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Young Earth Creationist Attack on the New Texas Earth and Space Science Course
Texas Citizens for Science ^ | January 15, 2009 | Steven Schafersman, Ph.D.

Posted on 01/19/2009 9:42:35 PM PST by Coyoteman

The new Earth and Space Science (ESS) course standards (and all other science course standards) will be up for approval before the State Board of Education (SBOE) during January 21-23. Some SBOE members--the seven who are Young Earth Creationists (YECs)--will attempt to make changes to the ESS standards in ways that will damage the scientific integrity and accuracy of the course. In particular, these SBOE members will try to negatively modify or delete the standards that require students to understand the following topics that deal with scientific topics they consider controversial: age of the Earth and universe, radiometric dating, evolution of fossil life, and the origin of life by abiotic chemical processes. These topics are the ones that YECs consider to be controversial; indeed, they are obsessed with them to the exclusion of everything else.

Continues...

(Excerpt) Read more at texscience.org ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: evolution
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Was The Enlightenment in vain?
1 posted on 01/19/2009 9:42:36 PM PST by Coyoteman
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To: Coyoteman

Get ready for the Flat Earth geology class and the geocentric astronomy class.

The good news for students is that they get to watch the Flintstones in biology class.


2 posted on 01/19/2009 9:48:59 PM PST by trumandogz (The Democrats are driving us to Socialism at I00 MPH -The GOP is driving us to Socialism at 97.5 MPH)
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To: Coyoteman
There will no doubt be hundreds of inaccuracies in the textbooks anyways. Such as Global Warming is real, and manmade and WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE IF OBAMA FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Public schools should not exist

3 posted on 01/19/2009 9:49:10 PM PST by GeronL (DAY 1, YEAR 0 - The first day of the rest of our lives. The first day of the Oministration.)
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To: trumandogz; Coyoteman
This is great.

On another note, after chemistry class, we're going to give equal time to alchemy.

Then, after astronomy class, we're going to give equal time to astrology to demonstrate the 'weaknesses' of astronomy.

4 posted on 01/19/2009 9:52:57 PM PST by GunRunner
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To: GeronL
if Obama can't fix it... lol

There is little accuracy in these textbooks anyway

5 posted on 01/19/2009 9:53:42 PM PST by GeronL (DAY 1, YEAR 0 - The first day of the rest of our lives. The first day of the Oministration.)
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To: Coyoteman
For some reason many reject any insight into the miraculous processed God used to introduce life into a dynamic world, clinging instead to the limited oral traditions originating in languages completely incapable of expressing any scientific concepts.
6 posted on 01/19/2009 9:54:48 PM PST by Natural Law
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To: GunRunner
On another note, after chemistry class, we're going to give equal time to alchemy.

Then, after astronomy class, we're going to give equal time to astrology to demonstrate the 'weaknesses' of astronomy.

They want their religious beliefs taught in these classes!

And that's because they can't get them taught instead of science classes. But they're working on it.

7 posted on 01/19/2009 9:56:02 PM PST by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: Coyoteman
Great. And the media will try and link these nuts to the rest of us Christians. Then by extension conservatives and the GOP.

Some people will read whatever they want to into scripture. Is there any GOP official who will renounce these nuts? At the same time, take those who obsess over who is smoking what, who is sleeping with who, and those who expand the definition of being pro-life beyond being in favor of giving every child in the womb a chance at life, with them.

8 posted on 01/19/2009 9:58:27 PM PST by MovementConservative (Oregon Ducks 42, Oklahoma St. Cowboys 31)
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To: Coyoteman
My solution to this question would be to have each parent on the first day of the first grade is to fill out a card where the parent(s) can select one of two options.

1. Teach my child throughout his 12 years of public education science based on the Young Earth Creationist Theory.

2. Teach my child throughout his 12 years of public education science based on the scientific method.

9 posted on 01/19/2009 10:03:40 PM PST by trumandogz (The Democrats are driving us to Socialism at I00 MPH -The GOP is driving us to Socialism at 97.5 MPH)
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To: Coyoteman

Just ram it down their throats and make them feel like a fool if they question anything they are taught. That’s what good teaching is all about, right?


10 posted on 01/19/2009 10:17:00 PM PST by smokingfrog (Never underestimate the influence of a wife who bitch-slaps her husband in public.)
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To: Coyoteman

This is crap. Of course these people are wackos but you know what— when they something stupid the left and the media love to pile on them like they’re morons.

