than 2,300 signed a petition), the board sought to quiet the controversy by placing a three-sentence sticker in the textbooks: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered." Although the board clearly thought this was a reasonable compromise, and many readers might think it unexceptional, it is actually an insidious effort to undermine the science curriculum. The first sentence sounds like a warning to parents that the film they are about to watch with their children contains pornography. Evolution is so awful that the reader must be warned that it is discussed inside the textbook. The second sentence makes it sound as though evolution is little more than a hunch, the popular understanding of the word "theory," whereas theories in science are carefully constructed frameworks for understanding a vast array of facts. The National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific organization, has declared evolution "one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have" and says it is supported by an overwhelming scientific consensus. The third sentence, urging that evolution be studied carefully and critically, seems like a fine idea. The only problem is, it singles out evolution as the only subject so shaky it needs critical judgment. Every subject in the curriculum should be studied carefully and critically. Indeed, the interpretations taught in history, economics, sociology, political science, literature and other fields of study are far less grounded in fact and professional consensus than is evolutionary biology. A more honest sticker would describe evolution as the dominant theory in the field and an extremely fruitful scientific tool. The sad fact is, the school board, in its zeal to be accommodating, swallowed the language of the anti-evolution crowd. Although the sticker makes no mention of religion and the school board as a whole was not trying to advance religion, a federal judge in Georgia ruled that the sticker amounted to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion because it was rooted in long-running religious challenges to evolution. In particular, the sticker's assertion that "evolution is a theory, not a fact" adopted the latest tactical language used by anti-evolutionists to dilute Darwinism, thereby putting the school board on the side of religious critics of evolution. That court decision is being appealed. Supporters of sound science education can only hope that the courts, and school districts, find a way to repel this latest assault on the most well-grounded theory in modern biology. . In the Pennsylvania case, the school board went further and became the first in the nation to require, albeit somewhat circuitously, that attention be paid in school to "intelligent design." This is the notion that some things in nature, such as the workings of the cell and intricate organs like the eye, are so complex that they could not have developed gradually through the force of Darwinian natural selection acting on genetic variations. Instead, it is argued, they must have been designed by some sort of higher intelligence. Leading expositors of intelligent design accept that the theory of evolution can explain what they consider small changes in a species over time, but they infer a designer's hand at work in what they consider big evolutionary jumps. The Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania became the first in the country to place intelligent design before its students, albeit mostly one step removed from the classroom. Last week school administrators read a brief statement to ninth-grade biology classes (the teachers refused to do it) asserting that evolution was a theory, not a fact, that it had gaps for which there was no evidence, that intelligent design was a differing explanation of the origin of life, and that a book on intelligent design was available for interested students, who were, of course, encouraged to keep an open mind. That policy, which is being challenged in the courts, suffers from some of the same defects found in the Georgia sticker. It denigrates evolution as a theory, not a fact, and adds weight to that message by having administrators deliver it aloud. . Districts around the country are pondering whether to inject intelligent design into science classes, and the constitutional problems are underscored by practical issues. There is little enough time to discuss mainstream evolution in most schools; the Dover students get two 90-minute classes devoted to the subject. Before installing intelligent design in the already jam-packed science curriculum, school boards and citizens need to be aware that it is not a recognized field of science. There is no body of research to support its claims nor even a real plan to conduct such research. In 2002, more than a decade after the movement began, a pioneer of intelligent design lamented that the movement had many sympathizers but few research workers, no biology texts and no sustained curriculum to offer educators. Another leading expositor told a Christian magazine last year that the field had no theory of biological design to guide research, just "a bag of powerful intuitions, and a handful of notions." If evolution is derided as "only a theory," intelligent design needs to be recognized as "not even a theory" or "not yet a theory." It should not be taught or even described as a scientific alternative to one of the crowning theories of modern science. That said, in districts where evolution is a burning issue, there ought to be some place in school where the religious and cultural criticisms of evolution can be discussed, perhaps in a comparative religion class or a history or current events course. But school boards need to recognize that neither creationism nor intelligent design is an alternative to Darwinism as a scientific explanation of the evolution of life. