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Kansas Board of Ed. Adopts Intelligent Design
kwietman writes "The Kansas State Board of Education voted 6-4 to allow science students in public schools to hear materials critical of evolution in biology classes. The new curriculum mentions that theories of life arising from similar building-block molecules through purely random processes can be challenged by recent findings in the fossil record and by molecular biology. Not all were happy, however. 'This is a sad day. We're becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that,' said board member Janet Waugh. The new standards will be used in statewide standardized testing; the students are still expected to know 'basic evolutionary principles.' As part of the decision, the Board of Education also went so far as to redefine science itself, saying that it is 'no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.'"
Which ironically proves there's no such thing.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
This is why there should be no public schools. People don't have a "right to education". That's just bullcrap. And in the end, we're always going to have a whole bunch of people that are pissed because their "truth" isn't being taught in the schools. If all schools were private, each demographic could teach whatever the heck they wanted, and we wouldn't have these kind of fights.
And before you claim that thusly educated people wouldn't be able to survive in a diverse country such as ours, keep in mind that plenty of privately schooled people are perfectly able to function in a population of people who do not share their beliefs.
The next step: Universities need to start REJECTING college applications from Kansas High Schools. Just one year of that would be the biggest fucking wake-up call to the parents there. They will storm the schools demanding that their kids be educated in science, not indoctrinated in evolution and superstition.
Until then Kansas is officially the home of the uneducated.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Let's face it, any way you put this, the Vatican is pretty much in the same category as the ID whackos. If the Bible is to be taken as the literal truth, then we already know it's wrong. If it's to be taken as stories made up by people who knew they were were pulling it out of their asses, then it's not just wrong, it's dishonest.
Once somebody is shown to be dishonest, it's pretty much the end of the argument.
I wish i had mod points. Would have modded you insightful.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
Not really. They just aren't blind to the fact that perhaps science isn't correct in this case.
Science once thought the earth was flat and that everything was made of earth, air, water or fire.
That's the whole idea. What makes me fume about those idiots is that they are assertive about their idiocy. You don't need to point out their critical fallacies to them, they themselves will do it and do it flamboyantly and shockingly. They already know they're wrong yet they push their wrong and want the whole world to drop what's right and go along with them. For example, you'd hope to point out to them, like you said, that science is about the natural explanation of phenomena and that their arguments are besides science, well, guess what, in their friggin' words they explicitly say that they want science to be "logical", not "natural". Some elected dipshits from Kansas want to redefine science. Their new version (of science standards) changes the very definition of science from "seeking natural explanations" to "seeking logical explanations." - it's what they've written and said, and it's what those elected officials are doing.
The world does not look at this with laughter, it looks at it with deep familiar concern, this is no joke or thing for laughter, and it's not a new thing nor a new concern, the world has always been concerned about what the American corrupt politicians elected by an idiot American majority are inflicting on it. We know that there are liberal Americans and we love them, but we know for sure they're not in the majority and that the majority of Americans know they're wrong in this US vs World thing and yet persist. This is why we - to use your word - "hate" you, Americans, and you deserve it - we love American liberals but we "hate" the average American, and yes, not me, the world does from the finest of the European wine-sipping oversexed erudite elite to the most deprived illiterate starving orphan in some barren eighth-world shithole, on average the world "hates" the average American. And don't bullshit us, this Kansas board is elected, and it isn't an exceptional case, we know it too well and for too long to be fooled; Bush has been elected twice now and the US liberals have done everything reasonable and within their breathes in 2000 and yet again in 2004 to make it clear to Americans in no ambiguous terms why he's a piece of shit. But no, the average American voter consents to hating the gays, the abortionists and everything else be damned, 'the world may "go fuck itself" as long as I get my 2 litres of Coke at walmart for 69 cents and cheap petrol for my big huge SUV'.
