Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Creationism and Science Part Two

The ID debate in schools issue seems to be far from over. The court case on the Dover, Pennsylvania vs some concerned parents is over, and one would think the protagonists, the Discovery Institute, and various Evolutionists would be reviewing their position and planning the next step. Since the nature of the science defendants in this case and others is reactionary, they simply will adn are crowing about their win, however the opposition Creationists are on the assault. In Utah, State Bill SB96 is being considered by the State Legislator, despite the Court decision in Pennsylvania, and the Ohio State Board of Education has tossed out an ammendment to the curricullum asking for critical analysis of the Evolution Theory, and incidentally only thehe evolution theory. Critical Analysis is something science already teaches it's students about their assumptions when preparing experiments and conducting them. Perhaps the creationists should have attended science classes instead of football when in High School. I commend an speech by President Shirley M. Tilghman of Princeton University the George Romanes Lecture, presented at Oxford University entitled Strange Bedfellows: Science, Politics and Religion December 1, 2005. It gives a worrysome look at the state of Science and Politics in the US today. One where unwise manned scientific expeditions (to Mars), and science class being usurped by some religious statement that completely misrepresents amd misunderstands the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection as first powerfully explained by Charles Darwin. I can't imagine what science and biology will be like if ID (Intelligent Design) is given equally valid a position with current accepted theories without having to go through the rigourous proccesses that a scientist has to to simply get published let alone appear in a text book. Support you science teacher and science in general encourage analytical thinking as a first order in all the seniour high school subjects. Maybe learning how to research a topic will assist a diluting of the intelligent design lobby in political circles and also the religious circles, Tilgman's speech covers that well.