If public schools are Separation of Religion and State then why evolution in ps

[fezzyfestoon]

What?

When I say "You just said it, it's a theory!" I was referring to a previous blogger before the missing link-bloggers came between while I was typing!

Yeah, that was more of a general "what" than specifically about that one line.

And we're not "bloggers".

[Associate Justice PiT]

I agree.

Clearly, we can't teach anything. Everything is a theory.

     Gravity is a theory. People who teach that gravity exists are clearly forcing their religion of atheism on children.

[Vepres]

I agree.

Clearly, we can't teach anything. Everything is a theory.

     Gravity is a theory. People who teach that gravity exists are clearly forcing their religion of atheism on children.

Yes, gravity goes against my sect of Christianity

[The Mikado]

To educate them, silly. E-D-U-C-A-T-E. I understand that the term may be new to you, but...

Evolution is  NOT education, it's indoctrination.

I'll take it that YOU probably came from an Ape!

Of course we're not descended from apes, that's silly.

We and apes share common ancestors, of course.

[JSojourner]

Your use of the word "theory" as a pejorative shows a marked lack of scientific understanding that is typical of rabid social conservatives like yourself.

Thank you, Idealist.  Well said.

[Smash255]

I have a better idea lets just not teach Science in school, lets pretend it doesn't exist....

[fezzyfestoon]

I have a better idea lets just not teach Science in school, lets pretend it doesn't exist....

Why not just skip school and make church attendance mandatory?

[Badger]

If the reason is they removed prayer from public schools and religious symbols in the name of Separation of Religion and State, then why are we being taught evolution in school which most of this population doesn't believe in?

Public Schools might belong to the government but it's the people's tax money.

Why should government set up a belief system?

I mean, I thought IT WAS Separation of Religion and State and not suppose to infringe on people's beliefs. 

WHAT A BUNCH OF MARXIST HYPOCRITES!

Just ask yourself why the public schools don't teach the world is flat despite the beliefs of some ultra-fundamentalists it is and you've answered your own question. Opposition to evolution may have more political support than the flat earth theory, but both have almost identical scientific support.

[Coburn In 2012]

If the reason is they removed prayer from public schools and religious symbols in the name of Separation of Religion and State, then why are we being taught evolution in school which most of this population doesn't believe in?

Public Schools might belong to the government but it's the people's tax money.

Why should government set up a belief system?

I mean, I thought IT WAS Separation of Religion and State and not suppose to infringe on people's beliefs. 

WHAT A BUNCH OF MARXIST HYPOCRITES!

Very well said brother.  Keep up the good work.

[HAnnA MArin County]

You just said it, it's a theory!

If evolution is a fact, then where did these evidences come from? NOTHING?

So we don't have to abide by what they believe in, but they have to put what they call evolution. I assume you people never seen the BIG BANG, either!

So, can we also put creationism alongside evolution, aswell, but don't have to abide by it if we don't want to?

And you can't prove humans came from monkeys, no matter how much you try!

To all the social conservatives/Religious Right Bible thumping fascist bigots on here supporting creationism being taught alongside evolution, let me ask you a question: is it only okay to you all to support Judeo-Christian creationism, i.e. that God created humans and everything else, or should we also teach that Buddha, Allah, Satan, other gods, etc. created everything? Religion is subjective and deals with feelings and emotions and opinions; science deals with the objective and concerns facts and laws and etc. It's not appropriate for public schools which are funded by the government to indoctrinate children with dogmatic principles such as the notion that God/Buddha/Allah/Satan/some supernatural being created everything and everything is as it is.

We were taught in my ninth grade biology class that evolution DOES occur. Simply put, evolution is the change of something over time, and evolution occurs in every species on the planet, including humans. Take for instance the appendix. It used to serve a vital bodily function during the days of the Neanderthals but nowadays the organ serves basically no purpose (although I did read an article the other day that shows that the appendix is still a good organ to have - makes me glad I still have mine!): that's evolution. In our biology class, we were assigned a position paper and we could select one of the three options regarding our views on the subject: evolution, creationism, or the modern view. I chose the modern view, which holds that evolution occurs in every species on the planet but that some supernatural being created humans in his (or her) own image (this strikes the conservative's argument against evolution because it doesn't suggest that we believe that humans came from monkeys). I never really understand why these Bible thumpers get so offended when people suggest such a theory. We all like bananas, right? that being said, NO I DON'T BELIEVE HUMANS EVOLVED FROM CHIMPS!

