'Intelligent design' a way to smuggle Christianity into schoolrooms

[True_Blue]

Conservative Christian activists have launched various schemes to smuggle religious doctrine into public schools in recent years.

Their latest effort is called ``intelligent design,'' a new variation of ``creationism.'' A school district in Dover, Pa., has adopted this idea for its biology classes and is now facing a federal lawsuit. Why all the fuss? Here's the reason: Intelligent design is just religion doing a poor imitation of science. Intelligent design claims that life on Earth is so complex that it must have been designed by a higher power. Its advocates don't often name the higher power, but they've offered no serious option other than God.

At the end of the day, this is yet another effort to replace standard science instruction with a Sunday school lesson.

Phillip Johnson, a former law professor who pioneered intelligent design, told a conservative religious audience a few years ago that his goal is to use intelligent design to spread doubts about evolution and then introduce people to "the truth" of the Bible and "the question of sin." Ultimately, Johnson said, he wants people to be "introduced to Jesus."
more....
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3036400

[derby378]

1. Gee, ya think?

We've only known this since, well, forever.

[Tux]

2. Um...

Some people may not know. Afterall, people do have busy lives. It's good to point it out at times so people will remember that.

If the goal of ID was to discredit evolution just so people could know Jesus, why worry in a nation that is 87% Christian? Not like we can ever escape it in America.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. they worry because the point is to dumb down the populace

a well educated public is organized superstitions worst enemy

[anitar1]

11. Gotta Keep the Money Train Going

Kids are brainwashed , grow up and keep the collection plates healthy.

[Tux]

28. I thought

Fox News was supposed to do that.

[drfresh]

7. Intelligent Design...

An "intelligent design" theory doesn't have to discredit or go against evolution IMO.... maybe there is merit in both theories. Why not present both and let the kids decide for themselves?

[pnorman]

8. I've supported that idea also (evil grin) for a long time.

Since ID is little more than the Book of Genesis in disguise, that will bring the Bible under rational discussion. And then hear those Mad Mullahs HOWL!!

pnorman

[bowens43]

16. Don't count on it.

The intent will be to discredit science and raise mythology to the level of science. The fundi teachers will teach as if it is a well supported theory. All of science will come into question. Do you realize that there is a significant and growing segment of Christians who believe that the earth is stationary and that universe is in motion around the earth?

[drfresh]

23. I believe it

Sadly I believe it, I've met a lot of closed-minded Christians. I'm all about the scientific method and I'm not for downplaying evolution here... or the big bang. For all practical purposes these have been proven (of course there are those who say that NOTHING can be proven one way or another....)... but surely there are gonna be kids who pull on their teachers' sleeve and ask , "But where did the Big Bang come from, Mrs. Johnson?"

At that point it all becomes opinion and speculation ... so why leave anything out of possible discussion?

[immoderate]

25. Discussions of anything is OK.

But in defining what is or isn't science, ID gets ruled out along with creationism, astrology, mesmerism, phrenology, etc. To pretend it is a science is intellectually dishonest, and to include it as an alternative, dignifies it and demeans real science. These things are false information ranging from pseudo science to just plain foolishness, and the responsibility of the science teacher is to implant the framework that allows the students to see that.

In my time as a school teacher, I would often redirect discussions of these things because it represented a third rail for me. I had students who wanted me to include discussions of creationism. My answer was that science predicts events, and you can't predict what the creator will do, so that's not science. Adults should know this too.

When you say, "so why leave anything out of possible discussion?" Do you mean *anything?* People's beliefs are more important to them than education, and the founders wisely constructed the wall of separation to keep us from playing with fire.

--IMM

[Bridget Burke]

26. Myth, legend & comparative religion are all fascinating subjects.

But science classes need to be devoted to science.

[True_Blue]

9. The creation theory is mythology... not science!

Would you approve of the creation of life based on Greek mythology being taught in a science classroom?

