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South Korea: Darwin banned from school text books
La Stampa ^ | 6/14/12 | marco tosatti

Posted on 06/15/2012 3:06:04 AM PDT by markomalley

In the never-ending war between evolutionists and creationists, the latter have just scored big time, though not in the U.S. which is their main fighting ground, but in Asia. In South Korea, a petition has been accepted to remove certain evolutionist elements and references from high school text books. This is probably the first time in two centuries this has happened in a country with a scientific/western culture. That is, ever since evolutionist doctrine started prevailing, often for anti-religious purposes.

The campaign was headed by the Society for Textbooks Revise (STR) whose task it is to remove evolutionist “errors” froim text books, in order to “correct” students’ vision of the world. The Society’s members and experts include biology professors and high-calibre teachers. The petition did not ask for the theory to be removed in its entirety from text books, but specific examples instead; for example, the theories about the horse and the archaeopteryx as the ancestor of all birds.

STR is also campaigning for certain sections about “human evolution” and the “adaptation of chanffinches’ beaks to the habitat they are in and to their way of living”; this is a reference to one of Charles Darwin’s most famous observations during his trip, which led to the publication of his famous book On the Origin of Species. To give further impetus to its campaign the group has drawn attention to some recent discoveries. For example, that the archaeopteryx is one of the many winged dinosaurs and is therefore not necessarily the ancestor of all birds.

STR is part of the Korea Association for Creation Research (KACR), a larger group that promotes creationist science and the biblical history of human development. South Korea is a country where religious (Christian or Buddhist) faith, is experienced with a greater enthusiasm and this has an impact on the acceptance or not of evolutionist doctrines.

Naturally, the debate is still raging on in the U.S., where creationists have scored a number of victories against their adversaries. It is interesting to note the proportion of people supporting each theory. A new survey carried out by Gallup, found that 46% of Americans are creationists and believe that God directly created human beings in the current form, at some point during the last ten thousand years.

While half the nation shares this opinion, another 32% believes humans have evolved with God’s guidance. So a significant 78% of Americans claim that religion has played a key role in influencing creation or the formation of humanity. 15% of those questioned believe the evolution process took place without divine intervention.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, a survey carried out for a documentary entitled “The Era of God and Darwin” showed that a third of those surveyed did not believe in evolution. Of these individuals, 41% claimed there was not enough scientific proof to back the theory; 39% stated it was contrary to their religious faith and 17% said they did not understand it. Obviously South Korean evolutionists are deeply concerned about what has happened and are looking into strategies for recovering lost ground. The battle continues.


TOPICS: Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: southkorea
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1 posted on 06/15/2012 3:06:09 AM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

For later


2 posted on 06/15/2012 3:13:13 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
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To: markomalley

Ouch. A victory against science is never a victory.

OTOH, if this keeps up, we can count South Korea out as a major competitor in the scientific arena. The US still has supremacy in this area, but other countries are catching up, and efforts like these in the US which threaten our position unfortunately keep popping up.


3 posted on 06/15/2012 3:32:15 AM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: exDemMom

“A victory against science”???? Puhleeze.


4 posted on 06/15/2012 3:52:30 AM PDT by Past Your Eyes (What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.)
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To: exDemMom

There are many things we can prove. It’s the act of proving it that is science. And then there are those things that are impossible to ever know. Having faith in God or in evolution doesn’t have anything to do with science.


5 posted on 06/15/2012 4:02:30 AM PDT by WhoisAlanGreenspan?
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To: markomalley

We should be so lucky.


6 posted on 06/15/2012 4:17:59 AM PDT by varmintman
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To: WhoisAlanGreenspan?
Having faith in God or in evolution doesn’t have anything to do with science. Thank you
7 posted on 06/15/2012 4:32:56 AM PDT by tommix2 (,)
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To: markomalley

The theories prohibited are ones which are controversial even within evolutionary circles and have gone through many ‘adjustments.’ The wringing of hands over the loss of scientific thinking is not warranted.


8 posted on 06/15/2012 4:46:19 AM PDT by Madam Theophilus
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To: markomalley

This is probably the first time in two centuries this has happened in a country with a scientific/western culture. That is, ever since evolutionist doctrine started prevailing, often for anti-religious purposes.


I suppose i would choose religion over evolution as i believe this world was created, but by whose God was it created?

Every thing from environmentalism to globalism seems to be a religion, every club from the Moose to the Masonic lodge, and the Mormon church is not by itself where religion is practiced.