But they’re not so diff’t from Algore, NBC, and the left with their global warming “science”.


11 posted on 01/19/2009 10:18:03 PM PST by exist
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To: MovementConservative
Precisely what do you mean by this statement?

and those who expand the definition of being pro-life beyond being in favor of giving every child in the womb a chance at life

12 posted on 01/19/2009 10:31:20 PM PST by refreshed
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To: Coyoteman
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs posted a nice Darwin quote the other day:
It has often and confidently been asserted, that man’s origin can never be known: Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.

— Charles Darwin


13 posted on 01/19/2009 10:31:20 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored
It has often and confidently been asserted, that man’s origin can never be known: Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. — Charles Darwin

Here are a couple of quotes for you:

Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Proverbs 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

By the way, how confident are you in Darwinian evolution being the way everything came about? So confident that a dissenting voice might upset the whole apple cart?

14 posted on 01/19/2009 10:41:17 PM PST by refreshed
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To: Coyoteman

I think that the problem of teaching pseudoscience or superstition in science classes is less than the problem of simply not teaching key science. Take, for instance, evolution. Penn State Professor Michael Berkman finds that a majority of biology teachers either mention evolution for 2 hours max in a year’s classwork, or not at all. For my own part, I had three years of biology in high school and never heard mention of evolution. They didn’t give us creationist stuff, either: the teachers just didn’t talk about the origin of life or species at all. The result was that high school biology was my least favorite science: it was all just a lot of unorganized facts: frog / pig / cat muscles to memorize thoughtlessly. Loved physics and my 2 years of chemistry.

Also: if you or anyone else has a ping list for the pro-science side, would you kindly add me? I appreciate these posts.


15 posted on 01/19/2009 11:10:28 PM PST by Mogwai ("Chawlie, that huwt!")
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To: refreshed

Those who expand the definition of being pro-life beyond being in favor of giving every child in the womb a chance at life are akin to the nuts who want to intrude on science education. Having them around gives the MSM a chance to link the conservatives and Christians to them. They go too far but are convinced they are right and everyone else is wrong.


16 posted on 01/19/2009 11:11:27 PM PST by MovementConservative (Oregon Ducks 42, Oklahoma St. Cowboys 31)
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To: refreshed

As we currently see things, there would appear to be no absolute final answers in empirical science, and any scientist who deserves the name will always admit the possibility that future evidence might force the modification of current views. With that said, Darwinian evolution (with suitable additions and modifications as biologists deem necessary) is our current best idea of what our planet’s biome has undergone over the last several billion years. We’re not yet able to give a persuasive and evidentially supported account of how life first got started, but that’s what makes continued exploration interesting: there are still things to try to find out.


17 posted on 01/19/2009 11:18:38 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: Coyoteman

It is very difficult to wend one’s way between Creationists and climate warmists:

“Left out are rocks and minerals, ... geologic periods, ... weather, ... galaxies and ... stars, …. Instead, we included a great deal about climate and climate change, … energy resources, …, fossil fuels, .. Emphasized … space imagery and … GPS, personal computers, and the Internet. … (meteorologists probably won’t like it, but climatologists will love it!).”

Keep in mind taxpayers are funding this.


18 posted on 01/19/2009 11:27:21 PM PST by Bhoy
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To: Coyoteman

The percentage of families home schooling their children will incress.

The percentage of families sending their children to church schools will increase.


19 posted on 01/19/2009 11:47:53 PM PST by John Leland 1789
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To: refreshed
By the way, how confident are you in Darwinian evolution being the way everything came about?

I am as confident in Darwin as I am in Newton as the thinker whose theories best explain the available evidence. Both have seen their work added to and modified, though not rejected outright, by new-found evidence and improved observation.

So confident that a dissenting voice might upset the whole apple cart?

No one is closing churches. There are no SWAT teams massing outside the Discovery Institute. Flat Earthers, Young Earth creationists, UFOlogists, all are welcome to spin their hypotheses. They do not have a right to promote them in public schools.

If you want to change the scientific consensus, the place to start is in science -- in the lab, not the classroom. The push to get creationism/ID into high school biology is like trying to teach kids in driver's ed how to drive a hydrogen fuel cell car instead of focusing on building one.

20 posted on 01/19/2009 11:52:47 PM PST by ReignOfError
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