The number one problem I have with the "separation of church and state" argument is the failure to recognize the idea of evolution as a religion itself. Most fundamentalists would think it to be atheistic and that such beliefs in evolution can be viewed as a religion itself.
Religion, simply put, is a system of beliefs with "boot-and-carrot" features such that people are directed to do one thing or another in order to avoid the "boot" and acquire the "carrot."
The system of belief promoted in schools is evolution. How it is anything other than a belief is difficult to comprehend in that there does not appear to be correlations strong enough to point to evolution as a fact. It hardly seems to be anything more than an untested hypothesis because it is not something that can be tested. The scientific method is defined in Merriam-Webster as " principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses." The boot: Believe in something other than evolution can lead to people being considered to be stupid, unknowledgeable and simpletons" The carrot: Acceptance by the more powerful groups in the scientific community.
-entry cut short due to time constraints-
I cannot believe my eyes! "Pompous" is right!
Last semester at Mt. San Antonio College I took a course titled "Psychology of Women." Some wonder why there is a course so specific, initially considering it to be sexist, without realizing that many studies that have contributed to today's psychology theories have been done with groups consisting of white males.
Having taken this course I learned a few interesting things, one being about a few groups of women that took a math test. The control group was not reminded of their sex while other groups of women were reminded of A) their gender or B) ethnic background. Finding: women not reminded of either attribute (gender or background) did better than the women that had been reminded; women reminded of their gender or race did worse!
I'm simply astounded at this moment, that people are so ignorant.
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The number one problem I have with the "separation of church and state" argument is the failure to recognize the idea of evolution as a religion itself. Most fundamentalists would think it to be atheistic and that such beliefs in evolution can be viewed as a religion itself. Religion, simply put, is a system of beliefs with "boot-and-carrot" features such that people are directed to do one thing or another in order to avoid the "boot" and acquire the "carrot." The system of belief promoted in schools is evolution. How it is anything other than a belief is difficult to comprehend in that there does not appear to be correlations strong enough to point to evolution as a fact. It hardly seems to be anything more than an untested hypothesis because it is not something that can be tested. The scientific method is defined in Merriam-Webster as " principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses." The boot: Believe in something other than evolution can lead to people being considered to be stupid, unknowledgeable and simpletons" The carrot: Acceptance by the more powerful groups in the scientific community. -entry cut short due to time constraints-
I cannot believe my eyes! "Pompous" is right! Last semester at Mt. San Antonio College I took a course titled "Psychology of Women." Some wonder why there is a course so specific, initially considering it to be sexist, without realizing that many studies that have contributed to today's psychology theories have been done with groups consisting of white males. Having taken this course I learned a few interesting things, one being about a few groups of women that took a math test. The control group was not reminded of their sex while other groups of women were reminded of A) their gender or B) ethnic background. Finding: women not reminded of either attribute (gender or background) did better than the women that had been reminded; women reminded of their gender or race did worse! I'm simply astounded at this moment, that people are so ignorant.