Intelligent Design
gregladen | December 2, 2008A new paper by Kevin Padian of UC Berkeley is just out in Comptes Rendus Biologies, a French peer reviewed journal, on American creationism.
Padian summarizes the history of creationism in the US. From the abstract:
The history of anti-evolutionism in the United States begins only in the early decades of the 20th century but has evolved considerably since then. Various versions of the movement ("equal time" for creationism, "creation science", "intelligent design") have developed over time, but they have made few positive contributions to serious discourse about science and religion. Their…
gregladen | October 15, 2008The creationist-biased Texas Board of Education has assembled a committee to 'review science curriculum standards.' This group includes a few actual scientist types, and ... pay attention folks .. Wisconsin based ID creationist Ralph Seelke, Baylor creationist chemist Charles Garner, and Stephen Meyer, vice president of the Discovery Institute. Yes, you read that right. The Texas Board of Education has appointed the President of the Discovery Institute to a committee to review the state's science standards.
un be-fucking-lievable.
There is clearly something you can do to stop this now.…
gregladen | October 10, 2008After both the state and federal courts rejected the attempts of Yoko Ono Lennon and EMI Records to enjoin the showing of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed on the ground it used a 15-second fragment of John Lennon's Imagine, all of the plaintiffs in both cases have now withdrawn their claims and dismissed their cases.
Bad for evolution, but probably good for the fair use doctrine. Here's some details.
gregladen | September 23, 2008We're talking about the Minnesota Science Standards and we're talking about nothing less than the Pope Mobile.
Consider the following statement currently part of the proposed Minnesota Science Standards:
The student will be able to explain how scientific and technological innovations as well as new evidence can challenge portions of or entire accepted theories and models including but not limited to cell theory, atomic theory, theory of evolution, plate tectonic theory, germ theory of disease and big bang theory.
Think about this for a moment. The standard is asking that the basic, minimal…
gregladen | September 12, 2008Life Science Teachers: Take special note!
This is not yet an error in the mainstream press, but there is an error afoot, currently represented in the widely read slashdot, which I imagine will propagate. The purpose of this post is to alert you to this problem and prepare you for the occasion when you run into a wackaloon creationist waving their arms around and screaming "Carbon dating does not work! It's been proven." This story also has a Global Warming Denialism component.
What I'm going to do here is give you the basic facts, then the misinterpreted text.
We start with the basic…
gregladen | September 11, 2008The Minnesota Science Standards are currently in the process of review and updating. This is what the governor of Minnesota thinks. He's wrong about the "local" thing. He is such a ball-less ass. Oh, I so wish he was in Palin's position. Maybe.
If you are in Minnesota and want to provide your feedback on the standards, and you are not Tim Pawlenty, please click here. If you ARE Tim Pawlenty, bite me.
gregladen | August 25, 2008David Campbell is a life science teacher in Florida who was recently profiled in the New York Times because of his involvement in the debate between Creationism and Evolution. This discussion is being picked up in the Blogosphere, and this is very timely, as this is the time when teachers in most US school districts are just heading back to class.
My "back to school" contribution is a repost of one of my more popular bits on the problem of the bible thumping student. This is revised and reposted from my old site. Enjoy:
.... Have you ever had this happen: You are minding your own…
gregladen | August 13, 2008This just in:
A federal judge has ruled the University of California can deny course credit to Christian high school graduates who have been taught with textbooks that reject evolution and declare the Bible infallible, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles ruled Friday that the school's review committees did not discriminate against Christians because of religious viewpoints when it denied credit to those taught with certain religious textbooks, but instead made a legitimate claim that the texts failed to teach critical thinking and omitted…
gregladen | July 12, 2008From the NCSE:
Senate Bill 733, signed by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on June 25, continues to draw criticism from scientists and political observers across the political spectrum.
In the New Scientist, Amanda Gefter reports (July 9, 2008), "The new legislation is the latest manoeuvre in a long-running war to challenge the validity of Darwinian evolution as an accepted scientific fact in American classrooms." Since the Kitzmiller v. Dover decision, where intelligent design creationism was found to be nonscience and unconstitutional to present in science classes, Gefter explains that "…
gregladen | July 12, 2008"At a contentious public meeting in Mount Vernon, Ohio, the district school board scheduled a hearing on whether to fire teacher John Freshwater. Freshwater has been accused of teaching intelligent design in his biology classes, and of using a piece of lab equipment to brand a cross on a student's arm."
.... from an NCSE press release. More:
The Columbus Dispatch reports (July 7, 2008) "The Mount Vernon eighth-grade science teacher who has been under scrutiny for focusing on creationism and intelligent design in his classes will contest his planned firing at an Aug. 26 hearing. The date…
gregladen | July 10, 2008We made this site to spread the word about our effort to combat Creationism in Louisianan Schools.