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/opinion/23sun1.html?ex=1107531814&ei=1 &en=873c77e4a92e582e Lisa Park Xavier Panades I Blas, Ms Please, send letters to: 55, Marksbury Road Bedminster Bristol BS3 5JY England European Community cogombra@hotmail.com From: "Dr. Lisa E. Park" <lepark@uakron.edu> Reply-To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk To: <paleonet@nhm.ac.uk> Subject: paleonet NYTimes editorial on Creationism Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 12:35:40 -0500 Not to belabor this ID/Creationism v. Evolution discussion, because I fear that it might be annoying those outside of the US, but here is an excellent New York Times Editorial on the subject (see below). By the way, I attended a study session at a local Lutheran church on Intelligent Design yesterday morning. I figured that I should educate myself on what exactly is being said in churches about Evolution and Intelligent Design. The speaker was a medical doctor, head of internal medicine at a local Children's Hospital. He also teaches at one of our regional medical schools. He said things like: "61% of people in America believe in the Biblical account of Creation. They have the microphone, but they are losing ground." "Evolution is a religion." (ironic that I was in a church, when he said that.....) "When children learn about Evolution, that is when we start to lose them." "They [people who study evolution] do not believe in a personal God." "Evolutionists do not hypothesis test and therefore do not do science." When comparing Intelligent Design to evolution: "Darwinism tells you where you came from, where you are going, and what you should do along the way." "As I get older there are fewer and fewer things that I am certain of. But, one thing that I am certain of is that you should not trifle with Sacred things." When explaining the increased resistence of bacteria to antibiotics he said, "sure they change, but there are no new structures, and no new functions....they are still bacteria." The scariest moment is when he told the audience that Joseph Stalin once told a fellow seminary student that "They are fooling us--there is no God" and then he gave his friend a copy of Origin of Species. He then went on to remind the audience that Stalin went on to kill hundreds of thousands of people, making the direct link with believing in evolution and mass murder. It was a little troubling, to say the least, that evolution was attacked in this way. Clearly, this man, a medical doctor and head of a large unit at a major hospital, as well as a faculty member in a medical school does not understand modern evolutionary theory. But that is sort of beside the point. This was the third of eight sessions. The last session is going to be dedicated to "What we can do about this." I am at a loss at what we, who study evolution, should do about ID. Any thoughts and suggestions would be welcome...... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The article below from NYTimes.com Editorial: The Crafty Attacks on Evolution January 23, 2005 Critics of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution become more wily with each passing year. Creationists who believe that God made the world and everything in it pretty much as described in the Bible were frustrated when their efforts to ban the teaching of evolution in the public schools or inject the teaching of creationism were judged unconstitutional by the courts. But over the past decade or more a new generation of critics has emerged with a softer, more roundabout approach that they hope can pass constitutional muster. One line of attack - on display in Cobb County, Ga., in recent weeks - is to discredit evolution as little more than a theory that is open to question. Another strategy - now playing out in Dover, Pa. - is to make students aware of an alternative theory called "intelligent design," which infers the existence of an intelligent agent without any specific reference to God. These new approaches may seem harmless to a casual observer, but they still constitute an improper effort by religious advocates to impose their own slant on the teaching of evolution. . The Cobb County fight centers on a sticker that the board inserted into a new biology textbook to placate opponents of evolution. The school board, to its credit, was trying to strengthen the teaching of evolution after years in which it banned study of human origins in the elementary and middle schools and sidelined the topic as an elective in high school, in apparent violation of state curriculum standards. When the new course of study raised hackles among parents and citizens (more than 2,300 signed a petition), the board sought to quiet the controversy by placing a three-sentence sticker in the textbooks: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered." Although the board clearly thought this was a reasonable compromise, and many readers might think it unexceptional, it is actually an insidious effort to undermine the science curriculum. The first sentence sounds like a warning to parents that the film they are about to watch with their children contains pornography. Evolution is so