Re: paleonet A swipe at science from Ireland

From
Date
Reply-To
Dear Colleagues,

Is it President Bush's recent comments on ID that provoke similar
statements in parts of the world where creationism has not previously
been a major issue for science teachers?   Breandan mentions Ireland; 
in Australia, his namesake, Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for
Education, has made the first entry into the discussion by any federal
parliamentarian that I am aware of.   Nelson, the country's most senior
politician with responsibility for education, has announced that he has
no problem if schools exercise choice in the teaching of science.   If
they teach ID beside evolution, that is all right by him.   To provide a
little context, two candidates strongly supported by fundamentalist
Christian congregations have been elected to federal Parliament in past
twelve months, and politicians have discovered an extraordinary new
enthusiasm for fundamentalist Christianity since then.   (As I write,
the local Ballarat newspaper has rung to inform me that my letter of
protest has been accepted for publication).

With kind regards,

Stephen Carey



>>> breandan@campus.ie 08/31/05 7:22 am >>>
A bad development this. A columnist in one of the biggest Irish
newspapers, the Irish Times, used his article today to take a swipe at
science, with a subtle dig at evolution in the middle of the article. 

I'm going to write a response which I'll post here once I've finished
it

I'm absolutely apalled that this is seeping into our culture as well. I
didn't think it would take hold here anytime soon.

Breand*n




Stephen Carey
Geology Department
University of Ballarat
PO Box 663
Ballarat   Vic   3350
Australia
tel +61-3-5327 9268
fax +61-3-5327 9144
e-mail s.carey@ballarat.edu.au