You may be aware that yesterday(June 28) Governor Jindal signed bill 733 into effect. This bill will allow Creationist material, specifically from the Discovery Institute, to be used in classrooms to 'inspire critical thinking'. It will also allow teachers and students to spread ridiculous religious ideas at will.
What's wrong with that, you might ask? ....
Check it out.
gregladen | July 4, 2008 Cletus From the National Center for Science Education:
Over the protests of leading scientific organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute of Biological Sciences, Louisiana's governor Bobby Jindal signed Senate Bill 733 into law, twenty-seven years after the state passed its Balanced Treatment for Evolution-Science and Creation-Science Act, a law overturned by the Supreme Court in 1987. News of Jindal's approval of the bill was buried in a press release issued on June 25, 2008, in which Jindal listed seventy-five bills he…
gregladen | July 3, 2008Christina Comer is suing the Texas Education agency. Here is a copy of the law suit. From the Dallas News:
AUSTIN - A former state science curriculum director filed suit against the Texas Education Agency and Education Commissioner Robert Scott on Wednesday, alleging she was illegally fired for forwarding an e-mail about a lecture that was critical of the teaching of intelligent design in science classes.
Also Online
Christina Comer, who lost her job at the TEA last year, said in a suit filed in federal court in Austin that she was terminated for contravening an unconstitutional policy…
gregladen | June 28, 2008Our local paper, the Star Tribune is re-printing a New York Times story on the Philidelphia "Year of Evolution" .... Which is just fine. But the story has a comment section and it would sure be nice to have a few more pro-evolution comments on it. Please consider contributing to it, here.
Hope you get a chance to do it and that the Strib does not make it too difficult.
gregladen | June 25, 2008
Click here for the full post by Gallup.
Far more Democrats believe in evolution than do those pesky Republicans. Interestingly, the configuration for "independents" looks just like the configuration for Democrats, not Republicans.
These results are mirrored, as usual, by the differential religiosity of these groups. God created or guided thinking is linked to going to church. and so on.
What is even more interesting is the upcoming/current issueof Skeptical Inquirer, which has a short article by ME in it, on a related issue.
John Lynch has also commented on this.
gregladen | June 24, 2008Continuing with our discussion of the Evolution 2008 conference ...
Yet another item from the first day of the conference, the pre-conference teachers day sponsored by Evolution 2008 and the Minnesota Citizens for Science Education (MnCSE) ...
The Minnesota Citizens for Science Education presented Ken Hubert with an award. I am blanking on the name of the award right now, but eventually, the MnCSE web site will probably have a page on this, or an announcement about it. (We need time for some dust to settle.)
Who is Ken Hubert?
Well, when it comes to the Evolution - Creationism 'debate…
gregladen | June 22, 2008Continuing with our discussion of the Evolution 2008 conference ... many things have been going on and I have more to report than time to report it. But I will get to all of it, I assure you. Tonight, I just want to cover part of today's Education Symposium (moderated by your's truly) ... not all of it at once, thought, as it is kind of complex.
If you happen to work for the University of Minnesota or know anyone who does, best to not read this or let anyone know about it. This is a little to heavy to be spoken of openly. (Since there are only 11 of you who read my blog, I think we'll…
gregladen | June 13, 2008 The University of Minnesota Mascot, Goldie Gopher. Biological engineers at the University of Minnesota tend to be creationists. The main professor who teaches this subject is a creationist and he teaches a creationism seminar on a regular basis. He helps run and organize a Christian student group that has a pledge of faith for members. The bio-engineers student group uses a gopher (our school symbol) standing in the Leonardo position ala the Discovery Institute.
Yes, you read that right. The symbol of the student group for biological engineering is a take-off of the Discovery…
gregladen | June 12, 2008By a vote of 94-3, Louisiana's House of Representatives today passed an academic freedom bill that would protect teachers and school districts who wish to promote critical thinking and objective discussion about evolution and other scientific topics.
There was no vocal opposition, and the floor speech by Rep. Frank Hoffman made clear that the bill was about science, not religion.
"This bill promotes good science education by protecting the academic freedom of science teachers," said Dr. John West, Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs at Discovery Institute. "Critics who claim…
gregladen | June 11, 2008This just in:
Perhaps he was inspired by the turnout for Young People Fucking, or maybe he misses all that media attention he got after taking credit for getting C-10 through the House with nary a peep over the controversial changes to the film tax rebate. Whatever the reason, Reverend Charles McVety is headed back to the capital to co-host a private screening of a very different kind of film: Expelled: The Movie, the controversial anti-Darwin documentary that purports to expose a sinister anti-creationism bias within the mainstream scientific community.
The details are HERE.