And just to be clear, the first paragraph from Tom Burka’s Opinions You Should Have is a sad but true fact. The rest of the post is satire, as I hope most people would realize. I wish that the whole thing were satire.

I agree totally.

By the way, are you suggesting that you don’t believe that cargo is created by spirits across the great oceans and that it’s not gifts meant for the Melanasians?

Not to politicize your blog, but it’s become obvious that with some people facts are an irrelevant after-thought and that believing something makes it so…

tsb

Having multiple points of view is important.

Having multiple points of view is very important. One of the reasons I’m very envious of my daughter (she’s 4) is that she sees everything from such an innocent angle…I wish I could get back to that!

By the way, thanks for the great tip this morning on clearing out the desktop!!

Are you still having NewsGator Outlook Edition 2.5 issues? I’m getting entries from months ago on mine…

tsb

Certainly much different than “…combine science classes with folklore and mythology instead of having them in separate buildings.” Don’t you think?

The implication being that this “science” stuff is just one side, and that Creationism (let’s call it by its true name) should be on an equal footing with science. It’s a rejection of about 500 years of human endeavor.

As long as we’re teaching “both sides,” why not allow the Flat Earth Society into the debate. And phrenologists. And spoon-benders.

There are controversies in science, but putting the known facts about evolution on an equal par with the creation legend is, to put it bluntly, bullshit.

Bush’s quote seems innocuous enough. However, Ed’s point really (if sarcastically) was about the difference between evolution/orgin of species (the two are not the same, if they are often equated) and creationism. Evolution and the Darwinian origin of life are based on the application of the scientific method. Intelligent design attempts to explain the same evidence with theology: that is NOT science. Perhaps that should both be taught. They should not, however, be taught as science; only one is.

Anyways, personally I live in Kansas, the state that every time a school district has to buy new sciences text books, the Bible thumpers come out of the woodwork to inflict Judaeo/Cristian creationist views on others.

The point I was coming from was from the MSNBC article, and the quote they had they seemed to have a very different bent than the one Ed portrayed… At least to me…

Second, the last time I checked, evolution is still a theory. Even Hawking has had to change his black-hole theory. Some theories are stronger than others. However, in every theory there is room for doubt.

Third, reasonable people can cogently discuss both points of view since both have elements of truth (depending on how one defines “the truth”).

Last, the voters of this country get the politicians they deserve. Many people complain but when you ask them what they did to try and change the outcome…silence.

Science and theology are not mutually exclusive folks. Take a look at Pascal’s Wager.

As for “evolution is just a theory,” that’s nonsense. Evolution consists of both facts and theories. The scientific community overwhelmingly accepts the broad outlines of evolution as a fact. Various mechanisms of evolution are still being debated, and there are various theories about those mechanisms that are being tested using accepted principles of scientific observation. But that’s a far cry from saying “evolution is just a theory.”

In fact, the “just a theory” argument is one that religious zealots use as a code word for discrediting all scientific observation. Anyone who falls for it either neeeds to go back to school and learn about the scientific method or acknowledge that they’re using an intellectually dishonest argument.

You’ll find some good reading here.