Permian Extinction: The Origin of Specious Geological Events

Good questions and response. I was going to respond very similarly as the oldman, but he beat me to it. Your points 1, 3, and 4 are valid concerns, but as has been pointed out, they are universally addressed in college level courses, and often in high school.

The thing is, though, that creationists have much different “concerns” with evolution. If this is all they were, we’d not have any issue at all with discussion or conversation on the matter. I’m somewhat surprised none of them attempted to flay you for your reasoned concerns.

They weren’t wild enough.

Your post has a tinge of conspiratorial paranoiac thinking that alarms me. Biologists (the vast majority, anyways) think evolutionary theory is valid and important. Of course they want it taught. What else are they supposed to do? It's not that they couldn't imagine alternatives, it's that the alternatives creationists propose are wrong (or improper to teach in science classes). This is what I mean by high schools not being an appropriate place for a scientific debate -- scientific literature changes first, and then high school curriculum (gradually) follows. So if creationists wish to 'challenge' evolution, they need to do it in Nature and not on the Kansas Board of Education.

You are correct that the teaching of subjects like the Cambrian Explosion does not reflect any serious challenge to the 'tenets of evolution'. This is because virtually no reputable biologists believes that these subjects pose a serious challenge to evolutionary tenets. Debates are covered from the perspective of the scientific community, as is proper in science classes. A good example is Gould and Eldridge's punctuated equilibrium hypothesis. Note that this followed the correct pattern for scientific ideas: data (Burgess Shale etc) ---> articles in scientific literature ---> tumult, debate, bitchy academic backstabbing --> more data, less heated debate and analysis ---> respectability ---> inclusion in school textbooks.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.