Evolution's 'Dictatorship' -- Student Struggles to Get Opposite Viewpoint Heard

AgapePress ^ | 16 August 2004 | Ed Vitagliano

[PatrickHenry]

Samuel Chen was a high school sophomore who believed in freedom of speech and the unfettered pursuit of knowledge. He thought his public high school did, too, but when it came to the subject of evolution -- well, now he's not so sure.

In October 2002, Chen began working to get Dr. Michael Behe, professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University, to give a lecture at Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

Chen, who was co-chair of a student group that tries to stress the importance of objectivity on controversial issues, knew that Behe would be perfect, since the group was examining evolution as a topic. The author of Darwin's Black Box, a critique of the foundational underpinnings of evolution, Behe had presented his work and debated the subject in universities in the U.S. and England.

Behe agreed to come in February 2004 and give an after-school lecture entitled, "Evolution: Truth or Myth?" As the school year drew to a close in 2003, Chen had all the preliminaries nailed down: he had secured Behe's commitment, received approval from school officials, and reserved the school auditorium.

Then he found out just how entrenched Darwinist orthodoxy was in the science department at Emmaus. By the following August, Chen had entered into a six-month battle to preserve the Behe lecture.

As the struggle unfolded, it became obvious that those who opposed Behe coming to Emmaus didn't seem to care about his credentials. In addition to publishing over 35 articles in refereed biochemical journals, Darwin's Black Box was internationally reviewed in over 100 publications and named by National Review and World magazine as one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century.

Instead, it was Behe's rejection of Darwinism -- in favor of what is called "intelligent design" -- that drove opposition. According to the Discovery Institute, of which Behe is a fellow, this theory holds "that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."

The head of the science department, John Hnatow, sent a statement to every faculty member in the school stressing that Emmaus held to the official policy of the National Science Teachers Association. That policy states: "There is no longer a debate among scientists about whether evolution has taken place."

It appeared there would be no debate at Emmaus, either. Some of the science teachers would not even allow Chen to address their classes and explain to students what Behe's lecture would be about.

Chen said various tactics were apparently used to undercut the event, including an attempt to cancel the lecture and fold the student organization without the knowledge of Chen and other members; requiring that the necessary funds for the lecture be raised much faster than for other student events; and moving the lecture from the auditorium to the school cafeteria.

One science teacher in particular, Carl Smartschan, seemed particularly riled about the upcoming lecture. Smartschan took it upon himself to talk to every teacher in the science department, insisting that intelligent design was "unscientific" and "scary stuff." He asked the principal to cancel the lecture, and then, when the principal refused, asked the faculty advisor for the student group to halt the lecture. Smartschan even approached Chen and demanded that the student organization pay to have an evolutionist come to lecture later in the year.

Smartschan's campaign to get the Behe lecture canceled was surprising to Chen because the event was scheduled after school, and not during class time, and was sponsored by a student group, not the school itself. Nevertheless, Chen persevered. The lecture was a success, attracting more than 500 people.

In the process, however, Chen's struggle took its toll. His health deteriorated over the course of the controversy, to the point where he collapsed three times in one month, including once at school. "My health has been totally junked," he told AFA Journal.

Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney and senior policy advisor for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, is advising Chen on his options for the coming year. Fahling said, "Schools are not allowed to interfere with viewpoints with which they disagree, and schools cannot disrupt the right of the students to participate in the academic and intellectual life."

Despite the hardship, Chen said he would do it all over again because the issue is so important. "I feel that there's a dictatorship on academic freedom in our public schools now," he said, adding, "I refer to evolution education as a tyranny .... You can't challenge it in our schools. Kids have been thrown out of class for challenging it."

That tyranny can be intimidating to students. "Some of the students who support me are afraid to speak out, especially because they saw how the science department reacted," Chen said. "They have a fear of speaking out against it in their classes."

On the other hand, he added that some students "are now questioning evolution, some for the first time."

That may be the first step in the overthrow of Darwin's dictatorship.

[balrog666]

Reverse engineering of natural processes is an old and proven idea.

And what thermodynamic limits do you place on the Sun?

[nasamn777]

Please state as succinctly and precisely as possible why the total S of system plus surroundings increases as evolution proceeds.

So you want me to prove evolution? I thought I was in the camp that apposes evolution. Perhaps you meant to say "decrease" in entropy. Or you are just a clever professor seeing what I know ;).

To begin, let us establish some basics of thermodynamics. Is it true that the second law is related about direction of processes? Is it true that the second law implies that ordered systems will deteriorate into less ordered systems over time? Do you agree with the statements about order related to the second law?

I will post when I have time. I need to solve some coupled differential equations I'm working on and it hasn't been going real well. Urrr. Maybe that is why I'm posting here -- a diversion.

