Stop Creationists overrunning Georgia!!!

[Radical Edward]

I know often online petitions aren't worth the paper they are written on, however I would like you to consider signing this, and passing the URL around for other people to sign too.

 

http://www.petitiononline.com/gasci04/

 

basically the premise is that the Georgian education department is removing all mention of things like evolution and plate tectonics from their syllabus. This will be both bad for Georgia, since less people will take them seriously if their science education is poor, and ultimately everyone else, since (warning: slippery slope ahead) if this makes a precedent, then more states in the US, and possibly countries abroad (though less likely) could follow suit.

[Sayonara]

But the USA education system denying evolution occurs would be funny

[VendingMenace]

denying what occurs. I swear you crazy brits are just making up words now. I was done edumacated in these here uninted stats of america, and i ain't never heard none a' that there evolution.

[YT2095]

well hey, we scrapped Concorde, so this shouldn`t really come as another major surprise in mankinds attempt to leap Backwards!

whatever for though beats me!????

[T_FLeX]

What's the point? You can't stop religion it's like a disease. I live in Georgia and this does not surprise me at all.

[MishMish]

A couple of years ago my dad told me that more Americans (proportionately) now believe in creationsim than at the time of the Scopes trial. He had gotten that from a newletter from the National Center for Science Education, but had thrown the issue out so do not have the specific numbers or reference

 

Afraid I only visit their site irregularly (should just become a member.) They had this on Missouri:

 

"Bill Requiring Equal Treatment of Intelligent Design and Evolution

 

A bill to be introduced in the current session of the Missouri General Assembly would require "the equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design". House Bill 911 contains a long list of proposed definitions of terms and concepts such as "analogous naturalistic process", "biological intelligent design", "destiny", and "extrapolated radiometric data". It would require that "If scientific theory concerning biological origin is taught, biological evolution and biological intelligent design shall be taught and given equal treatment." The many provisions and requirements of HB911 are too numerous to summarize in this space, but the entire text is here."

 

Web site:

 

http://www.natcenscied.org/

 

Anyway, thanks for the link to the petition, sent it on to my dad as well

[blike]

Georgia Superintendent of Education Kathy Cox's proposal to drop the word "evolution" from biology classes is awaiting approval.

 

Although the word would be dropped, she said, the concept would continue to be taught.

 

The proposal is up for public comment and won't go to the Georgia board of education until May. Some opponents think it won't be approved.

 

"By putting the word in there, we thought people would jump to conclusions and think, 'OK, we're going to be teaching the monkeys-to-man sort of thing,' which is not what happens in a modern biology classroom," Cox said at the news conference lst week

[blike]

"The unfortunate truth is that 'evolution' has become a controversial buzzword that could prevent some from reading the proposed biology curriculum," Cox said in her statement. 

 

 

"We don't want the public or our students to get stuck on a word when the curriculum actually includes the most widely accepted theories for biology. Ironically, people have become upset about the exclusion of the word again, without having read the document." 

 

 

It's just semantics, the concepts will still be taught.

 

kthx

[MishMish]

Blike, short answer, diagree

 

I do not like getting caught up in buzzwords either, but do not think that the issue here. Kathy Cox has reportedly said the proposal would leave the option for teaching intelligent design in the schools. I see the proposal as nothing more than a backdoor approach to inserting creationism

 

And as a followup to my previous, have not found any statistics for the 20s, but for more current views (1997) found this poll showing 44% believe in a more literalist creationsim, 39% some sort of intelligent design, and 10% evolution

 

http://www.sullivan-county.com/z/evolution_debate.htm

[fafalone]

none of those are mutually exclusive, in fact all 3 coexist quite logically.

 

Evolution doesn't explain the immediately origin or life; just how it developed once it got started (and furthermore, it doesn't really explain, it just describes); intelligent design could be considered as structuring that allowed evolution to begin, and of course creationism allows for creation of the structured material.

[MishMish]

I oversimplified the categories, had thought my shorthand would be clear for identifying the basic positions. The poll defined them as:

 

Creationist view: God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.

 

Theistic evolution: Man has developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process, including man's creation.

 

Naturalistic Evolution: Man has developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. God had no part in this process.

 

As for mixing and matching as applies to evolution and abiogenseis, see no need for it. Creationism and intelligent design simply are not science, and why people can not comprehend, at a minimum, that science class is for teaching science is beyond me

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Well, now they decided to not take out evolution in Georgia. Good for them, it would be stupid.