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12 Florida Schools Pass Anti-Evolution Resolutions
Several sources are reporting that twelve school districts in Florida have passed resolutions against the teaching of evolution. Out of all the arguments, however, one administrator seems to have gotten it right: "Then, the final speaker, Lisa Dizengoff, director of science curriculum at Pembroke Pines Charter School's east campus, angrily reminded the crowd that after all the carping over evolution, no one had gotten around to addressing the state's lackadaisical, last-century approach to science education. 'All I heard was this argument about evolution,' she said, disgusted that so many other problems had been preempted by a single controversy. 'The kids lost out again.''"
If people weren't forced into a single public school system, competing schools could emerge and fill the need for a competent education system. However, as it is, everyone is forced to pay into the failing public system. With vouchers, at least, they could take those education dollars and go elsewhere. And yes, I realize that this is not an easy step to take -- emerging competing schools would require lots of investment. But the point of a free market for just about anything is that people with different needs can find (or create!) different solutions.
Schools aren't like sewers -- there are no physical requirements that there be only one system.
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I'm inviting a flame war here, but isn't math - at least in the sense that we teach it - an artificial construct that we invented to describe our observations? Math can contain theories, but I don't think it could ever be classified as one because we actually know what it is.
Isn't gravity demonstrable? If I understand correctly, there's still a lot of uncertainty in the scientific community about how gravity works exactly, but it's clearly an observable and demonstrable fact that it does.
Isn't biology something we can study that's in front of our faces? We can actually watch plants growing, babies forming in a womb, organs working, cells replicating etc...
Maybe I'm living under a rock here, but I've never really seen evolution demonstrated. I've heard plenty of explanations and leaps of logic attached to it, but I've never actually seen anything evolve. And even if I did, that still wouldn't demonstrate that evolution is the origin of life. That's why it's a theory, because we can only infer, we can't demonstrate, and unfortunately no one actually witnessed it.
This boils down to people arguing about things that they didn't observe, and can't really know. Creationism (at least the Christian kind) requires faith that something written thousands of years ago by people who also didn't witness the events is true. "Evolutionism" requires faith in the work of hundreds of scientists interpreting the present and making educated guesses about the past. No one saw man created out of dirt and breathed to life by God, but by the same token, no one saw a single-celled organism spring to life in the primordial soup and continue re-writing itself until it became a human.
Neither group actually "knows" how these things came to be, they've just adopted a view of it that they are comfortable with. What I don't understand is how the evolutionists, who are supposed to be the more objective and open minded of the two groups, can be so "holier than thou" as to suggest that the creationists' theory doesn't even deserve a place.
It's no wonder that creationists lash back with ill-conceived regulations prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution - this is really just balance when you look at how much flack the "intelligent design" group has been getting recently.
Science shouldn't worry so damn much about what people think, it should be about the truth, finding it and offering it, not making people believe it. Same goes for religion. The rest is just name calling and childishness.
wrongo. I'm not sure what side of the debate you are on here,you may be on my side, but this is another common fallacy. Evolution is not a fact. Evolution is a scientific theory. Well vetted, mature scientific theories like evolution are more powerful than facts because they explain tens of thousands of observable facts and allow for predictions. Those predictions can be tested and those tests either reinforce or weaken the theory. Evolution as a theory is still discussed and tweaked when new studies are published, but the general tenets of the theory are no longer debated amongst scientists.
That's all well and fine. Nobody argues that mutation doesn't take place or that one might be beneficial. One does have trouble imagining how organs like the eye developed through mutation. Even scientists who promote Evolution don't agree that we came from monkeys. Some think we came from pigs, some thing we came from primordial ooze through another mammal. It's not the premise of Evolution that poses a problem. It's that one specific take on it dominates High School science classes and is taught as though concensus exists on it even though it does not. You'll never find HS Science teaching anything other then we evolved from some primate. Of course this reminds me of the Southpark episode on the topic. It's pretty funny, you should watch it. Nobody with logic denies survival of the fittest. People do have a problem with Evolution trying to take on speciation though. We may have parts in common with various animals but that doesn't imply we evolved from them. Maybe they de-evolved from us. Or maybe species started out very similar to what they are now and only changed a little over all that time.