If any public school allows the teaching of creationism, it's clearly a violation of the Constitution (the establishment clause) because the government is imposing/establishing THEIR religion on others. Evolution is a fact; natural selection is a theory. These are things that should be taught in science curricula because they deal with the concrete/objective/tangible (things that can be seen or touched/perceived by the senses). Keep the teachings about God and Allah and Buddha in your churches and temples and mosques and other places of worship. My high school science teacher did not ever once mention creationism during the course of our lesson on evolution, and it didn't offend anyone, and keep in mind I live in Southeast Missouri in the Bible Belt, too.

[HAnnA MArin County]

I have a better idea lets just not teach Science in school, lets pretend it doesn't exist....

Why not just skip school and make church attendance mandatory?

Can you say, theocracy?

[fezzyfestoon]

I have a better idea lets just not teach Science in school, lets pretend it doesn't exist....

Why not just skip school and make church attendance mandatory?

Can you say, theocracy?

You know, it's been said time and again that there needs to be a sarcasm font, but I assumed this one would be pretty clear.

[Citizen James]

And people wonder why we fall behind the rest of the world in science education.

Theories are testable.  We can test evolution both directly on a micro level and indirectly on a macro level.

Experiment:

Grow some bacteria in a petri dish.  Expose it to a measured amount of antibiotics.  Measure what portion survives.  Allow the surviving culture to spread to the same level previously.  Expose to the same amount of antibiotics again.  Measure again.

Hypothisis: the surviving culture  of the second generation should be greater than the first, as bacteria which happened to be antibiotic resistant survived the first dose and went on to propagate more bacteria which shares that trait.  Further iterations should yield more and more antibiotic resistant bacteria.

It's been tested countless times successfully.  It's why doctors have to be careful in prescribing antibiotics, and why some diseases are highly resistant if not immune to older antibiotics.

Can you formulate a test for creationism, much less get results which support your position?

"intelligent" (flying spaghetti monster) design is merely a variation of the old brain in a vat thought experiment.  If you want to be stubborn, you can insist that we all live in the matrix and there is no way to prove otherwise.  It's an odd thought, but it's not science.

The Talmud says that next to every blade of grass there is an angel urging "grow, grow".  I like the idea - it's kinda romantic.  But it isn't science.  And in no way does it effect the actual testable theories of photosynthesis which actually govern the development of plant life.

[Holmes]

You just said it, it's a theory!

If evolution is a fact, then where did these evidences come from? NOTHING?

So we don't have to abide by what they believe in, but they have to put what they call evolution. I assume you people never seen the BIG BANG, either!

So, can we also put creationism alongside evolution, aswell, but don't have to abide by it if we don't want to?

And you can't prove humans came from monkeys, no matter how much you try!

The definition of 'theory' in the scientific context, which evolution is in, is:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

In other words, it is something that explains why things happen the way they do that we know to a high degree of certainty (because really you can only "prove" in the strictest sense things through mathematics)

You want evidence. Hmmm... How about that we share 99% of our DNA with Chimps. What are the odds that would've happened if we didn't share a common ancestor. And, no, we aren't descended from apes and monkeys, we share a common ancestor with them.

Now, more evidence.

Vestigial structures: Why do, for example, whales have a pelvis bone and the remnants of leg bones that is utterly useless? Well, the only logical explanation is that they share an common ancestry with land mammals, so the legs slowly disappeared, but haven't entirely. If a superior being designed whales, why would he include these structures that have NO function whatsoever.

Fossils: We can track the gradual change from one species to another over time. Fossils found that are identified from a certain time period (very accurate) are compared and you see a clear transition. How is it that dogs became a separate sub-species of gray wolf through human influence but evolution isn't true?

Finally, why is it that organisms on different sides of the planet, but on otherwise nearly identical environments are significantly different? Why don't we see Arizona cacti in the African desert? An intelligent creator wouldn't make them different, after all, once you have one animal suited to an environment, why create a totally different one?  

Back to genetics, it is not only that we share many of our genes with apes, but that "junk DNA" (DNA that has no function, about 90% of all our nucleotides) is very similar. Broken genes, like our and Ape's broken vitamin C gene which creates a protein that makes vitamin C (luckily, these species' diets have high vitamin C) are broken in the same way. There is no conceivable way that that could happen unless we have a common ancestor.

You're using a computer. Prove to me with 100% certainty that what you are using is in fact a computer. How about this, prove to me with a 100% certainty that if you threw a pencil in the air that it would fall to the ground. The answer is you can't. You can only prove things in mathematics.

I have a quote for you:

"I would love to have the faith to believe that it [the Earth's creation] took place in 7 days, but... I have thoughts, and that can really f*** up the faith thing.

And then, there are fossils. Whenever somebody tries to tell me that it took place in 7 days, I reach for a fossil and go, 'fossil.'" - Lewis Black