1. pharyngula
  2. You cannot petition the Lord with prayer! But you can petition the British government

You cannot petition the Lord with prayer! But you can petition the British government

By pharyngula on August 18, 2011.

It's a very sensible petition, too, asking the UK government to treat creationism appropriately.

Creationism and 'intelligent design' are not scientific theories, but they are portrayed as scientific theories by some religious fundamentalists who attempt to have their views promoted in publicly-funded schools. At the same time, an understanding of evolution is central to understanding all aspects of biology. Currently, the study of evolution does not feature explicitly in the National Curriculum until year 10 (ages 14-15). Free Schools and Academies are not obliged to teach the National Curriculum and so are under no obligation to teach about evolution at all. We petition the Government to make clear that creationism and 'intelligent design' are not scientific theories and to prevent them from being taught as such in publicly-funded schools, including in 'faith' schools, religious Academies and religious Free Schools. At the same time, we want the Government to make the teaching of evolution in mandatory in all publicly-funded schools, at both primary and secondary level.

Yeah, I can get behind that.

(Also on FtB)

Tags
creationism

More like this

Fighting back against creationism
Creationism is not quite as pervasive a problem in the UK as it is in the US, but it's still rising…so it's good to see that British scientists are being aggressive in confronting bad educational policies. A number of prominent scientists, including Richard Dawkins and David Attenborough, have…
Needs more Swedes
Tsk, tsk, Canada. I know you caught this disease from your southern neighbor, but still… this is a sorry state of affairs. The Alberta government has been quietly increasing funding to faith schools -- to 100 per cent in the case of "alternative" programs -- and allowing creationism to be taught…
Teaching about ID versus teaching ID
The Disco Institute's Rob Crowther is confused. Because the NCSE announced and linked to an ID statement by the National Council for the Social Studies, Crowther seems to think the NCSE has changed its own position. This really rests on two confusions (two of Crowther's many confusions). First,…
Creationism in the UK Schools
The UK really doesn't deserve this: first, they're dragged into Iraq, and now, they're being invaded by creationists. Even though the Department for Education and Skills has called creationism "not appropriate to support the science curriculum", many science teachers may be using Discovery…