'Intelligent design' theory threatens science classrooms

Seattle Post Intelligencer ^ | 11/22/2002 | ALAN I. LESHNER

[ALS]

"I don't SHOVE my belief system down anyones throat"



Evolution IS your belief system.

You can't prove it, so you have to believe it.

Pretending otherwise is a sham in progress.
And yes, you are shoving it down our throats. Just look at the title of the article YOU posted.

[Aric2000]

You're flagellum as irreducibly complex has been disproven already, so please go buy an education somewhere.

[gore3000]

It really amazed them when they were aware going in at just how integrated evolution has become in all subjects at school.

Considering that not a single worthwhile scientific advance has resulted from the theory of evolution and that science has disproved evolutionary claims numerous times, one really cannot justify its inclusion in any course of study except on a course on atheism.

[goodseedhomeschool]

I believe most scientists have faith in something for sure. Some in God and a special creation, and others in evolution and so on.

[Derrald]

It's called connotation. IF you attach an image of an angry god along with this caption (yours): ""Some seem to "get it" a little too late," the inferrence is that the man in the cartoon is going to incur god's wrath and/or go to hell.

10 out of 10 people understand that. Knowing that 10 out of 10 people understand that there is such a thing as connotation, and that it indeed is used often, the only outcome is that you must not be a person. Just making sense here.

[CobaltBlue]

I sympathize, to some extent, with your point of view.

Several years ago, we had neighbors that were fundamentalist Christians into homeschooling. They wouldn't celebrate Halloween because that was Satanism, in their minds. They were opposed to fairy tales, because THAT was Satanism, in their minds.

I was very much cheered to learn that Mike Farris, a big champion of homeschooling, also thought that fairy tales were ok.

In the meantime, my older son is so good at math that his dad, who made straight A's in Calculus and minored in math, can't even help him with his math homework. Not to mention tutor him in physics, C++, and Java. I am the humanities one in the family, and am greatly satisfied with his achievements. He just graduated from high school with 38 college credits.

He's writing at a post graduate level. He writes so well that it reads like a professional wrote it. I am very pleased with his public school education. (Fairfax County, Virginia).

[ALS]

Obviously you don't know much about evolution, but much about nuts.

getta grip already

[rwfromkansas]

Weird. I am not a teacher yet, but am going through the teacher ed program.

I am rather mystified as to that getting into the textbook. Though my history teachers did not use textbooks (thank goodness; I hope I can go to a school where I have the freedom to toss the textbook in the trash as well), the one liberal guy did bring it up like I mentioned before.

[goodseedhomeschool]

It's only a question. No one has asked you to shove anything down anyone's throat. Just curious is all. Please don't get so defensive. Nothing is meant by it.

[CobaltBlue]

You are full of false beliefs about your fellow man. This is very sad.

God probably understands that you are doing your best given your limitations.

[VadeRetro]

chromosomes really are cool. For example: Opossum, redwood tree and kidney bean all have 22 chromes.. Corn, marijuana and a carrot all have 20 chromes. Chimp and tobacco have 48. Interesting.

Convergence of Independent Phylogenies. Interesting.

[ALS]

"It's called connotation."

You can call it Bananas Foster, but it's still something you imagined, then injected. The only question is why.

Latent guilt complex is the likely culprit.

[goodseedhomeschool]

That is just what I thought too.

[Derrald]

okay, then evolution is the idea that "things get stuff randomly whenever they want" and not "tiny differentiations lead to better adaptations that lead to a species overhaul over the long run."

I'll believe you. You are absolutely right, IF you can find one source that states evolution is the idea of immediate adaptation to an immediate situation rather than the gradual adaptation to a series of situations. If you can prove this, you win. Otherwise, you have to concede that you have no idea what in the world evolution is, that you need to read/study a little bit more, and that you need to eat your hat.

[Aric2000]

Evolution is NOT a belief system and especially NOT mine.

Evolution is a SCIENTIFIC theory, NOTHING more, if it is shown to be wrong and a new theory replaces it, won't hurt my worldview at all. ID is not the theory that will replace it though, not unless it goes through and passes the SAME rigorous scientific standards that evolution has, which you of course claims it hasn't, why? Because you are clueless about the scientific method, but that is not news to me.

My religious beliefs are no ones business but my own, especially you.

You are one of those types that will use anything to attack a person that disagrees with you, therefore I prefer not to give you ammunition.

You are an AMORAL creature when it comes to protecting your literalist beliefs. You will use ANY means, especially lying and attacking of someones ACTUAL beliefs to discredit them.

I am sure your god is VERY proud that you lie to protect his literal bible.

[ApesForEvolution]

Just curious....did your son ever learn about his Creator and what He made possible for him; how much He loves Him and that mental ascent is not (by all means) necessarily a stairway to heaven?

I'm all for book smarts; I have lots of it in fact.

However, that and $2.50 will get you a latte, but won't do a thing for you when the flesh reaches its end.

Again, just curious. If it's too personal, just pass...

[ALS]

"Evolution is NOT a belief system and especially NOT mine."

Yeah it is. And everyone that reads your posts in evo threads knows it.

Denial won't help you heal.

[goodseedhomeschool]

Wonderful news. I am from VA myself. I know you are proud. I am a member of HSLDA myself and I too love M. Farris.

[Derrald]

I'm tired of this argument. You can say that implication isn't real all you want. Try that next time you're at a bank and a man asks for money. In your world, without connotation, the man who says "I want $50" and has a withdrawal slip in his hand is exactly the same as the man who says the same thing with a gun in his hand.

To win your argument, bank robbers are the same as bank customers. Good for you. Now, get back to proving that evolution, in your convoluted cephalic region, is the immediate adaptation to immediate stimuli, so I can eat my hat.

[gore3000]

They have been tested mathematically. And ID won.-Quix-

Would you care to elaborate on this statement.

Certainly. Neo-Darwinism (Darwinism itself has been laughed out by science) postulates that the changes which create new species are due to mutations. DNA has shown that it is almost impossible to change even one gene favorably in a stochastic manner. There are some 30,000 genes in humans and less than a thousand in bacteria so the descent of man alone from bacteria would have taken a minimum of 29,000 miracles (and that is not considering that there are over a million species in existence today each with at least a few genes which are different from all the other species).