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Louisiana Passes Intelligent Design Law
H0D_G writes "The US state of Louisiana has passed the 'Science Education Act,' a piece of legislation that could allow Intelligent design to be taught in schools. From the article: 'The act is designed to slip ID in "through the back door"'"
they are almost always at the bottom of the list when it comes education in this country or are the butt of jokes about being backwoods hicks.
If they like being laughingstocks, that's no skin off my nose. They have no one to blame but themselves.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Such extremes such as celibacy have forced even priests into the arms of pederasty.
That's an interesting perspective. I've always thought that the opposite was true: that the priesthood attracted homosexual pedophiles because of the lifestyle and ready access to children under the guise of a trusted authority. I wonder if this is something that can be reliably studied?
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I remember when I was in school (non-US), we had an "alternative creationist theories" lessons, but I remember our teacher saying: "The problem is, there is not much to tell about other theories, because they are ... well, not theories in scientific sense of the word." So we had like half of the single lesson (~ 20 min) dedicated to all other theories (I don't even remember them now :) )
May Peace Prevail On Earth
also of interest may be the recent news of E. Coli evolving to metabolise citrate
clickity
By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
I'd just start protesting about how "Gravity is only a theory" and demand that we teach "intelligent falling" until they realize how stupid their argument is, but I'm a cynical asshole.
Buddhism has an interesting viewpoint on issues like this.
You'll notice all kinds of gods in Buddhist iconography and mythology. If you're a Buddhist, you're not expected to believe in any of them. You can if you want, but belief isn't an end in itself. Belief is something that on its own is hard to maintain. You can't be expected to believe in something all the time. You may believe in the non-existence of ghosts, you might find it difficult to maintain that belief if you are alone in a creepy house.
Since a belief is something you put mental energy into, it ought to pull its weight. Therefore, a Buddhist might ask, not whether a belief is true, but whether a belief is useful. Etymologically, the English world "belief" carries this sense of investment, being related to "beloved".
In the case of Last Tuesdayism, you can't prove its factuality one way or the other, so it's pointless to have an opinion on that. But a Buddhist might ask, "Well, suppose everything was created last Tuesday. What would be different?" Well, one thing that might be different is that you might choose to forgo revenge against somebody who "injured" you on Monday. The utility of Last Tuedayism, then, is this: it raises the question of whether your past pain is a better guide to choosing your behavior than your future happiness.
The Buddha himself once referred to beliefs as being like rafts. Once you have crossed the river, you leave them behind. Christianity, unfortunately, filtered down to us through Greek thought, with its bitter rivalry between philosophical schools. Therefore, much more emphasis is put on orthodoxy (right teaching) over orthopraxy (right action). Whereas the Jews produced Talmudic commentaries from almost every conceivable position, Christians produced diatribes against each other for heresy (which comes from the Greek word meaning to "choose" -- that is to choose for oneself).
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