Obviously evolution is a byproduct of creation. Just as we create cars, boats, computers there is always evolution. This is an example of intelligence and a creator. Although I am sure most here agree with Darwinist evolution, this theory speaks more of a "cosmic accident". I think life has enough examples of how we are very complicated and "engineered" as a human race. The fact that you are even alive is a miracle and that your cells are programmed to do jobs which keep you alive, that there is enough pressure on this planet to keep your skin on and ect,ect. To think this is all circumstantial makes no logical sense. We are only able to understand earthly/human concepts, so it makes perfect sense that Man had to carry the messages that have been given by a higher/spiritual power. Evolution is more of a process vs. reason. I think we all know the reasons we as humans create things, usually for a purpose. Do you think our existence may be an example of a higher power and how to understand that higher power is through the examples we are given through human understanding. Don't confuse human science with reason or purpose but more of a tool/process to explain things. The reason/purpose is something we each find out through this experience and at the end of our lives. Remember people, we are temporarily here and for there to be nothing after this experience would not make sense or would life even be worth living if there was nothing after our individual experiences. Hopefully you come to understand faith and that your creator has a purpose and love for you! Those who are parents will understand, you are the creator and what do you want for your children? A great experience here? Things you never had? Unconditional Love? Learn all there is to know here? Maybe we should be teaching evolution of the soul! That is where the answers may be found. Also if you look at Jesus life, you have a much better understanding of how to be a good human and live your life. Unfortunately it is very hard to live your life like that and that is why most people would rather not believe than to live like that. Maybe you could put yourself in a creator/fathers shoes and understand why you would want to have a child? Open your minds..... There is more than science around you..... Logically it makes sense when you understand how amazing and remarkable life is.... Blessings and Luv!
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
That the scientific and pro-evolution groups realize that the vast majority of the population believes in God, and controls the purse strings. So, as long as the science community continues to allow an extremely vocal miniscule minority to bash Christianity and Christians themselves, there will be repercussions. Funds for science will continue to dry up and hostility to pro-evolutionists will keep climbing until the science community comes up with a compromise solution. If you don't believe me, just keep it up, I and my majority of Christians will be happy to revoke every last cent of spending for any scientific pursuit that attempts to thrash our beliefs or undo our morals. You want more money for science? You catch more flys with honey than vinegar. A couple of suggestions: A) Science is not divorced from morality, so don't pretend that any scientific pursuit is O.K. just because it's "science". B) There is more than one way to skin a cat, and if y'all are so smart, prove it by coming up with ways to explore space, cure diseases, and discover the history of our planet without biting the hand that feeds you.
Impetuous! Homeric!
....Science will rise again exactly the same. But no religion will......
I'm not so sure about that. Religion seems to be built into most humans.
Why is it not possible to study science without evolution? Would the laws of physics or biology be different if evolution had never been invented? Would the mysteries of the cosmos or DNA be any less challenging if evolution at no point entered in? Would bacteria multiply differently and sometimes make us sick as often or less so, if we did not think about how they came to be supposedly, millions of years ago?
Why can't we teach science how it works TODAY without getting into arguments how things came to be the way they are. Maybe we can divorce speculations about origins and the past and concentrate on figuring out how things work today, regardless how one or other group thinks they came to be that way? Let those who wish to argue the merits of evolution or ID get together outside of the science classroom and move over to the philosophy department. How about a law that mandates the separation of science and evolution, similar to the separation of church and state.
All theory is gray
.....Now I'm curious, what do you think evolution is?.......
Evolution is the attempt to answer the age old question: How did we and everything else get here. Evolution attempts to deal with the question of origins.
(.....Because evolution is very much in effect today......)
Only in the sense of adaptation and change. What is happening today tells us nothing about how things were ages ago, at least not without making the unwarranted assumption that conditions were the same as or even similar to what is today. Assumption is the scientific code word for belief. There is no experiment anyone can do to determine how dinosaurs became extinct. All we know for sure, is that they once existed, but don't run all over the planet any more.
(.....why we need a new flu shot every year to stay inoculated......)
Why can we not just study the virus, the immune system and learn how it all works TODAY? We don't have to and really can't know how these things worked eons ago, or how they might have come into existence way back then.
(.....Since when were these two things mutually exclusive? (And since when was ID a scientific theory?).....)
Both of these involve guesswork and assumptions, beliefs which cannot be checked out until someone invents a time machine and scientifically checks out the underlying assumptions of the evolution approach or God comes down here and tells us how He did it. Science has to do with what we can observe NOW, measure today, not what or how something may have happened ages ago. Science need not and cannot care how things came to be in the distant past, but can and does help us build a better life HERE and NOW. Religion and philosophy have great value and are the proper forums wherein to ponder the distant past and far future.
All theory is gray