GA evolution disclaimer challenged in federal court

This sticker, placed in Cobb County, GA biology schoolbooks at the request of a group of parents,

...prompted another group of parents to file a federal lawsuit with potentially national implications.

Arguments start Monday before U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper in Atlanta in a case that could stir comparisons to the 1925 trial in Dayton, Tenn., when John Scopes was tried for teaching evolution.

The parents' lawsuit claims that the stickers "restricts the teaching of evolution, promotes and requires the teaching of creationism and Intelligent Design and discriminates against particular religions."

Here is the full article.

Eighty years after the Scopes "monkey trial," and we still can't seem to teach actual science in our science classes.

You know it is amazing to me to see how full circle we have come in this world. From the Middle Ages to the beginning of last century the Catholic Church dictated what was taught and accepted and what was not. The best example of this was the withholding of the theories of Copernicus which shattered the earth-centered view of the universe the Catholic Church held dear.

Eighty years after the Scopes "monkey trial," and we still can't seem to teach actual science in our science classes.

Now, science itself refuses to be open-minded. The fact is evolution is merely a theory, not a fact no matter how much many want it to be. Evolution is full of holes, so is creationism, so is intelligent design, so is every theory of origins. If science were truly being taught in schools they would welcome critisism, for that is where the most important scientific advancements are discovered.

[edit on 8-11-2004 by BlackJackal]

At least is still some schools that teach (evolution) my children when to school is this god forsaken place I live and they bypass evolution together, because the school did not believe in it, by the time I found out was too late, so I took upon myself to teach my children why religious fundamentalist did not allowed that topic in schools and toll them to deny ignorance everywhere they go.

The religious fundamentalist agenda is here is real and get ready to fight it or submit to it.

Any way you see it is domination or attempt to it.

marg6043,

Is evolution a fact? Of course the answer to this is no unless you have volumes of scientific data at your house that only you know of.

So since evolution is only a theory, shouldn't critical analysis of this theory be present in schools so that our children will not be ignorant?

If we teach children that any specific theory, be it gravity or evolution, is the definitive truth then we have damned them to ignorance.

Now let me ask you, is Jesus the son of God? is the bible the world of God? did eden really existed? You know unless this can be proven I remind with only one beleive that is a creator out there and that is. But religion wants to make all these into facts and they will never be able to do it, not without proof.

Now evolution is a scientific theory and it has to do with the research of one man, now his research brought more than just his believes in monkeys, and that is the part that they are taking out of our children education , I then ask you who should denied ignorace.

I grow up in a strick catholic enviroment and we covered the topic of evolution completly in middle school.

It seem to me that we have become worst with the years when it comes to educating our children, I had better education back then that my chidlren had through their years in school here in US.

Pitiful.

One day humans will learn to denied ignorace and perhaps then we will become a better race until now we are bound by the ones that think that they have the power to tell us from what to belief to what to do with our lifes.

I am glad I took on what the school and society has failed in the education of my children.

marg6043,

Why do you assume I am a bible thumper who thinks children should be indoctrinated with tales of mystical gardens, talking snakes, and ages of innocence? On the contrary doing so would only serve to neuter our childrens ability to question the real world.

I only advocate critical analysis of a theory of science. Something that science seems unwilling to do. The theory of evolution is a good starting point but the theory itself is severely flawed and deserves to be held to the same litmus tests other theories are held to. I personally think children should be taught the theories of evolution, intelligent design, Creationism and Panspermia. This is the only true way to deny ignorance.

No way, I can beat this sticker nonsense.

In Texas, school text book publishers have agreed to change the definition of marriage from "a union between two people" to "a union between a man and a woman."

Here's the catch...

the textbook companies are NOT changing the definition to books distributed outside of Texas.

Looks like we're jumping the gun on the good old constitution.

here's the CBS article covering both the Cobb country "EVOLUTION WARNING" sticker and the Texas "jump the gun" article.

Originally posted by marg6043
One day humans will learn to denied ignorace and perhaps then we will become a better race .

At present rates, I see us walking bare-knuckled first !!

At least we'de be a safe race



Misfit

The funny thing is.....everyong is up in arms about evolution in biology books yet I clearly remember evoltuion, creationism, catastrophism, uniformitarianism, and many other theories of evolution being taught in my 9th grade biology class. And I'm in Texas!

No disclaimer, no warning, I guess they didn't insult our intellignece to the point of putting a sticker on the books.

It says "theory" in the text. If we're old enough to learn evolution, we're old enough to read.

[edit on 11-8-04 by Scat]

I believe Scientific American retorts all this best:


1. Evolution is only a theory. It is not a fact or a scientific law.

Many people learned in elementary school that a theory falls in the middle of a hierarchy of certainty--above a mere hypothesis but below a law. Scientists do not use the terms that way, however. According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a scientific theory is "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses." No amount of validation changes a theory into a law, which is a descriptive generalization about nature. So when scientists talk about the theory of evolution--or the atomic theory or the theory of relativity, for that matter--they are not expressing reservations about its truth.

In addition to the theory of evolution, meaning the idea of descent with modification, one may also speak of the fact of evolution. The NAS defines a fact as "an observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and for all practical purposes is accepted as 'true.'" The fossil record and abundant other evidence testify that organisms have evolved through time. Although no one observed those transformations, the indirect evidence is clear, unambiguous and compelling.

All sciences frequently rely on indirect evidence. Physicists cannot see subatomic particles directly, for instance, so they verify their existence by watching for telltale tracks that the particles leave in cloud chambers. The absence of direct observation does not make physicists' conclusions less certain.

But evolution has been obserbed in bacteara and stuff.

We should demand that a warning sticker be placed on every bible saying: "The majority of the stories in the bible have no historical evidence to support them and should not be taken literaly. Although much of the material presented within, such as the story of Creation and Noah's Ark, may seem rediculous, please dont laugh. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered".