Creation Science

Plan B is, of course, inserting Christian Creationism into the Social Studies curriculum. This is disconcerting. Many otherwise perfectly rational and intelligent people think this is a good idea. It is not. This sort of proposal is becoming more common now (this week) in editorials and other opinion outlets, with the defeat of the Wedge Strategy to water down the science standards in Florida. (This rebound effect occurs every time creationists are defeated.) So, why is this not a good idea? Social studies is a broad field of investigation that has many important goals. Like modern…

"The Wedge Strategy" refers to a document (the Wedge Document) developed by the Discovery Institute in 1998 and leaked by Tim Rhodes in 1999. It outlines a strategy to insinuate a specific subset of Christian Fundamentalism into the public education system. Although Wedge Proponents have denied this, the Wedge Strategy is still very much in use (more or less), so it is important for people interested in protecting our system of education from religious freaks to know about it. You can download a copy of it here (large PDF, 0.5 megabytes).

A good trick in child psychology is to come to a "compromise" in which the child, not knowing any better, gets what they think they wanted but it really turns out to be cod liver oil after all. Florida creationists got their cod liver oil when the Florida School Board voted, with a worrisome 4-3 count, to accept the proposed science standards that actually use the word "evolution." The word "evolution," however, is qualified as a "scientific theory." That's the compromise part. Creationists, like young children, can get certain concepts very wrong, and this is one of them. We often hear…

The fair was this weekend. I was in the vicinity of Har Mar, but only briefly, and I did not have time to stop in this weekend. But The Lorax did, and he has blogged about it here. Here are a couple of my earlier posts on this event, including last years: Twin Cities Home Schooling Creationist Science Fair Photos Some Sick Atheist Demeans Kids ... Photographic Evidence Destroyed If you are eating or driking something now, don't read this.

Two fun things to do on Sunday: 1) Listen to Atheist Talk at 9: AM on KTNF, with Minnesota Atheists. Then, when you are done with that, stop over at Har Mar Mall in Roseville Minnesota for the Twin Cities Creation Science Association Home school Science Fair. Details here. I'm not sure if I can make it, so if you go and get a photograph or two (and don't have your own blog), send them on to me and I'll put them up. I'm sure people would love to see them. Here's the photos from last year. Sort of.

Yet another group of slack jawed yokels in some backwater school district want to force their religious beliefs on children in their local school district. This time it's Nassau County. "The theory of evolution falls short here since it cannot be observed, hasn't been repeated and cannot be tested," Marjorie Ramseur told School Board members. "I applaud you for taking a stand on this issue. If you're going to teach evolution, please teach all of it." [source]

Certain Bloggers have been giving Floridians a hard time because of the opposition to teaching science in public science classrooms. Shame on those bloggers. (See here and here for examples). There are some local school districts in Florida that insist that excellent science, and not creationism or religion of any kind, be taught in public schools. The Volusia School Board supports teaching of evolution. Here i what some of the school board members say about this issue: School Board Chairwoman Judy Conte: "The home is a good place to teach religion, I think." .. don't "confuse the two…

A survey conducted by the St. Petersburg Times shows that half of the respondents want "only faith-based theories such as creationism or intelligent design" taught in public school classrooms, and only 22 percent want evolution-only life science curriculum. The Florida State Board of Education will decide next Tuesday to adopt ... or not ... new standards that would make a subtle but important change in the wording of life science standards. The change would place evolutionary biology (also known as "evolutionary theory") clearly at the center of the life science curriculum. The survey…

On Wednesday the Bay District School Board voted to sign a resolution saying it does not agree with the proposed science standards as they are currently written. The new proposed standards adjust language for life science that would move Florida schools into modern, 21st century thinking regarding the role of evolution (as central) in life science. The Bay District School Board has rejected this modernization, opting instead to allow the teaching of creationism along side evolution in public schools. This decision, if enacted, would be a violation of well established case law. If the Bay…

Paul Abramson founded and runs "creationism.org" ... a creation science web site. It is one of those sites that provides parents and students material to use in harassing their life science teachers and generally making an obnoxious nuisance of themselves. Paul is now seeking the Republican Party's nominiation for congress, with which he hopes to challenge sitting congressman Brad Ellsworth (Democrat). [source]

