Ok lets make creationisim allowed in schools.

[doggie]

Indiana legislators are moving forward on a bill that would allow creationism to be taught alongside other theories in the state's public school system.

The Senate Education Committee voted 8-2 Wednesday to present the bill to the full Senate, the Associated Press reports.

Creationism, a theory with origins in the Bible's Book of Genesis, suggests that divine power created man, animal, and all earthly matters. The idea is an opposing view to the science-based theory of evolution.

If the bill passes, Indiana school districts will have the option to include creationism as part of science courses, Indianapolis' WXIN reports.

The bill was sponsored by Republican Sen. Dennis Kruse, head of the Indiana State Senate's Education Committee.

Kruse previously proposed similar legislation in 2000 when he served as a state representative. That bill never made it past a committee vote, according to the Journal Gazette.

Indiana isn't the only state to examine the possibility of adding creationism to school curriculum.

Oklahoma, New Hampshire and Missouri have all looked at similar bills designed to encourage a critical look at evolution theory, the Wall Street Journal observes.

About 60 percent of high school biology teachers teach evolution in the classroom without taking a direct stance on the issue LiveScience reports.

The article states:

Based on respondents' write-in answers, the researchers surmised that many of these cautious teachers toed the line, weakly teaching evolution without explicitly endorsing or denying creationism in order to avoid controversy and questions from both students and parents.

Only 13 percent of the teachers surveyed in the nationwide study published in the journal Science said they support creationism and teach it "in a positive light."

Indiana Sen. Scott Schneider said he voted in favor of SB 89 because students should be taught various theories on the origin of life, according to the Northwest Indiana and Illinois Times.

[The Archivist]

Teachers could use creationism as an object lesson in critical thinking, and as a demonstration to students that most of the people they will encounter in their adult lives are irrational morons.

[DCmilly]

When they say creationism, I'm guessing they mean christian theories of creation...not the islamic, hindu, buddhist, shinto, animist, zoroastrian,etc. versions. These theocracy pushing idiots are so transparent.

[JesusFightClub]

That article is absolutely bollocks for a start. How is the theory of evolution "in opposition" to the idea of a divine power creating anything? Evolution is about how species develop and diversify, not what started it all off.

Articles like this make the unwary feel they have to pick a side..."ooh, I believe in a divine power, and it says here evolutionists don't! I must be a creationist!"

[CanadianHippie]

Keep your science out of my bible lessons...erm... I mean your bible out of my science.

[sage]

I am flabbergasted at my state. The shite legislation they are attempting to introduce already this year makes my blood boil!

We have the aforementioned "creation science" bill (SB0089); http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/201 ... 089.1.html

and to make us all look just that more backwards, we also have Proposed Senate Bill 251; http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/201 ... 251.1.html - prayer in school.

What in the world is wrong with this state that they are somehow unable to use freaking Google and save us taxpayers time and money? I cannot believe that SB0089 passed committee 8-2! :roll:

SCOTUS rulings:

McCollum v. Board of Education Dist. 71, 333 U.S. 203 (1948)

Engel v. Vitale, 82 S. Ct. 1261 (1962)

Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)

Epperson v. Arkansas, 89 S. Ct. 266 (1968)

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 91 S. Ct. 2105 (1971)

Edwards v. Aquillard, 107 S. Ct. 2573 (1987) (this is the big one that the morons here need to pay attention to)

I am so saddened to see the US electing individuals that want to drag us (most of us kicking and screaming) back to the dark ages. :evil:

[Lainey]

Don't forget Kitzmiller vs. Dover.

Hasn't this been established time and time again as illegal?

[sage]

Don't forget Kitzmiller vs. Dover.

Hasn't this been established time and time again as illegal?

Indeed it has, and the Lord's Prayer in school fails the Lemon Test from the word go.

[teddybear]

Indiana has a long history of being on the wrong side of history. Look how powerful the Klan was back in the 1920's. When I lived there in the late 1970's, I had friends who remembered the Klan marching through the little town where I lived.

[sage]

Indiana has a long history of being on the wrong side of history. Look how powerful the Klan was back in the 1920's. When I lived there in the late 1970's, I had friends who remembered the Klan marching through the little town where I lived.

DH's maternal side is just south of Tipton; I have to admit that after years of the rat race in a large coastal state, IN seemed ideal to settle down and raise a family, now I find myself stunned over the thought that places like northern Alabama are more liberal. :?

[demgirl]

The motivation for passing laws that have previously been deemed unconstitutional is to present "test cases". It's a good way to check in with Justice Kennedy and make sure he hasn't abdicated to the dark side, which would allow these legislators to push through whatever they wanted. I don't know why they do this, as Kennedy hasn't indicated any major change in his views for two decades, but that's the goal. As a bonus, if the court loses one of the liberal members and a Republican wins in 2012, then this issue might not get to SCOTUS until the Republican has replaced the old liberal justice with a new conservative. They're just testing the waters. If it were me, I'd wait until the court composition changed, since it costs the states millions of dollars to pursue one of these cases up to SCOTUS, but the conservative Republicans never seem to think of that.

