NEWS: Evolution Rules / Creationism Drools

CULTURE: Evolution Rules / Creationism Drools

The attempt by the religious right to keep “evolution warning stickers” in school textbooks in Georgia has failed.

So much for the religious right's attempt to force creationism down Georgia students' throats…

It’s also reassuring to know that there are judges in the Bible Belt who have their heads on straight. Darwin is breathing a sigh of relief.

What's 'religious' about the fact that evolution is a theory?

I'm entirely an evolutionist, but I share your same sentiment.

Yeah, so where's the religion in this?

God dammit.

Exactly.

It would be funny if they put a "Creationism is a theory, not fact" sticker in the book instead of removing the one already in place.

it's the intent meant behind the message of the sticker. To the school officals down there creationism is a fact.

Do they put warning stickers in every Bible down there saying that the creation story is just a story ( theres not even enough grounds to call it a 'theory') and not to be taken as fact? No? Then why put it in school textbooks?

Holy crap! Common sense down here! I'm shocked. Delightfully so. I wanted to pick up the AJC today to check this out, but never got the chance.

Because there are a lot of stupid, stupid people down here.

Because they are using the common usage of the word 'theory', not the scientific one. It's deceptive and implies that the theory of evolution has no factual basis, which is utter shite.

There's nothing religious about "the fact." What's religious is the sticker.

If the intent is free of ideology, why does it single out evolution? Why not just put a sticker that says, "this book contains theories."

IN YOUR FACE! IN YOUR FACE!

i agree.

I like the approach Dr. Ritland, my biology professor at Erskine College, used when addressing this topic. (Biology professors at church-run colleges in the South will, of course, always have to tread lightly around this topic.)

What he did was to go ahead and teach the version of evolution generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community, with this disclaimer:

"I realize this is a Christian school, so some of you may have a problem with what I'm about to teach. So, if you're one of those students, please feel free to go ahead and knock a few zeroes off the number of years."

science books are full of theories... why do you think they are singling out that one? why not the theory of gravity?

also, what's religious about it is the group of people who wanted the disclaimer.


coincidentally, i JUST today watched the episode of penn and teller's "bullshit!" that covered this topic.

[Edited on Jan 15, 2005 by contrast]

Hahaha! Nice. I like that.

There is a really interesting article in the newest Discover magazine about a computer program they say 'proves' that Darwin was right. Interesting stuff.

I'm right you're wrong...I WIN!

I'm sorry just having fun...I'd just like to say WHO CARES about stickers on books...honestly sometimes you really have to pick your battles. I'm to the VERY far left, but I don't care when there's ten commandments in court houses...or stickers that say something thats true even if its sudgestive. Maybe if we let them have this, they'll give us a break when we want to teach the proper way to give a blow job to gradeschoolers....cause honestly they've GOTTA LEARN!

Um, which one are you refering to, last I checked you could test the existence of gravity. Whoops, I just theoretically fell out of my chair.

You can't blame them for trying to protect what they believe the same way the system protects what the school believes(enforces). Given, their methods are in your face as they affect the entire student body rather than only Christians at the school, but still.

Well, I tend to agree, except that it is still The theory of evolution and not the totally factual and absolutly without question fact of evolution.

I just think that if you're going to be open minded about stuff you should just pick and choose willy nilly.

ha. Willy Nilly.

Suffice to say that, y'know, fuck all those creationists fuckers out there and their 'treating the bible like a factual text instead of metaphysical imagery' ways.

Magicians, the end all be all source of information about EVERYTHING

For everyone who's saying, "What's the big deal? There are lots of theories in science"-- let's take a look for a second at what "theory" means in a scientific context, as brought to you by your friend and mine, dictionary.com:

A systematically organized body of knowledge applicable in a relatively wide variety of circumstances, especially a system of assumptions, accepted principles, and rules of procedure devised to analyze, predict, or otherwise explain the nature or behavior of a specified set of phenomena.

--Basically, in science, a "theory" is pretty much as good as a fact or a law. However, your average schmoe doesn't realize this, so flagging it in a biology book (as someone else mentioned earlier) is misleading; it makes people think, "Oh, well, this is just a THEORY, so it's tentative and possibly even dead wrong." It's basically just a really sketchy way of getting people to buy into creationism.

So, yeah. Yay for those judges.

Yes. It is an attempt to put "Creation Science" (or "Intelligent Design") on an equal footing in the education system.

"Hell, son, they're both theories, so you can teach 'em both!"

Evolution is as close to fact as Intelligent Design is close to nonsense, but if you call them both "theories" then you've essentially said that they deserve equal time in the classroom.

Oddly enough, the antipathy to evolution in Creationist circles is matched in some feminist circles, including in academia -- when explaining the world and the people in it, both Creationists and (some) feminists prefer their respective deus ex machinas to the idea that we evolved through the random process of natural selection and that the vestiges of that evolution exist within us today. Creationists want to say "we are how we are because that's the way God made us, and any claims that we evoloved from monkeys is a bunch of nonsense from secular scientists conspiring to conceal the Word of God."

And university-educated womens' studies graduates come out parroting the line that "we are the way we are because that's how patriarchy has shaped us, and any claim that evolution affects our behaviour is just the result of 'science' which is actually a patriarchal dominant-white-male discourse rather than anything that represents objective knowledge." Or words to that effect.

I find it interesting that what the Creationists are struggling to achieve in high school education, feminists have been quite successful in achieving at college level.

Poor old Darwin, fucked yet again. And not in the good way.

The reason that the word "theory" is so problematic here is that, in the context it is presented, it gives the false impression that evolution is just one of many equally valid possible explanations for the origin and development of life. This simply isn't the case. There are many theories (the scientific definition of the term) about how evolution took place, but evolution as a general concept is not a theory (the common definition of the term), it's a fact, with tons of data and observation behind it. Biblical young-earth creationism, on the other hand, doesn't even qualify as a hypothesis.

This is an institutionalized attempt to invalidate legitimate science with obvious religious motivation behind it.

Personally, I think the second sentence, "This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered" should be placed in every textbook. But the other posters are right... unless the reader is a serious science student, he or she may not know the true weight behind the label of 'theory' and may approach it with unbelief rather than skepticism.

nobody is forced by law to go to church.