[Vision2020] NSA's accrediting agency is not recognized in Texas

Fri Dec 21 22:00:43 PST 2007

Gary,

While it's true that scientists can be unscrupulous, fame-hungry, and/or 
greedy bastards and fudge results upon occasion, the beauty of the 
scientific method still shines through.  Experiments have to be 
repeatable for just this reason.  Anyone with the right training and the 
right equipment can repeat these experiments, and compare the results to 
those published by those unethical scientists.

As for the topic of religion vs. science, I would have to say that the 
two concepts don't have to be incompatible.  Scientists observe the 
world around us, which I imagine any God would want us to do.  They use 
their God-given brains to look for patterns and apply logical principles 
in an attempt to understand how things work.  They are, in effect, 
uncovering even more of the beauty of the world around us.  The theory 
of relativity, for example, is beautiful and elegant.  It brings praise 
to the Creator every time we come a little bit closer to understanding 
just how majestic this universe is.

Science is Man's best guess at how Creation works, and  because it's 
_Man's_ best guess, it's always going to be flawed.  But science is a 
self-correcting mechanism, and will come closer and closer to 
approximating how the universe that God (or gods) gave us actually works 
over time.  If that conflicts with any book that states that it is the 
Truth, then the book's claim should be questioned.  Perhaps the 
discrepancies will work themselves out as we learn more, or perhaps the 
book wasn't claiming to be a scientific treatise in the first place.  
Science itself will self-correct over time.

Paul

g. crabtree wrote:
> "As if good scientists made up their own data in the laboratory!"
>
> Please see:
>
> http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8515
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> www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2005/07/68153
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> www.americanthinker.com/2006/08/fake_but_accurate_science.html
>
> http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17978
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> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19814-2005Feb12.html
>
> http://sciencepoliticsclimatechange.blogspot.com/2006/08/role-of-consensus-in-science.html
>
> http://chronicle.com/subscribe/login?url=http%3A%2F%2Fchronicle.com%2Fdaily%2F2007%2F01%2F2007011002n.htm
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45611-2005Mar17.html
>
> http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/28/mit_professor_is_fired_over_fabricated_data/
>
> http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Apr-02-Sat-2005/news/26204008.html
>
> Why the very notion that data might be faked  by Scientists must be 
> preposterous.
>
> g
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> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <nickgier at adelphia.net>
> To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 3:22 PM
> Subject: [Vision2020] NSA's accrediting agency is not recognized in Texas
>
>
>   
>> Greetings:
>>
>> Ralph Nielsen sent me this and he may want to post it here, but if he does 
>> not, here is some interesting news.
>>
>> First, the Transnational Association for Christian Colleges and Schools 
>> (TRACS), New St. Andrews College's accrediting agency, was founded by 
>> creationist Henry Morris; and second, TRACS is not recognized by Texas' 
>> higher education authorities.  It is good to see that Texas has higher 
>> academic standards than Idaho.
>>
>> Here is my favorite quotation from Henry Morris: "It is better to believe 
>> in the revealed World of God than any science or philosophy devised by 
>> man."  As if good scientists made up their own data in the laboratory!
>>
>> ICR SEEKS TO GRANT DEGREES IN TEXAS
>>
>> Morris explained, "The possibility of moving to Dallas surfaced when my 
>> brother, Dr. Henry Morris III, discerned that a central location would be 
>> beneficial for ICR, with several possibilities for student services at 
>> nearby affiliated colleges.  The many good
>> churches and large numbers of ICR supporters living in North Texas made it 
>> a
>> natural fit for the ministry.  When my father [Henry Morris] was still 
>> alive he
>> approved the move to Dallas, especially as a way to strengthen the 
>> graduate school.  In 2006, ICR opened a distance education effort in 
>> Dallas,  as well as the hub of ICR's internet ministries. ... As 
>> additional operational functions were assigned to the new Dallas office, 
>> the Board concluded that it was in ICR's best interests to move the entire 
>> ministry."
>>
>> The ICR's graduate school was previously accredited by the Transnational
>> Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a group founded by 
>> Henry Morris; Henry Morris III presently serves on its commission.   Texas 
>> does not recognize accreditation by TRACS, forcing the ICR to seek 
>> temporary state certification while it applies for accreditation from the 
>> Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).  As a first step 
>> toward certification, a committee of Texas educators visited the ICR's 
>> facilities in Dallas to evaluate whether the ICR meets the legal 
>> requirements for state certification.  The report described the
>> educational program as "plausible," adding, "The proposed degree would be
>> generally comparable to an initial master's degree in science education 
>> from
>> one of the smaller, regional universities in the state."
>>
>> NCSE's Eugenie C. Scott disagreed, telling the Dallas Morning News,
>> "It sounds like the committee may have just taken at face value what
>> the ICR claims ... There's a huge gulf between what the ICR is doing and 
>> what
>> they're doing at legitimate institutions like ... [the University
>> of Texas] or Baylor."  (The committee members were a librarian, an 
>> educational
>> administrator, and a mathematician; none was professionally trained in
>> biology, geology, or physics.)  Inside Higher Ed reported (December
>> 17, 2007), "Some science groups are aghast by the idea that Texas would
>> authorize master's degrees in science education that are based on complete
>> opposition to evolution and literal acceptance of the Bible.  And these
>> groups are particularly concerned because the students in these programs
>> would be people who are or want to be school teachers."
>>
>> Although Patricia Nason, chair of the ICR's science education
>> department, told the Dallas Morning News, "Our students are given both 
>> sides.
>> They need to know both sides, and they can draw their own conclusion,"
>> the ICR's statement of faith includes the tenet, "All things in the 
>> universe
>> were created and made by God in the six literal days of the creation week
>> described in Genesis 1:1-2:3, and confirmed in Exodus 20:8-11.  The 
>> creation record is factual, historical and perspicuous; thus all theories 
>> of origins or development which involve evolution in any form are false." 
>> Similarly, applicants to the ICR's graduate school are explicitly told 
>> that their answers to the essay questions on the application help to 
>> determine "your dedication to the Lord, the Word, and teaching
>> creation science."
>>
>> . . .
>>
>> Nick Gier
>>
>>
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