The point being that this whole world can be religious but most of us lost because that is not what Jesus was all about.


9 posted on 06/15/2012 4:49:58 AM PDT by ravenwolf
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To: exDemMom

So are you predicting South Korea’s decline as an economic and technological powerhouse because of this?

If so, you don’t know South Korea or South Koreans.

Archaeopteryx is for all intents and purposes a mythical creature. Can science create him/her in a laboratory? What day of the week did the first archaeopteryx appear? Which strands of nucleic acids were the essential elements of it’s being a unique species from it’s direct predecessor? And how can any theories about archaeopteryx ever be rigorously tested under controlled conditions? How can any scientific hypothesis about archaeopteryx be put to the test?

This is a mythological realm. It will have no effect on the making of better cell phones. Nobody at LG or Samsung talks about this stuff on an hour by hour basis. Seoul National University will not be nailing 95 theses to it’s classroom doors.

I am actually pleased with Chicken Little responses to this kind of stuff. Hysterical dogmatics are funny.


10 posted on 06/15/2012 5:16:17 AM PDT by woolley
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To: woolley; exDemMom
Nobody at LG or Samsung talks about this stuff on an hour by hour basis.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Except for the **few** experts in the field of macro-evolution, few **biologists** “talk about this stuff”!

My husband is a BIOchemist and in his entire career and education approximately 20 minutes was spent on the topic of macro-evolution and NONE of that time happen during his Ph.D. studies. Imagine that!

Also...It appears to me that the biggest bullies regarding macro-evolution are also the biggest defenders of our compulsory government owned and run socialist-entitlement and **GODLESS** K-12 school system. Gee! I wonder why that is? ( sarc)

11 posted on 06/15/2012 5:25:53 AM PDT by wintertime (Reforming a government K-12 school is like reforming an abortion mill.)
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To: markomalley
Darwinism is yesteryear's consensus science.
12 posted on 06/15/2012 6:00:30 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah, so shall it be again.")
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To: exDemMom
"A victory against science is never a victory."

The ROKs need only look across the wire to see where a strictly atheistic worldview will get you. Marxism bills itself as "scientific" as well...

13 posted on 06/15/2012 6:05:29 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: markomalley
They don't like coral reefs?
14 posted on 06/15/2012 6:13:53 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: markomalley

I can understand the desire to have ID or even creationism included in school curricula, but to have Darwin banned from books? Stoopid, dumm, and iddyotic.


15 posted on 06/15/2012 6:20:45 AM PDT by Paradox (I want Obama defeated. Period.)
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To: Paradox

The article says certain particulars were stricken from the textbooks. It does not say that Darwin or Darwinism was banned.


16 posted on 06/15/2012 8:53:53 AM PDT by woolley
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To: woolley
The article says certain particulars were stricken from the textbooks. It does not say that Darwin or Darwinism was banned.

Article? Who reads those: :)

Thanks for pointing out what I didn't bother to notice.

17 posted on 06/15/2012 12:39:53 PM PDT by Paradox (I want Obama defeated. Period.)
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To: exDemMom

Biology will get by just fine without mention of Darwin. He did not invent the idea of evolution and much of his theory is as outmoded as Lamarck’s.


18 posted on 06/15/2012 2:56:54 PM PDT by RobbyS (Christus rex.)
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To: Past Your Eyes
“A victory against science”???? Puhleeze.

Absolutely.

I cannot discount that textbook modernization is being misrepresented (for ideological purposes) as removing key elements of biology from textbooks. However, taken at its face value, this article appears to be saying that scientific concepts *are* being removed from textbooks. And that *is* a victory against science.

Kids who are not properly introduced to science don't have the background to grow up to be scientists. It's a continuing problem in the US to get more kids studying science; I can't imagine why any country would want to decrease the number of young scientists.

19 posted on 06/16/2012 5:33:37 AM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: WhoisAlanGreenspan?
There are many things we can prove. It’s the act of proving it that is science. And then there are those things that are impossible to ever know. Having faith in God or in evolution doesn’t have anything to do with science. You have faith in religion because it is something you cannot ever prove empirically.

I do not have "faith" in science, because every scientific fact I know is something I or someone else has directly observed or tested. Evolution is a biological process; the theory of evolution expresses our best understanding of the biological process.

20 posted on 06/16/2012 5:38:12 AM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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