Churches urged to back evolution
British Broadcasting Corporation ^ | 20 February 2006 |
Paul Rincon
Posted on 02/20/2006
5:33:50 AM PST by ToryHeartland
Churches urged to back evolution
By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter, St Louis
US scientists have called on
mainstream religious communities to help them fight policies that undermine the
teaching of evolution.
The American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) hit out at the "intelligent design"
movement at its annual meeting in Missouri.
Teaching the idea threatens
scientific literacy among schoolchildren, it said.
Its proponents argue life on
Earth is too complex to have evolved on its own.
As the name suggests,
intelligent design is a concept invoking the hand of a designer in nature.
It's time to
recognise that science and religion should never be pitted against each other
Gilbert Omenn AAAS president This means that the
Intelligent Design Community has been making significant inroads and is
threatening the Evolutionists complete domination in schools
There have been
several attempts across the US by anti-evolutionists to get intelligent design
taught in school science lessons. And here is what they fear the
most
At the meeting in St Louis, the
AAAS issued a statement strongly condemning the moves.
"Such veiled attempts to
wedge religion - actually just one kind of religion - into science classrooms
is a disservice to students, parents, teachers and tax payers," said AAAS
president Gilbert Omenn.
"It's time to recognise
that science and religion should never be pitted against each other.
"They can and
do co-exist in the context of most people's lives. Just not in science
classrooms, lest we confuse our children." Coexistence is defined here
are the schools teaching our children that all that is taught in the church and
bible are lies and the church standing
by and not responding.
'Who's kidding whom?'
Eugenie Scott,
director of the National Center for Science Education, which campaigns to keep
evolution in public schools, said those in mainstream religious communities
needed to "step up to the plate" in order to prevent the issue being
viewed as a battle between science and religion. Evolutionists are calling out for the church to help it fight off
Intelligent Design --
Some have already heeded the
warning.
"The intelligent design movement belittles evolution. It makes God a designer - an
engineer," said George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory. What we have here is a back-handed admission that evolution has not
response to Intelligent Design. That they can not refute it because it has
turned some of Evolutions very foundational arguments and science against them
– and they are terrified that this will overrun them.
"Intelligent design concentrates on a designer who they do not
really identify - but
who's kidding whom?" And the designer would be GOD who they cannot abide. They are hard
core atheists and to admit God the Bible or Faith is the equivalent of
committing suicide
We have to
acknowledge where all of this started with one of the world most renowned
atheists becoming a believer in Christ.
And because of his debate for years with a preacher the subject of
Intelligent Design was stumbled into and this man was converted. From the day
this mans conversion was announced and
the reasons why – this has sent shock
and horror waves through the atheist community and the scientific community as
well
Last year, a federal judge ruled
in favour of 11 parents in Dover, Pennsylvania, who argued that Darwinian
evolution must be taught as fact.
Dover school administrators had
pushed for intelligent design to be inserted into science teaching. But the
judge ruled this violated the constitution, which sets out a clear separation
between religion and state.
But they know
that this is not a church state issue. And with their loss now in a supreme
court majority they fear as this works up in the courts they will lose.
Despite the ruling, more
challenges are on the way.
Fourteen US states are
considering bills that scientists say would restrict the teaching of evolution.
These include a legislative bill
in Missouri which seeks to ensure that only science which can be proven by
experiment is taught in schools. This is even more damaging to the cause of evolution
I think if we look at where the
empirical scientific evidence leads us, it leads us towards intelligent design
Teacher Mark Gihring "The new strategy is to teach intelligent design without
calling it intelligent design," biologist
Kenneth Miller, of Brown University in Rhode Island, told the BBC News
website. Without God mentioned it would
easily pass the church state muster and undo the school’s beating the church
and religion over the head and shoulders for the last 50 years.
Dr Miller, an expert witness in
the Dover School case, added: "The advocates of intelligent design and creationism have tried
to repackage their criticisms, saying they want to teach the evidence for
evolution and the evidence against
evolution." And to have a debate in
school where the overwhelming evidence against evolution is discussed would
forever be its undoing.
However, Mark Gihring, a teacher
from Missouri sympathetic to intelligent design, told the BBC: "I think if
we look at where the empirical scientific evidence leads us, it leads us towards
intelligent design.
"[Intelligent design]
ultimately takes us back to why we're here and the value of life... if an
individual doesn't have a reason for being, they might carry themselves in a
way that is ultimately destructive for society."
Economic risk
The decentralised US education
system ensures that intelligent design will remain an issue in the classroom
regardless of the decision in the Dover case.
"I think as a
legal strategy, intelligent design is dead. That does not mean intelligent design as a social movement
is dead," said Ms Scott. Previously in this article Ms. Scott has all but admitted that in
the Courts Intelligent Design has only started and they ultimately fear a loss
at the supreme court. But her she argues that even if they can hold this back
through the courts that via parents input in the schools by their own rules
they need to comply to their demands.
"This is an
idea that has real legs and it's going to be around for a long time. It will,
however, evolve." These legs are what have them terrified.
Among the most high-profile
champions of intelligent design is US President George W Bush, who has said
schools should make students aware of the concept. The president speaking of this
has gone over the heads of educators and she blames bush for student interest
in this debate
But Mr Omenn warned that
teaching intelligent design will deprive students of a proper education, (read that as evolution and
atheism) ultimately
harming the US economy. (read that as morality may further rise, and cause a spiral in sin
related vocations and products an example of which is the abortion industry )
"At a time when fewer US
students are heading into science, baby boomer scientists are retiring in
growing numbers and international students are returning home to work, America
can ill afford the time and tax-payer dollars debating the facts of
evolution," he said. (The tax payers dollars reference
here is these school officials openly declaring that they will blow their
entire coffers (millions if not billions of local state and
federal government funding) to prevent the admission of
Intelligent Design or anything that questions evolution to be introduced into school
curriculums)
Story from BBC
NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4731360.stm