Posted on 12/11/2002 6:28:08 AM PST by A2J
By WILL SENTELL
wsentell@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
High school biology textbooks would include a disclaimer that evolution is only a theory under a change approved Tuesday by a committee of the state's top school board.
If the disclaimer wins final approval, it would apparently make Louisiana just the second state in the nation with such a provision. The other is Alabama, which is the model for the disclaimer backers want in Louisiana.
Alabama approved its policy six or seven years ago after extensive controversy that included questions over the religious overtones of the issue.
The change approved Tuesday requires Louisiana education officials to check on details for getting publishers to add the disclaimer to biology textbooks.
It won approval in the board's Student and School Standards/ Instruction Committee after a sometimes contentious session.
"I don't believe I evolved from some primate," said Jim Stafford, a board member from Monroe. Stafford said evolution should be offered as a theory, not fact.
Whether the proposal will win approval by the full state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday is unclear.
Paul Pastorek of New Orleans, president of the board, said he will oppose the addition.
"I am not prepared to go back to the Dark Ages," Pastorek said.
"I don't think state boards should dictate editorial content of school textbooks," he said. "We shouldn't be involved with that."
Donna Contois of Metairie, chairwoman of the committee that approved the change, said afterward she could not say whether it will win approval by the full board.
The disclaimer under consideration says the theory of evolution "still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life.
"Study hard and keep an open mind," it says. "Someday you may contribute to the theories of how living things appeared on earth."
Backers say the addition would be inserted in the front of biology textbooks used by students in grades 9-12, possibly next fall.
The issue surfaced when a committee of the board prepared to approve dozens of textbooks used by both public and nonpublic schools. The list was recommended by a separate panel that reviews textbooks every seven years.
A handful of citizens, one armed with a copy of Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species," complained that biology textbooks used now are one-sided in promoting evolution uncritically and are riddled with factual errors.
"If we give them all the facts to make up their mind, we have educated them," Darrell White of Baton Rouge said of students. "Otherwise we have indoctrinated them."
Darwin wrote that individuals with certain characteristics enjoy an edge over their peers and life forms developed gradually millions of years ago.
Backers bristled at suggestions that they favor the teaching of creationism, which says that life began about 6,000 years ago in a process described in the Bible's Book of Genesis.
White said he is the father of seven children, including a 10th-grader at a public high school in Baton Rouge.
He said he reviewed 21 science textbooks for use by middle and high school students. White called Darwin's book "racist and sexist" and said students are entitled to know more about controversy that swirls around the theory.
"If nothing else, put a disclaimer in the front of the textbooks," White said.
John Oller Jr., a professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, also criticized the accuracy of science textbooks under review. Oller said he was appearing on behalf of the Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian lobbying group.
Oller said the state should force publishers to offer alternatives, correct mistakes in textbooks and fill in gaps in science teachings. "We are talking about major falsehoods that should be addressed," he said.
Linda Johnson of Plaquemine, a member of the board, said she supports the change. Johnson said the new message of evolution "will encourage students to go after the facts."
And matter certainly appears even stranger than what most people can imagine.
So true, AndrewC! Here's a link for lurkers on the government's wanted poster for the Higgs boson.
For more information: Fermilab answers "How does the Higgs boson generate the masses for all other particles? Is it the carrier of a force?
They are called eyeballs.
In what manner do your eyes discriminate discrete individual quanta from a continuous stream of light?
Is this an your attempt at stump the dummy? If you wish to learn how the eye detects light, invest in a college course. Hint: eyes don't "measure" infrared or ultraviolet quanta.(except maybe as a peripheral consequence)
What for?
There is no possible genetic determination of fossil species for one very good reason:
Stop playing ring around the rosie. We have gone over this numerous times already.
Every day we see evolutionist nonsense here using the molecular clock as a dating technique, glad you agree with me that such is total unscientific nonsense.
As to using it for the differences in species and see who came first, this is also nonsense. You have to disprove my statement that species stopped mutating shortly after they arose. Otherwise even this use of the clock is total nonsense also.
When all else fails, accuse me of being rude. I am direct, yes, rude, no. I can be rude, but I try to refrain. However, I am direct, and respond to the issues the best I can. If you feel I am rude, I am sorry, I am who I am. I don't go out of my way to injure people's feelings, but I also refuse to walk on egg shells with people. If you don't like my style and arguing method, stop responding to my posts. I won't miss you. No one is holding a gun to your head.
Do you think that just because I don't answer, I don't have one. The reason I didn't answer is that I have nothing to prove to you, but now that you seem to have a triumphant attitude over my silence, I will answer. First, give me the precise verse where slavery is condoned or encouraged in the bible. Good luck - you won't be able to find it. FACT: The bible reports slavery and instructs slaves and masters to love each other but it does not condone it or encourage it. This is simply one more instance of a priori anti-Christian bias (in lieu of honest investigation) from a confirmed skeptic. QUESTION: Do you know the difference between chattel slavery and bond servanthood? Which one was practiced in ancient israel? Also, tell me, when Paul told slaves in the Roman empire to love their masters and masters to love their slaves, what do you think is the end result of that? Instead of Paul demanding that slavery end, he did better! - he demanded in the name of Christ that they love each other. Finally, who was it that ended chattel slavery in the west? Christians! Ever heard of William Wilberforce? How about the Christian abolitionists in the United States? I'm waiting for that verse, and I must caution you about context, as you do not strike me as one who understands the science of biblical hermeneutics.
This is not an argument against moral absolutism, but is simply a commentary on the evil deeds of men. The popes were wicked and that had nothing to do with Jesus Christ or moral absolutes. In fact, moral absolutes were violated by the leaders of the Inquisition and Crusades. That is the difference between these examples in Christianity and Islam. The islamic terrorists' actions DO COINCIDED with the example of their founder, while the evil popes' actions do not coincide with the example of Jesus Christ. Again, I ask you for any logical argument against moral absolutism. I have come up with more than one good argument against utilitarianism that you cannot answer, but you have not come up with one against absolutism.
What you speak of is UTOPIA. it is not possible to have a perfect democracy because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts aboslutely. That is precisely why we have checks and balances - "the heart of man is desperately wicked - who can know it" (Jer. 17:9) The liberals also dream of utopia - a John Lennon imagine-land where all is peace and love and dope (dream on liberals!).
Exodus 21:7 - If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to be set free, as male slaves are.Exodus 21:20 - If a slave owner takes a stick and beats his slave, whether male or female, and the slave dies on the spot, the owner is to be punished.
Exodus 21:21 But if the slave does not die for a day or two, the master is not to be punished. The loss of his property is punishment enough.
condone: to pardon or overlook voluntarily; especially : to treat as if trivial, harmless, or of no importance. It certainly is good of God to show so much tender affection for the master's property.
Please explain how the murder of a human being is excused because the murderer loses his property. Isn't that a bit like the lids who murdered their parents and were to be pitied because they were now orphans?
What you speak of is UTOPIA....
Boy...is this response ever irrelevant. What we were speaking of is whether or not our constitution establishes a democratic union and lays down the rules for it's operation, or not. Obviously it does, only a very brief scan of the document will verify that. And even if we were speaking of the effects of democracy, how could you call my criticism of it utopian? I guess being Mr. Logic doesn't require of you the maintenance of a long attention span.
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