It's also a good way to go home to the wing nut constituents and say, "I voted for prayer in school, we passed it. But the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT said we couldn't do it. Small government FTW!"

[Swamptribe]

Also, this is an election year for many, and they are pandering to the conservative voters. There was such a HUGE backlash after Obama was elected. The absolute panic so many exhibited that the evil 'liberals' were going to take over. We are still feeling the effects of that nonsense.

[emmiedahl]

I am surprised creationism is not already in their schools. It's in Central Washington schools and we are pretty moderate. They don't go into immense detail, but they "balance" any discussion of evolution with "some people believe that a God made the world in a much smaller amount of time" or similar.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

Indiana has a long history of being on the wrong side of history. Look how powerful the Klan was back in the 1920's. When I lived there in the late 1970's, I had friends who remembered the Klan marching through the little town where I lived.

They were still marching in Elwood as late as the 90's, and still may be for all I know.

Indiana sucks. This shit is unconstitutional, and heaven knows we have a plethora of problems that need addressed. I get so angry thinking of the time and resources put into these bills. We're already helping to lead the attack on women's health/PP, they're about to pass the Right to Work bill and fuck over union employees, so why not go ahead dumb down our kids as well? I may have attended a small rural IN school, but I'll bet every last penny that any and all of my science teachers would refuse to teach religious myths alongside real science.

Indiana: the Mississippi of the North.

[Childless]

If I were a teacher in the Indiana school system and this moronic bill was passed, I'd teach an animist version of the creation story. Or the Hindu version or the Buddhist version or the Islamic version. Any version but the Christian version. The legislature cannot insist that it is the Christian version that is taught because the government cannot endorse a particular religion. I'd pick the creation story of any other religion just to tick people off (because you know the point of the bill is to push the Christian religion in schools). And there would be nothing they could do about it short of banning the teaching of creation again.

[Anxious Girl]

When it comes to educating/teaching in public schools in science, I think the government should enforece the rules of the seperation of church and state even more. I can understand having holiday breaks, but teaching creationism as an alternative to science? What college will accept that for a knowlege in science?

[slh12280]

That article is absolutely bollocks for a start. How is the theory of evolution "in opposition" to the idea of a divine power creating anything? Evolution is about how species develop and diversify, not what started it all off.

Articles like this make the unwary feel they have to pick a side..."ooh, I believe in a divine power, and it says here evolutionists don't! I must be a creationist!"

This!! I am driven absolutely nuts by the "science and religion are opposites, so pick one" mentality. Can I be a Christian and believe in science?

I think that schools should have the choice about whether they want to teach this. I remember people having a fit about me going to public school cause I would learn about evolution, well I don't really remember it if I did and I am woefully uneducated in the subject.

[doggie]

teach the evolution version of creationism :lol:

These same people would fight tooth and nail if any other brand of religion was taught in school though. If Obama does not win we will see a huge spike in this crap.

[dairyfreelife]

I'm a total mythology buff, so if I were a teacher and had to teach "Creationism" I would teach all of them, every myth I could. I'd make the argument too that if we have one religious idea, we need all of them taught, every myth of how people came into being. It's only fair. Wonder what the Creationists would think if I started to speak about the Aboriginal dream world, yin and yang, Remulus and Romulus, Gaia, the various myths of Native Americans, Greek and Roman God myths of how the world came into being, etc. Well...they didn't say I had to teach the Bible and I can't do that. It wouldn't be legal in a country with freedom of religion and separation of church and state.

I'm not big on suing, but such things became law, I'd consider it. I wouldn't want my children taught about religion except in a philosophy or world religions course. They can read the Bible at home or church. In school they need to learn science theories such as Newton's laws and making baking soda and vinegar bottle rockets (we did that in science class in high school. It was awesome). Leave the theories of life origins out because no one knows the exact origin of life or how it came into existence and it's not the science teacher's job to decide for us.

[kamcho_papio]

I teach anthropology, so several of my courses include a section on evolution--general and human. I've been teaching since 2005, but alas, only in the US south and west. I've been making it a point to integrate different versions of creation (usually Hindu, Zulu, and Navajo, and occasionally Huron, mostly because those are aesthetically my favorite), and that goes over okay-ish. Often what happens is "wait, the creator was a woman/people grew out of grass/people came out of a banidcoot's armpit? What's a bandicoot? Weird." :roll: or some variation thereof. There is usually a fringe element on either side--a few students will say their creation story is the Big Bang, others are occasionally YECs. Many students believe (I wonder if there is a problem with even using the word 'believe' in these lessons) somewhere in the middle.

I really try to sell the evidence and not the rhetoric, and present issues like mysteries to solve. I have also gone back and forth between saying, "your personal beliefs don't affect your grade one way or the other" and saying nothing at all. I warn them all on the first day that human origins is a big deal in the semester. It doesn't matter as far as outcomes. The students who don't/won't believe in it won't change their mind, although many do manage to pass the unit tests. I've never had a student intentionally fail out of principle. :twisted: