Posted on 09/07/2004 12:47:31 PM PDT by PatrickHenry
Serbian Education Minister Ljiljana Colic has ordered schools to stop teaching children the theory of evolution for this year, and to resume teaching it in future only if it shares equal billing with creationism.
The move has shocked educators and textbook editors in the formerly communist state, where religion was kept out of education and politics and was only recently allowed to enter the classroom.
“(Darwinism) is a theory as dogmatic as the one which says God created the first man,” Colic told the daily Glas Javnosti.
Colic, an Orthdox Christian, ordered that evolution theory be dropped from this year’s biology course for 14- and 15-year-olds in the final grade of primary school. As of next year, both creationism and evolution will be taught, she said.
Creationism teaches that a supernatural being created man and the universe. Most scientists regard “creation science” as religious dogma, not empirical science.
[Snip here, because I don't know if we can reproduce all of this material.]
Belgrade University biology lecturer Nikola Tucic called the education minister’s ruling a “disaster.”
“This is outrageous ... We are slowly turning into a theocratic state and in the 21st century we are going back to the Book of Revelations,” Tucic told Glas Javnosti, referring to the final section of the Christian Bible.
[Another snip here.]
Lecturer Tucic suspected Colic’s order was a move by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to bolster his conservative party’s flagging political strength by winning church support.
“This was a political decision which clearly shows the church is not minding its own business, but is deep into politics,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
"going back to the Book of Revelations"
... ah, that would be Genesis.
Yay! At least we won't have to worry about Serbia catching up to us in biotech any time soon.
I read the headline... and I thought that they discovered something in Serbia that disproved evolution.
I like the theory of evolution myself, but even I know it has some flaws when applied to complex species such as our own. At the lower levels, it makes a lot of sense, but when applied to our genetic ancestors... there had to be a breaking point where hominid intelligence stopped being operative and expanded to include intuition, logic, and reason.
Hmm...
Glad to see you made it. I had no electricity for 26 hours. My boss had three trees fall on his house. One was large enough to crush his garage.
No, Kansas is against open discussion and debate. The state will tell you what to think on this subject.
Personally, I see more evidence for devolution than evolution.
>"going back to the Book of Revelations"
>... ah, that would be Genesis.
Ah, Genesis is, and I quote, "the final section of the Christian Bible?"
I hardly think allowing debate and critical analysis turns them into a theocracy.
Serbia is becoming more Islamic in its biological theories.
No problems here. Didn't even lose electricity. Lotta bad weather, of course. Ivan may arrive for the weekend, however. We shall see.
If Christians would just decide that the Bible wasn't a science textbook, and that God has the power to create evolution, then there's no problem. Kid goes to college, see's evolution evidence, and says "Cool, look what God did".
Christians are shooting themselves in the foot on this issue.
They're mandating/prohibiting far more than simply "allowing" debate...
By Genesis, I mean that the Creation timeline is in Genesis, not Revelations.
Some are. Most denominations aren't involved in this "creation science" stuff.
Most mammal and bird species "include intuition, logic, and reason" in greater or lesser amounts. The differences between human intelligence and animal intelligence is primarily in degree, not kind.
If there was some sort of "breaking point" in the rise of analytical intelligence, it was several hundred million years ago in reptilian precursors, not as recently as our hominid ancestors.
Good point. While researching creationist claims, I've run across a lot of Islamic creationist materials.
It doesn't sound like they are prohibiting anything other than dogmatism. What's everyone so scared of?
Perhaps if you picked up a book or two on intelligent design you would discover that Christians are not shooting themselves in the foot at all.
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