Kansas education board downplays evolution

MSNBC ^ | Updated: 6:49 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2005 | none listed

[RollTideRoll]

TOPEKA, Kan. - Risking the kind of nationwide ridicule it faced six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public-school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.

The 6-4 vote was a victory for “intelligent design” advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.

Critics of the new language charged that it was an attempt to inject God and creationism into public schools in violation of the separation of church and state.

[RollTideRoll]

Why are evolutionists so afraid of anything that questions their dogma? If the Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Christian, and Native American must continually consider and revisit his or her beliefs in how the world came into being, why should the same not hold true for those who believe it simply popped into existence out of the nothingness in a vacuum?

[Alexander Rubin]

Intelligent design actually applies specifically to biology, not physics. In physics, there still is no solid theory yet about the universe came into being. String theory is the closest so far, but that doesn't explain everything in its current incarnation.

Furthermore, though I believe that G-d created the world and raised man up from the animals (I believe evolution and creationism are compatible), intelligent design isn't the most well-thought out theory in existence. If this is taught, it should be with a grain of salt. Evolution has many holes, and I still think its a theory and not a scientific law, but unfortunately, it's so far the best theory out there.

[MHalblaub]

"'This is a sad day. We’re becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that,' said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat."


I'm looking forward to the day when the first shaman tell students how biology works.

[The Barbarian]

Kansas reconsidered, and decided science was more suitable than ID.

And the weasel wording was removed from the standards.

Well done, Kansas.