And watch how I'll get modded down by dipshits for saying this - those modders know it's true that the world friggin' "hates" the American majority for this very same reason as the Kansas ID case multiplied by many other concerns from economic sanctions and wars against already poor nations to fighting socialism and promoting social injustice so on, and those self-righteous pieces of shit don't stop yapping "why do they hate us?!" on TV and in print and yet I'll get modded down for saying this. The modders who'll mod this a down think it's unacceptable for someone to say "ouch" when beaten up or being concerned for the beaten up, they don't like to hear it - beating up the poor and weak itself doesn't offend them but it offends them when the poor and weak cry in pain.
i saw where some didnt want the measure to pass b/c it would be a separatation of church and state issue of religion. i wish the media would invite people who would keep bringing this point out. God != religion. Christianity is NOT a religion.. its not about a religion, its about a relationship with God. you are upset b/c the board is trying to define certain things? the supreme court defined a sentence from a Dansbury Baptist letter from Thomas Jefferson to mean complete separation of religion from public or a preference over it by the gov't when the letter in question was not about any such thing but about an established church taking over the religious sect.. which is exactly what they ran away from in Europe..where the Anglican church were telling people how and where to vote, instead of voting in their own free will. Its funny that after reading this letter, he got on his horse and went straight to the capitol of the United States to do none other than to take part in DAILY worship that was held there..and at the capitol building no less. doesnt side like much to me that he wanted religion away from the public life at all, unless he changed his mind within 2 hours.
You come to Slashdot to talk about independent thought?
I've raised my kids to know they are Created, not simply overevolved pond scum. The how of our getting here is not so important as the why of it. We're here to do the right thing and to help those around us.
Still, they know that only the fit survive to breed. They know that the survival of the human race is important, that one human person, whether old and used up or conceived last week, is more valuable than a hundred planets full of other species. They know that folowing ideas and principles (such as liberty and justice) can be worth all the people on a hundred planets.
They know that their children and their ideas are how they will be judged. Independent thought is a requirement, and can't be trained out of a person anyway.
So take care when spouting off about things you don't understand.
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
When God proclaimed, "Let there be Light!",
the Big Bang brought an End to the Night.
And God knew what came next;
ev'ry Cause has Effects:
Man evolved, since pure Knowledge is Might!
WHY CREATIONISTS THINK GOD IS STUPID
God did not know that the Big Bang could produce clouds of hydrogen gas, so He had to Create them, Himself.
God did not know that Gravitation could coalesce the clouds into galaxies and stars, so He had to Create them, too.
God did not know that if some of the stars were very big, they would shine very brightly, use up their hydrogen very quickly, create heavy elements in the process, and finally explode, seeding Space with clouds of dust, so He had to Create the dust clouds, Himself.
God did not know that the clouds of dust could mix with slower-coalescing gas clouds, and ultimately Gravitation could cause stars accompanied by Earthlike planets to form, so He had to Create the Earth Himself.
God did not know that when ultraviolet sunlight, geothermal heat, lightning discharges, and radiation from rocks bombard simple chemical molecules (like water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, and various salts), and did so for millions of years, then complex organic molecules could gradually form, break, interact, reform, re-interact, rebreak, and reform in multitudinous ways.
Also, God did not know that some organic molecules are tougher than others, and could tend to persist.
God did not even know that less stable molecules could randomly obtain a degree of protection if they managed to loosely link to the more stable ones.
Certainly God was ignorant of the fact that loose groupings of molecules constitute a crude degree of organization, and that an energy-rich environment could naturally promote more stable organizations over the less stable.
We hardly need mention God's further unawareness of the simple fact that the more stable an organization is, the more complex it is capable of becoming.
Yes, it is entirely due to God's lack of knowledge of the principles of feedback (wherein simple chemistry, energy, and Time could combine to drive molecular organization toward enormously complex dynamic stability) that God had to Create Life all by Himself.
This same lack of information about the evolutionary process ultimately forced God to Create sexual reproduction and multicellular life, also; He merely made it look like a billion years or two had passed, before He got around to it.
Then there was all the experimentation with life-forms that God had to conduct, occasionally rejecting up to 90% of them at once with global extinction events, before finally populating the land masses with various mammalian types.
