Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

Approach to teaching evolution in Louisiana prompts scrutiny of science textbook
(By Karina Vailes • The Alexandria Town Talk • July 28, 2010)

Classrooms across the state could be getting new science textbooks that include new ways to teach evolution, and the Louisiana Department of Education is encouraging public comment.

The proposed science textbooks -- which have sparked debate in many districts -- are part of the regular textbook adoption cycle that occurs every seven years in Louisiana.

Locally, the textbooks are not readily available for public review, but can be ordered through the Rapides Parish Library, said Steve Rogge, library director.

"I know we used to do that, but they were sending us thousands of books every year, literally, and nobody ever looked at them," Rogge explained. "It was just taking a lot of space, and we felt like space is of such premium that we need it for something else that people were actually using.

"There were one or two people a year, if that, that would ever look at any of this."

The new science textbook follows the Louisiana Science Education Act, approved in 2008, aimed at allowing teachers to use supplementary academic material in addition to state-approved textbooks on subjects like evolution, global warming and human cloning.

Opponents of the law, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are skeptical and said the act could give way to religious teachings in science classrooms.

ACLU officials also have said they are concerned that teachers and local school boards could "inject 'creationism,' 'intelligent design,' or other religiously based, anti-evolution concepts into the science curriculum."

Marjorie R. Esman, ACLU Louisiana chapter executive director, said she is concerned about the "purportedly" religious-based evidence from a handful of people who have a religious agenda.

"If we want Louisiana school children to be educated then we teach them real science, everything else is not science," Esman said. "The only science is evolution, everything else is religion."

Weighing in on the issue, Frank L. Rambin III, 72, of Alexandria, said he is curious to see how evolution will be taught to school children, if the textbook is approved.

When he was in grade school, Rambin said, science education erroneously taught many theories as facts and other theories were left out of the classroom.

"I didn't learn what I know in school, I did it from reading people a lot smarter than me," said Rambin, adding that he would like to see teaching that promotes discourse and independent thinking.

"We shouldn't be teaching anything that creates youngsters that don't love this country. Anything else you can teach as long as you don't lie about it," Rambin said. "In other words, don't be an evolutionist and say, 'The science is done, it is a scientific truth.' That's a lie."

Rambin, who said he is a Christian, said that while he believes in God, he doesn't advocate teaching children that God's existence is a proven fact.

"We ought to be teaching our children how to think for themselves and give them the tools to do that with, and if you want to teach evolution, do it as a theory. If you want to teach creation, then it has to be a theory, and science has to be applied to the theories," Rambin said.

The deadline to submit comments to the Louisiana Department of Education is Sept. 13.

They say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical
persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and
causeless. Hence is it that we make trifles of terrors; ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit
ourselves to an unknown fear. Why, 'tis the rarest argument of wonder that hath shot out in our latter times.

"If we want Louisiana school children to be educated then we teach them real science, everything else is not science,"

Proposed textbooks to be scrutinized
(By Barbara Leader • The Monroe News-Star • July 26, 2010)

A group of concerned educators, parents and students will visit the Ouachita Parish Public Library this week to examine the latest science textbooks considered for placement in Louisiana's classrooms.

They want to see how the subject of evolution will be taught and to give the state textbook adoption committee their views.

Public input is part of the state's textbook adoption process, which also includes review by state and district level textbook committees and approval by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

State Director of Curriculum Standards Nancy Beben said it is the review of science textbooks that generally receives the most public comment.

West Monroe resident Mickey Cleveland said he wants to make sure the way evolution is taught reflects the most current knowledge.

"We want evolution taught, but we want the fallacies in the theory taught as well," Cleveland said. "There have been outright lies that have been perpetuated throughout the years."

Cleveland said that as technology improves, more scientists and mathematicians are questioning Darwin's theories of evolution.

"Darwin said that if things can be proven against my theory, then my whole theory breaks down," he said. "Darwin didn't have the microelectronic microscope. We are able to see inside of atoms. The DNA is so complex that mathematicians are saying that there is no way that macro evolution occurred. Science is proving creation."

Louisiana's textbook adoption process results in the replacement of textbooks for each subject every seven years. During the adoption process, the books are available for public viewing and public input in several locations around the state.

In northeastern Louisiana, those locations include the Lincoln Parish Library on Trenton Street in Ruston and the Ouachita Parish Public Library on Stubbs Avenue in Monroe.

The science textbooks approved this year will be placed in the classroom for the 2011-12 school year.

LePage defends comments in ‘creationism’ spat
(Kevin Miller, Bangor Daily News, July 30, 2010)

Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage on Thursday defended earlier comments in which he said a Democratic party official suggested he was unfit to be governor because he is a Franco-American Catholic.

During a testy exchange on a Portland radio program, LePage and WGAN co-host Ken Altshuler went round and round for several minutes about whether the GOP nominee had any evidence to back up what Altshuler said were accusations of racism against Arden Manning.

Over the weekend, LePage said his opponents “were saying that I am not fit to be a governor because I am French Catholic.” LePage named Manning — the Maine Democratic Party’s 2010 campaign director — as the person “spilling this garbage,” a charge that Manning has called an outright lie.

On Thursday, LePage said he believes Manning and the Democrats labeled him as a creationist because of his background and religious beliefs. During primary debates, LePage indicated he would support the teaching of creationism in schools.

When Altshuler pressed again for proof, the exchange got heated.

“I’ve answered the question, move on,” LePage said.

“No, the question was have you found any evidence that Arden Manning said because you are a Franco-American Catholic, you are not qualified to be governor?” Altshuler said. “We will talk about creationism in a minute. Have you found any evidence that Arden Manning made this racist comment?”

