Science,Evolution,and Creationism January 8, 2008
Posted by makingyourdashcount in creationsim, evolution.trackback
My daughters went through their high school biology classes at a time when Ohio teachers were required to present intelligent design as part of the science curricula. At the time I winced in the same way I do when getting an inoculation at the doctor’s office. I turned away and squirmed, making sure that I voted wisely for the next state school board opening. Then we discussed the whys and wherefores over the dinner table.
I am so glad to see the National Academy of Sciences come out with the linked publication entitled Science, Evolution and Creationism. I hope that people READ it, to be better informed on this subject. Religion and Science are not in antithesis to eachother; presenting creationism in the classroom teaches children it is an all or nothing relationship, which is wrong.
Just as science or math have no place in a comparative religion class, religious concepts have no place in the science classroom.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11876.html Committee on Revising Science and Creationism:A View from the National Academy of Sciences,National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
Making your Dash Count 
I offer this.
The scientific method necessitates there first be a hypothesis, then through observation and experimentation, either the proof or the discounting of the hypothesis is derived.
Science that is “IMPERICAL” or states that all is decided, all is determined, all is fact, there is no further Hypothesis allowed…. smacks of religious zealosy.
Only a free and open mind can accept TRUTH. Scientific truth being the highest form.
We are still such infants in our understanding of life and the universe – to state with such certaintiy all of the things you BELIEVE about either evolution or intellegent design is “childish”.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”, Act 1 scene 5
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We exist on but one planet in one star system, in one galaxy in a universe that exceeds even your wildest dreams…. and we have been aware of this for only a very short wink of an eye.
Next time you “cringe” at the notions of one not beholden to your own view of the universe…. see thyself in the mirror.
OK…. I got lost somewhere……So you think religion SHOULD be taught by science teachers in biology class? Do you think that Calculus should be taught by language teachers in Spanish class, also?
ok.. i will try and make this a bit more simple for you then. (or not)
chaos theory… quantum physics….Heisenbergn Principle
your observation of the experiment is changing the outcome.
clearly adaptation of species and genetic drift are indisputiable FACTS. But to necessarily draw the conclusion from these observations, that all of life originate from a single cell and transmuted into the diversity of life seen not only in the fosslie record but right now… is a stretch. You begin with some observations, you make a hypothesis, then you make some more observations, and so far you have a working theory that is still being tested. Evolution.
BUT…..
There may be more at work in bio-genesis than meets the simpletons eye. Darwinism cannot, does not, and will not fully explain the massive biodiversity of the ages of planet earth. either now or in the past.
I have tried on a couple of occasions to introduce evolutionary biologists to their collegues in physics … and primarily quantum physics. Math is the essential language of physics and the efforts to understand the building blocks of matter, and thus biological matter as well.
You cannot … LEAP…… directly into organic molocules and cellular biology without explaining and understanding the physics of reality. When you start to break matter down, smaller and smaller… some really really strange things happen. Mathematics also extend the weirdness of the universe. Both the observation and the math of quatum pyisics and super string theory vaslty alter our perceptions of reality. Space/time and matter, energy and life are little understood by man. We are only just beginning to take our first baby steps into understanding.
Dismissal of any ideas, regigious or otherwise in origin, alternate hypothesis for explanations of life is both arrogant, and destructive.
We need to encourage our young people to THINK CRITICALLY. Not to FEAR something that is either imperical – or obviously false. The true learner studies the problem and explores every possible solution – not just the first ones, the easy ones, or the so-called “right ones”
Rather than “cringe” (ergo shrink in fear) we should challenge. Just as I am challenging you. Why allow creationism in the classroom. Well for the same reason we should also teach the theory and basis for evolution. Let the observation and experimentation for creationism stand on it’s own or fail the scientific method. Let the observer learn and draw conclusions, and retest the same hypothesis with other methods.
I am always fascinated by “evolutionist zealots” who wish to ban by decree, the false religions from the sacred halls of truth in the classroom. Hogwash.
FEAR is the mind killer, it leads to oppression of thought… so don’t think yourself so much higher and mighter than those evil inqusitioners and church elders who once banned science from the sacred halls of religion.
most of us have gotten beyond both small minds.
The word is EMPIRICAL. It means dependent on evidence and has consequences that can be observed. It is a fundamental part of the scientific method.
Religion in general, and creationism/intelligent design specifically, are faith-based, i.e., not subject to the scientific method. Anything that calls upon the supernatural for explanations does not belong in the science classroom.
The original posting was simply a lament concerning the American Talaban’s various successes in circumventing the scientific method in their insistence that the pseudoscience of intelligent design be taught along side the science of biology/evolution.
So it was truly a great day when The Nation Academy of Science published their treatise on Science, Evolution, and Creationism. Finally, a nationally-recognized authority has taken a stand against faith-based igorance. Read the entire 89-page report. It is a free download.
Finally, we can argue till the cows come home about TRUTH. The unfortunate reality, however, is this: There is no ultimate truth. In the end, truth is only what your very limited human brain is willing to accept, meaning truth is a variable in everyone’s equation of life, that each of us solves independently.
it is never a great day when one set of priests stands up and attempts to annhilate others.
underdog, you are done. It’s obvious that you haven’t really read the post.