And God is so unoriginal with His Creation that he had to maintain the same amino acids and genetic code, from viruses to bacteria, through every plant and animal.
Further proof of God's lack of originality comes from the fact that the more closely two species resemble each other, the more genes they usually have in common.
Why, God only needed to alter 2% of chimpanzee genes to "Create" Man.
As if chimps and humans couldn't possibly have merely evolved 1% in different directions from a common ancestor.
A PERFECT GOD WOULD GET CREATION RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!
ONLY AN INFERIOR ENTITY WOULD HAVE TO TWEAK AND TWIDDLE WITH CREATION, UNTIL MAN FINALLY APPEARED ON THE SCENE.
When Creationists Accept the Evolution of Galaxies, Stars, Planets, Life, and Man as a Masterpiece of Total Omniscience Regarding the Consequences of Just One Act, Only Then Will They Cease Insulting God's Know-How!
Now seriously, if you let this kind of idiot fanatics have their way, you'll be in trouble. This is getting serious.
Last year, I was in the US on business for 1.5 months. Some things I like, others not really. What impressed me the most was your absolute belief in freedom of expression. Even for an European like me, that was an astonishing thing.
Unfortunately, that freedom also works for every kind of quacks and fundamentalist morons to be able to populate the media with their bullshit. But now, this is getting serious. They are making their way into your education system, and also other areas, like government.
You must be able to stop that scum on their tracks. Those that can impose their bizarre views of the Universe on the education system may cause a great damage to the fundamental values of your society, freedom being the most threatened.
Be aware, people. In Europe these people are considered laughable, but when they have the power to change your education system they're not funny anymore. Do you want to be ruled by Christian Talibans?
So how would you respond when I claim the only reason you feel the way you do is because your abusive, intolerant, and prejudiced parents indoctrinated you. What if I claimed your position is not yours, but is actually just propaganda that has been fed to you since you were born.
By the way, I don't believe any of those things.
The point, however, is that there is not a sinlge point of irrefutable fact anywhere in your post, only your (rather strongly voiced) opinion. Changing the perspective just a little makes it clear that there is mor to this than you make it appear.
Now, a few things. This
"I'm of the firm belief that people simply shouldn't be allowed to do this."
is a strange statement. You seem to be suggesting that parents should somehow be regulated in how they teach religion. I would be happy to hear how you would regulate this (inevtably, it will involve some type of illegal government intervention).
Also this
"The tradgedy here, is that when a child is indoctrinated in this way, it is more or less permanent."
is just patently false. There are time for hyperbole, and this isn't one of them. You know very well that many cildren grow up in religious homes, only to develop their own opinions as adults. Please don;t try to make it appear otherwise, that would be intellectually dishonest.
How pathetic are you that you follow me from topic to topic and waste all your mod points at once modding me down?
It appears from many of these comments; folks have not looked at the Intelligent Design argument. Many statements seem to conclude a stereotypical assumption that ID boils down to "God made it all and that's all that needs to be said". Scientists that have argued in favor of ID have successfully and logically layed out a solid presentation, minus any mention of God. Hypocritically people who naively believe Darwin and Lamark's explanation of the Origin of Man are unwilling to even consider that their (Darwin and Lamark) arguments are in fact flawed by their own science. Scientific standards are in place to help provide undisputable facts. At the end of the day, neither Darwin's Evolution theory or ID meet these standards save for one exception. ID has built into it a fact that our own scientific process cannot explain everything by it's own nature. The only rebuttal to this is, "Well, it's just a matter of time before someone discovers an explanation". This turns out to be the same "out" for opponents of ID as those who are accused of being in favor of ID having "God made it all, and that is that." ID isn't more "let's bring God back". It's a scientifically critical look at Darwin's Evolution theory. Holding it to actual scientific standards. When this happens, one quickly sees how full of holes it really is. Medical research would never make the same conclusion with the same results Darwin and his methods did. On the off chance that one would actually like to bring God into this argument (for argument's sake), that would come down to this statement: Our science cannot explain our God, but our God can explain our science.