[bowens43]

15. Wrong. ID is not science, it is NOT a thory. Period.

It all goes back to a god or gods. Who designed the designer?

Let them decide for themselves??? You have to be kidding. Should we also present the 'flat earth' theory in geography class and let them decide for themselves?

[Enraged_Ape]

19. I believe the Universe was farted from the ass of Ernest Borgnine

Can we teach MY theory in the schools along with the others, then let the kids decide?

[GreenPoet64]

3. And as the flu and cold viruses EVOLVE every year . . .

these people would have us teach children what? Evolution is a myth? Let's forget about training doctors for America's future and just teach faith healing in biology class. <sarcasm off>

[lapfog_1]

13. SARCASM ON

NO... God sends us new "plagues" every year to punish the wicked.

[Erika]

4. Theocracy knows no bounds

whether they be the fanatic Christian right or the Taliban.

[EST]

6. Insanity, and other mental illness

just seems to become, more and more, the order of the day. One of the most ironically satisfying notions to come from all this (to my own out-of-warranty brain) is that, since people, and most especially fundies, do not abstain, and the teaching of magic and soothsaying will drive out the teaching of sound science, the pace of bio research must slow. Couple that with the astonishingly virulent STDs that are evolving and the seeds of destruction of the fundie movement will truly have been sown.

The fact that the "cure" will also wipe out the more rational of humanity's survivors seems nothing but a tragic joke, a final giggle.

[Jamastiene]

10. "Introduced to Jesus" ??????

A person would have to have spent their entire life with their head up their ass to not have already heard and heard and heard about Jesus. Those people never shut up. What with that glazed over look in their eyes and that look on their faces like they are devoid of brain use. Like any muscle, the brain will atrophy if not used, hence, creationism. They are just trying to get out of learning about evolution. Personally, I think they don't believe in evolution because they haven't done it themselves yet. I guess it is kind of hard for them to believe in it. I have the strongest urge to pat them on the head and tell them not to feel too bad. They'll evolve too someday.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. The law of unintended consequences.

THe right-wingers may think that the kids will assume this higher power is God, but without evidence to back that up, what's to stop the kids from reaching their own conclusion that God is an alien lifeform?

[rodeodance]

14. "We must teach our children the best science possible..."

and certainly 'intelligent design' is NOT science.

.......We must teach our children the best science possible and help them become leaders in the world of tomorrow. If we deny them this knowledge, they will be woefully unprepared for college and the increasingly technological world beyond that. We must reject the intelligent design crusade. Nothing less than the future of America's public schools and our secular democracy is at stake.,,,,

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Oh, there is no question that the right-wing methods will send this

country into a backslide as far as staying competitive in the global market. Especially in technology. They won't have the same critical thinking skills as someone who was raised understanding the difference between religion and science. And, the right-wingers reinforce a genophobic perspective, so they make terrible representatives for the U.S.

[bowens43]

17. Then the question will be

'Who created the aliens?"

No matter how they present it, "It's turtles all the way down".

[Mockingbird]

20. Calling Skulley & Mulder...

Excellent short story:


"For I am A Jealous People."

by Lester Del Rey.



I would recommend it for kids whose minds are being co-opted.

[dummy-du1]

21. Who created the aliens?

They were created by the more advanced humans of the future, that utilized their time travel technology to go back into the past. And BTW,
the theory of relativity is also just a theory.

[GreenPoet64]

22. And the theory of gravity . . .

is just a "theory" in the matrix of an oversoul's projected reality.
<sarcasm off>

[Mich Otter]

24. Intelligent?

How intelligent could the design be since we males have nipples?
If there is no process of "Evolution" shouldn't we all look exactly alike, and all look like Adam and Eve? Something caused change to occur.
I am glad that I got more brains than the Shrub!!

[montieg]

27. Part and parcel of the fundie agenda

to create the American madrassas. Creationism+prayer in schools+ vouchers=Nehemiah Scudder (Revolt in 2100, Robert Heinlein)