awful that the reader must be warned that it is discussed inside the textbook. The second sentence makes it sound as though evolution is little more than a hunch, the popular understanding of the word "theory," whereas theories in science are carefully constructed frameworks for understanding a vast array of facts. The National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific organization, has declared evolution "one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have" and says it is supported by an overwhelming scientific consensus. The third sentence, urging that evolution be studied carefully and critically, seems like a fine idea. The only problem is, it singles out evolution as the only subject so shaky it needs critical judgment. Every subject in the curriculum should be studied carefully and critically. Indeed, the interpretations taught in history, economics, sociology, political science, literature and other fields of study are far less grounded in fact and professional consensus than is evolutionary biology. A more honest sticker would describe evolution as the dominant theory in the field and an extremely fruitful scientific tool. The sad fact is, the school board, in its zeal to be accommodating, swallowed the language of the anti-evolution crowd. Although the sticker makes no mention of religion and the school board as a whole was not trying to advance religion, a federal judge in Georgia ruled that the sticker amounted to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion because it was rooted in long-running religious challenges to evolution. In particular, the sticker's assertion that "evolution is a theory, not a fact" adopted the latest tactical language used by anti-evolutionists to dilute Darwinism, thereby putting the school board on the side of religious critics of evolution. That court decision is being appealed. Supporters of sound science education can only hope that the courts, and school districts, find a way to repel this latest assault on the most well-grounded theory in modern biology. . In the Pennsylvania case, the school board went further and became the first in the nation to require, albeit somewhat circuitously, that attention be paid in school to "intelligent design." This is the notion that some things in nature, such as the workings of the cell and intricate organs like the eye, are so complex that they could not have developed gradually through the force of Darwinian natural selection acting on genetic variations. Instead, it is argued, they must have been designed by some sort of higher intelligence. Leading expositors of intelligent design accept that the theory of evolution can explain what they consider small changes in a species over time, but they infer a designer's hand at work in what they consider big evolutionary jumps. The Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania became the first in the country to place intelligent design before its students, albeit mostly one step removed from the classroom. Last week school administrators read a brief statement to ninth-grade biology classes (the teachers refused to do it) asserting that evolution was a theory, not a fact, that it had gaps for which there was no evidence, that intelligent design was a differing explanation of the origin of life, and that a book on intelligent design was available for interested students, who were, of course, encouraged to keep an open mind. That policy, which is being challenged in the courts, suffers from some of the same defects found in the Georgia sticker. It denigrates evolution as a theory, not a fact, and adds weight to that message by having administrators deliver it aloud. . Districts around the country are pondering whether to inject intelligent design into science classes, and the constitutional problems are underscored by practical issues. There is little enough time to discuss mainstream evolution in most schools; the Dover students get two 90-minute classes devoted to the subject. Before installing intelligent design in the already jam-packed science curriculum, school boards and citizens need to be aware that it is not a recognized field of science. There is no body of research to support its claims nor even a real plan to conduct such research. In 2002, more than a decade after the movement began, a pioneer of intelligent design lamented that the movement had many sympathizers but few research workers, no biology texts and no sustained curriculum to offer educators. Another leading expositor told a Christian magazine last year that the field had no theory of biological design to guide research, just "a bag of powerful intuitions, and a handful of notions." If evolution is derided as "only a theory," intelligent design needs to be recognized as "not even a theory" or "not yet a theory." It should not be taught or even described as a scientific alternative to one of the crowning theories of modern science. That said, in districts where evolution is a burning issue, there ought to be some place in school where the religious and cultural criticisms of evolution can be discussed, perhaps in a comparative religion class or a history or current events course. But school boards need to recognize that neither creationism nor intelligent design is an alternative to Darwinism as a scientific explanation of the evolution of life. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/opinion/23sun1.html?ex=1107531814&ei=1 &en=873c77e4a92e582e Lisa Park
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