[Vision2020] NYTimes: On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray

[Joe Campbell]

In my philosophy of science class we discussed the evolution theory/creation
theory debate, even bringing in a biologist to say a few things. The current
model of creation theory is called "intelligent design" and is really just a
revamped version of the design argument (or teleological argument). I'm
actually of the opinion the broad issue should be discussed in high school,
but in a philosophy class not a science class. But I've talked with some
science students, who are studying to be teachers, and they thought that it
was best to spend at least one day discussing the theory of intelligent
design in the classroom. A nice but rather long read (suggested to me by Pat
Carter of WSU Biology) is Judge Jones' decision in the Dover trial,
available here:

www.pamd.uscourts.gov/kitzmiller/kitzmiller_342.pdf

Jones does a nice job of showing how clear it is that the theory of
intelligent design is just religion in disguise, and how much the Dover
school district did to distort this truth and deceive the folks in the
school district into thinking otherwise.

One common fallacy used by creationists is the fallacy of false dilemma,
that there are only two options: evolution theory, which is atheistic, and
creation theory. It is also worth noting that the claim that God exists and
created the world is not at all inconsistent with the theory of evolution.
Of course, the claim that God created man and all the animals AT THE SAME
TIME is inconsistent with evolution theory. But the fossil record is pretty
clear on the implausibility of this claim.

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 1:09 AM, Sue Hovey <suehovey at moscow.com> wrote:

> I am not at all sure of the outcome,  but it would be interesting if
> someone surveyed the biology teachers locally and in the surrounding area.
>  I remember being told point blank by a local biology teacher that she just
> didn't get into it.  That was a number of years ago, but I wonder if that's
> still the case.
>
> Sue H.
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Joe Campbell
> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 3:26 PM
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] NYTimes: On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray
>
>
>  From The New York Times:
>>
>
> On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray
>
> Researchers found that 28 percent of biology teachers consistently followed
> the National Research Council recommendations to describe the evidence for
> evolution.
>
> http://nyti.ms/dHl9RS
>
> Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting
> http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes
>
>
>
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