American War on Evolutionary Theory Continues
• Miseducation
You'd have to be naïve or stupid to not see ID as a covert Christian attempt to smuggle their faith into schools.
"There are two factors in American society coming to a head right now. One is the long-running opposition to evolution in this culture," said Robert Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"The second is a well-coordinated, well-crafted, slick campaign to repackage creationism. They've stripped it of its more outlandish claims ... their new package is significantly more attractive since it doesn't have all this pseudo-scientific baggage," he added.
America debates evolution: Why now?
Teaching nonsense leaves less time for teaching real science to a scientifically illiterate population:
"What do you stop teaching in order to teach that? What do you cut back?" said Guilbert Hentschke, an education professor and former dean of the school of education at the University of Southern California.
God isn't welcome in the biology lab classrooms in New York:
"Most biology teachers I've known teach evolution the way they teach gravity, as the closest thing to fact," said Randy Barbarash, a veteran teacher who until recently was the Westchester/Rockland liaison to the New York Biology Teachers Association. "Could we find out tomorrow that gravity doesn't work? Sure. That's science. But virtually all teachers proceed with the mind-set that life can be explained by looking at adaptations and how they allow organisms to survive. That's evolution."
N.Y. avoids nation's cultural war over evolution
Most Americans are Morons Dept.:
A majority of adults in the United States support the views of creationism, according to a poll by Gallup released by CNN and USA Today. 53 per cent of respondents say God created human beings in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.
Conversely, 31 per cent of respondents believe human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life with God guiding this process, while 13 per cent think God had no part in the development of man.
Americans Review Evolution, Creationism
The only test of intelligent design is the average person's inability to cope with the impersonality of the universe.
"Scientific theories are not hunches," he testified. "When we say 'theory,' we mean a strong overarching explanation that ties together many facts and enables us to make testable predictions."
As if Christians would know science if it slapped them in the face:
“Intelligent design is not valid science,” Rawlings told nearly 700 trustees, faculty and other school officials attending Cornell's annual board meeting.
“It has no ability to develop new knowledge through hypothesis testing, modification of the original theory based on experimental results and renewed testing through more refined experiments that yield still more refinements and insights,” Rawlings said.
Pop culture moment:
John de Lancie — known to Star Trek: The Next Generation fans as Q — is playing Darrow now (opposite Ed Asner as Bryan), although plans call for him to step out of the production before it reaches Purchase. He is quick to point out that, unlike "Inherit the Wind," his play draws its dialogue directly from the trial transcripts.
"I'm not trying to give us some impersonation of Clarence Darrow," he says, "and yet my speech can get a little slower. Everything's kind of easier than I tend to be, while at the same time knowing that underneath it there's sort of a cobra there. That's how I play it."
Author Peter Goodchild conceived The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial as a radio drama and that's the style in which it is presented — with microphones scattered across a bare stage. The setting, de Lancie says, puts all the emphasis on the words — and the words are powerful.