[balrog666]

Much deception has been and continues to go on.

That's called "religion".

[Jaguar1942]

I'm not sure what to say to that, so I will not say anything.

[Jaguar1942]

Oh, this is gonna be fun......

[balrog666]

Is it true that the second law is related about direction of processes? Is it true that the second law implies that ordered systems will deteriorate into less ordered systems over time?

No, and no. Your physics education is sadly lacking.

[VadeRetro]

We are finding the standard interpretations of the fossil record are highly suspect.

Translation:

We'll get back to you with another ludicrous YEC model when we find the shot-to-bits pieces of our last several tries.

[balrog666]

Hey, I got the number of "religion" in my post!

[Junior]

It's only a hypothesis. It hasn't quite reached the "theory" stage. Panspermia does not deal with evolution at all, simply stating that "life here began out there, far across the universe ..." And, panspermia just shunts the origin of life further back in time; it doesn't account for it.

[PatrickHenry]

666 posted on 08/18/2004 7:15:24 PM EDT by balrog666 (A public service post.)

I can read the signs, oh master of darkness, and I shall do your bidding.

[Radix]

Because I can say just about anything I want, I can put in a book that The shuttle will be destroyed and make it look like a prophecy from the past, and make all the conditions of that prophecy look like I called them out before the event, and it just happened to happen at the right time.

Perhaps you might want to consider a study of the Old Testament from a different perspective.

 You can dismiss what some consider to be the tenets of eschatology and that is perfectly reasonable. There is more to the Bible than the words of Jeremiah, but I suspect that there is not much more to you as you seem to have already made up your mind concerning certain things.

The tabernacle in the wilderness.

 

The Tabernacle was a structure built by the children of Israel under the supervision of Moses, around 1450 B.C. The layout of the Tabernacle and the materials of its construction were specified in great detail to Moses by God at Mount Sinai, a few weeks after the children of Israel had left hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt (the Exodus). The Tabernacle was a portable construction, made by wise, skilful workmen and transported by one tribe (the Levites) through the 40 years in the desert wilderness and on into the land of Canaan.

The study of the tabernacle is infinitely cool, and I will not pretend that I have read about it all. I have read enough to have been convinced that something extraordinary is involved in this subject.

Indeed there are many critics out there concerning all of the book writers including Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and most especially Daniel. The fact is that prophecy is what the Bible is inherently about. Every page, and indeed every note in the Bible is prophetic.

I do not ordinarily comment about such things, but I saw your particular post, and you seemed to invite a response to you because of your arrogant demeanor.

[Jaguar1942]

I was showing him that it could have happened that way, not that it did.

You and he take it on faith that it is indeed true prophecy within the Old Testament, but all of those prophecies came true long before you were born, and you take it on faith that they have not been changed or edited.

I was not saying whether it was right or wrong, I was only pointing out that faith is what it took, it was not based on fact, because you cannot prove that it is indeed true.

You have faith that those prophecies indeed took place, that was my point, I meant nothing further by it.

[Heartlander]

It is peer-reviewed (Crick) and it is currently in college.
Again, strong or directed panspermia does affect evolution (and abiogenesis)…

[Junior]

I remember reading as a child about a fossil fish a couple of hundred million years old that showed definite signs of cancer.

[Heartlander]

Placemarker

[Radix]

You and he take it on faith that it is indeed true prophecy within the Old Testament, but all of those prophecies came true long before you were born, and you take it on faith that they have not been changed or edited.

 

I was not raised in a fundamentalist household. I became familiar with the Bible and certain of it's tenets just a bit after the 1973 war in the Middle East (read Israel.)

I see that the Israelis represent in my opinion exactly what was forecast by the prophets thousands of years ago. I have never seen any thesis, or other words which are more convincing about the nature of Israel in our world than what the Bible says. I have made it a point to learn as much as I can about the situation and the positions of both sides. The Israelis will always have my support, and I will never forget nor forego the admonition of Genesis 12:3!

Genesis 12:3
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
(Whole Chapter: Genesis 12 In context: Genesis 12:2-4)

[longshadow]

"Master of all Placemarkers" placemarker

[Jaguar1942]

That's great, I never said there was anything wrong with it.

I was just stating the fact that you took such things on faith.

Why is that such a terrible and arrogant thing to say? It's just the truth, is it not?

[Jaguar1942]

If I were a hundred million years old, I'd probably have cancer too.

LOL

[jonno]

I didn't realize that this was a "genius's only" thread.

I do appreciate your concern, however, you assume falsely that I am worried about looking foolish. I don't pretend to have the answers, I just have a few simple questions, one of which is where did everything come from? The response I have received so far is only a lot of dancing around.

Do you have an answer?