Replied LePage: “I have looked at my life, I have looked at my career. There is nowhere in my career where the term creationist comes in. The only part of my life … that anyone can ever consider me a creationist is because I am a French Catholic and I believe in God.”

After another go-around, Altshuler eventually asked LePage whether he was interpreting Manning’s labeling him as a creationist as saying, “you are not qualified to be governor because you are a Franco-American Catholic.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” LePage said.

Manning has acknowledged mentioning LePage’s views on creationism, but points out that he did it only once in a fundraising e-mail in which he also referred to the GOP nominee as “an unabashed agent of the Christian Right.”

But neither Manning nor the Maine Democratic Party had mentioned LePage’s Catholicism or his French-Canadian heritage in any public statements. Party officials also point out that numerous elected Democrats in Maine, including U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, are Franco-American.

Democratic officials have demanded an apology from LePage, calling his statements potentially slanderous.

While the Maine Democratic Party has gone after LePage for his statements, the Democratic nominee for governor, Senate President Libby Mitchell, has stayed quiet since releasing a statement earlier this week.

Mitchell did not mention the creationism fracas and was not asked about it during a meeting with an Old Town Rotary Club on Thursday evening.

ACtually , it was you who used it incorrectly by apparently denying the existence of the cloaca in human development.

themore educated

I wasnt the one trying to perp a lie on others here, you were.

I just sit and laugh every time you try to sound "scholarly"

Consider this like Archeology or historical reconstruction, these are diwcoveries of the past and as far as I know, there are few "predictions" of wht a new Egyptian pyramid of the future will look like.

Im sure this wont happen, you wont have to worry.

Its comical how the almost exact words in the Australian Constitution (as in our 1st Amendment) are used.

Quote:

you have gotten a D for incomplete understanding.

That's a compliment fm.

If there was a predator that was able to find and eat all the turtle eggs, there wouldn't be any turtles, would there? I think the answer is pretty evident from an evolutionary standpoint. Species that don't have predators that eat all their young survive. Species that do have predators that eat all their young die off.

Abortion is not abhorrent to nature; it's the essence of nature; all life forms practice it.

The Australian Constitution guarantees the rights of the States. The USA Constitution adds the rights of the individual by building on previous documents and further amendments. If you can see a similarity, tell me...

freedom of religion – Section 116 creates a limited right to freedom of religion, by prohibiting the Commonwealth (but not the states) from "making any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion." This section is based on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but is weaker in operation. As the states retain all powers they had as colonies before federation, except for those explicitly given to the Commonwealth, this section does not affect the states' powers to legislate on religion, and, in accordance with High Court interpretations, no Federal legislation on religion, short of establishing an official religion of Australia, would be limited by it either.

which I am sure prove to most he is a fraud. I dont tell him because it makes him look even more stupid than he does normally.

Ahhh, Spendi, why did you tell him ? I get a chuckle out of stuff like that, which I am sure prove to most he is a fraud. I dont tell him because it makes him look even more stupid than he does normally.

Roddenberry stated: "[By creating] a new world with new rules, I could make statements about sex, religion, Vietnam, politics, and intercontinental missiles. Indeed, we did make them on Star Trek: we were sending messages and fortunately they all got by the network.

Livingston School Board: No creationism this year
(By BOB ANDERSON, The Baton Rouge Advocate, August 1, 2010)

LIVINGSTON — The Livingston Parish School Board won’t try to include the teaching of creationism in this year’s curriculum, but has asked the School Board staff to look at the issue for possible future action, board officials said.

A decision to teach creationism could become expensive for the parish school system, said Marjorie Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“If they were to do it, they could anticipate that any litigation would result in them not only losing, but having to pay enormous legal fees,” she said. “They would be wasting a huge amount of taxpayer money on a battle they can’t win.”

Livingston Parish School Board President Keith Martin, who acknowledges that the parish school system faces major financial challenges, said the cost of litigation does have to be taken into consideration.

“A lawsuit is something you always have to factor in because of finances of the board,” Martin said.

The question of teaching creationism was sent to a staff committee, which is not expected to report before the beginning of this school year, but should report in time for the board to do whatever it needs to do for next year, he said.

“We have decided not to try to hurry up and rush something in for this year,” Martin said.

Martin said that a number of years ago when the issue came up, he voted against teaching creationism, but not because he didn’t want it to be taught.

He said he was concerned about whether teachers would try to introduce their own religious beliefs.

“I was worried about the curriculum,” Martin said. “I was worried about how it was going to be taught.”

How the subject would be taught has been refined since then, he said.

In making a creationism decision the board has to look at all of the information and decide what is best, he said.

“I don’t think the board would do anything if our attorney advised it was something that we couldn’t win in court, Martin said.

Tom Jones, the School Board’s attorney, said a board member brought the issue up when evolution was mentioned as being part of the state’s 2008 Science Education Act.

Jones said his previous research indicated that under the U.S. Constitution public schools can’t teach religion or the religious theory of creationism.

“Without a doubt it’s a constitutional issue,” and state law does not supersede the U.S. Constitution, he said.

Jones said he is not sure what the staff committee “will come back with, but I think it will be reasonable.”

Given the financial picture of parish schools “the worst thing we could do at this point is to get into protracted litigation,” the attorney said.

David Tate, the School Board member who brought up the matter at the board’s last meeting, said he would rather not see litigation, but added that the board gets sued on other matters.

“We don’t want litigation, but why not take a stand for Jesus and risk litigation,” Tate said.

Tate said teaching evolution as a theory is fine, but there are other ideas.

“Creationism is another thought of how things came into being,” he said. “Give every theory due time” in the classroom.

“We don’t all have to believe the same thing,” Tate said.

“It’s a very touchy subject,” said Bill Spear, Superintendent of Livingston Parish Schools. “We as a staff will enforce whatever the board adopts.”