From Skeptic Magazine, Volume 6, number 2, 1998:
On April 8, 1998, the National Academy of Science (NAS) released a
statement about its new guidebook intended for teachers, parents,
school administrators, and policy makers, that evolution is "
the most important concept to modern biology" and that "there
is no debate within the scientific community over whether evolution has
occured, and there is no evidence that evolution has not occured."
More than seven decades after the Scopes "Monkey" Trial, the
panel of scientists explained, "Many students receive little or no
exposure to the most important concept in modern biology." For
example, the Arizona Board of Education deleted the word
"evolution" from its 1996 science standards although they do
say that students must learn "how organisms change over time in
terms of biological adaptation and genetics." Additionally, the
North Carolina House passed a bill in 1997 requiring that evolution be
presented "as theory, not fact." And a Christian book
publisher in Richardson, Texas, Jon Buell, claims had has been innundated
by orders for the Creationist biology textbook (sic) entitled "Of
Pandas and People."
The "new Creationism"e; is called "intelligent design"
and is promote by the University of California law professor Phillip
Johnson and Lehigh University biochemist Michael Behe. By contrast, the
NAS scientists explained that "religion and science answer different
questions about the world;" that " there are thousands of
different ideas about creation among the world's people;" and that
"humans did not evolve from modrn apes, but humans and modern
apes shared a common ancestor, a species that no longer exists."
They also clarified the difference between a theory -- an explanation
that has been well substanciated -- and a guess or a hunch. "Just
this year a parent asked me if I was teaching evolution as a theory or
as a fact," said Elizabeth Carvellas, a biology teacher in Essex
Junction, VT. "I explained that I taught it as a theory. That
seemed to settle that problem"
That was an interesting summation in Skeptic Magazine. What springs
instantly to mind is what such stupidity means to the education of the
populace which finds that it must increasingly compete in a global
market economy. With teachers subscribing to the idiot notions that
evolution some how doesn't happen or is "only a theory," and
with politicians mandating occult-motivated disclaimers about biology,
how do we expect our students to acquire the educations they need to
successfully compete in the global market place against students of
other countries that don't suffer from creationist cultists adversely
impacting their educations?
These insane creationist cults are just one of the many like-minded cults
that operate within the United States. There are still Christian cults
out there very much like creationist cults which deny the fact that the
Earth is an oblate sphere because they believe their written mythologies
demand the Earth is flat. Do we allow our elected politicians to give
those insane nuts homage as they do these creationist nuts?
Imagine a creation cult follower trying to get a job as a paleontologist
working for the oil industry in exploration. Imagine a creationist cult
follower trying to get a job with the U. S. Geological Survey. Imagine
a creationist cult follower trying to explain to the High School Principal
that humans did indeed live at the same time that the dinosaurs did.
With such stupid occultism being pushed on to an otherwise ignorant
populace, how can Americans hope to compete in a world economy?
Presumably it's not quite so very bad: America needs its willfully
uneducated to dig our ditches, flip our hamburgers, and deliberately
allow a percentage of the populace to keep itself ignorant and stupid so
that the rest of us don't have to work so hard. With creationist cults
out there teaching their children utter occultism and actively working
to turn their children's brains to pudding, they're at least not in
competition with my own sons for jobs in the work place since my sons
will accept and apply science while these ignorant morons will cower in
occult, superstitious stupidity.
The children of creationists need only learn to repeat one phrase:
Any text written by the creationist cult which may be quoted within this criticial examination of the creationist cult is provided according to U. S. Code Title 17 "Fair Use" dictates which may be reviewed at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
"You can lie about ICR all you want." -- Jason Daniel Henderson
"Thank you for your permission however there's never any need
to.
Creationist propaganda is already self-debunking." --
Fredric L. Rice
This web site is not affiliated or associated with any creationist cult in any way and neither the web site host, the web site owner, or any of the authors which assisted in debunking creationist nonsense are in any way connected with any creationist cult.
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