Michael Behe made a guest appearance in Beaver County the other day to engage in a debate on intelligent Design vs. Real Science. He got interviewed by a local reporter, who posed questions to both Behe and his antagonist. Here I provide a few excerpts for your amusement. First, you may be wondering where Beaver County is. The Beaver County Times Online, like most local newspaper, does not mention where it is. Do you know how much time we bloggers have to spend figuring out where these dumbass local stories come from? You have to use odd clues and make guesses. For instance, the…

What?! Is Florida totally full of morons, or what? The Bay District School Board will vote on Wednesday on a resolution that waters down the proposed state standards for life science education. Please go to the Channel 7 web site where this story is posted and add your comments along side some guy from New York who is the first to chime in (in favor of rational thinking). If you are from one of these states mainly known for slack-jawed yokels who prefer to marry their siblings but will take a cousin in a pinch, and are NOT one of these morons, please, it is especially important that you…

The provocative title of this post is the title of a new book, by Ken Ham (founder of the absurd Creation Museum, in the woeful state of Kentucky) . Charles ware is co-author. The book came out in November, 2007, but is receiving beefed up publicity, presumably to coincide with Darwin Month and Darwin's upcoming birthday. This is a little like publicizing a book denying that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Lincoln's Birthday (which, by the way, is the same as Darwin's Birthday). This issue has been addressed before, but since the publishers of the book have chosen to…

After the Sunday service in Westminster Chapel, where worshippers were exhorted to wage "the culture war" in the Second World World War spirit of Sir Winston Churchill, cabbie James McLean delivered his verdict on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. "Evolution is a lie, and it's being taught in schools as fact, and it's leading our kids in the wrong direction," said McLean, chatting outside the chapel. "But now people like Ken Ham are tearing evolution to pieces." This is a short piece in the Barrie Examiner updating the growing American-like trend of creationism in Britain.

Marshall Helberger writes an interesting editorial in the Timberjay, a northern Minnesota newspaper, about creationist tactics. As editor of the Timberjay's editorial pages, there are few things that have been more frustrating over the years than determining how to handle this perennial debate over evolution, prompted for the most part by a single, local proponent of creationism. While I inherently believe in the free exchange of ideas, the purpose of the editorial pages is to discuss ideas and viewpoints that can affect the world in which we live. To a large degree, the debate over…

The Texas Acadamy of Science has come out with a statement about creationism in Texas schools science classes, called "Texas Academy of Science Position Against the Inclusion of Creationism and Design Concepts in the Science Curricula in Texas Schools" You can get the PDF here. Among other things, the document states: Texas science teachers have a finite amount of class time and textbook space in which to teach the many valid and foundational scientific concepts that enable students to become knowledgeable consumers, decision makers and voters. Inclusion of creationist or intelligent design…

Whenever I've reviewed a paper for publication, I always remind myself that I don't want to be the guy who reads only the good 75% of the paper, and skips over the 25% that contains some egregious error or insane reasoning. Apparently not everyone thinks that. A paper recently published in the journal Proteomics may have been read by such individuals. It addresses endosymbiosis, and apparently contains a lot of seemingly appropriate and "correct" text (though it turns out much of this is plagiarized), but it also contains brief passages asserting the idea that the origin and role of…

... as if you didn't know... At Panda's Thumb, there is a guest post by Daniel R. Brooks, FRSC. Brooks is a professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. In June 2007 he attended an apparently secret conference organized by ID advocates and entitled the "Wistar Retrospective Symposium." This is quite an interesting read, and will make your blood boil. Read it and weep. . Or seethe. This is part of the reason that the Blogging Peer Reviewed Research people do not need to explain why intelligent design material or Discovery Institute blogs…

The Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting Administration has made a decision in what has come to be known as t"The Luskin situation: A summary, analysis and decision." I believe they made the right decision, but for the wrong reasons. I respect and admire (and participate in) their efforts, but I think they are being nice. This is no time to be nice. Here's the story. Casey Luskin is a creationist who posted a discussion of a PLoS (peer reviewed) article on the Discover Institute's web site. I don't give a rat's ass what he has to say or what the Discover Institute puts on their…

The nefarious Discovery Institute, the Creation Science think tank, is often secretive about its activities. It has not been entirely clear that they have been involved in the recent fight in Florida over the use of the word "evolution" and the teaching of mainstream, scientifically informed evolutionary biology, in public schools. Going with the interpretation of The Gradebook, the Discover Institute ... acknowledged on its Evolution News & Views blog today that it provided information to Fred Cutting, the member of the standards-writing committee who recently submitted a minority…