Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

Galloway asserts mutations cannot add any beneficial traits to genomes. A simple counterexample is lactose tolerance in humans. Humans naturally lose the ability to digest lactose after childhood. Around the time animal husbandry was being developed in Europe and other regions, a mutation allowing continued production of lactose digesting enzymes emerged in these populations.

Luckily, the theory of evolution doesn't rely on random chance nearly as much as creationists like Galloway seem to believe.

Biologists...... believe it (DNA) evolved from a more rudimentary, self-replicating polypeptide chain through advantageous mutations culled by natural selection.

How this original polypeptide formed is a more difficult question, but it is a question of abiogenesis, not evolution.

Eventually, Galloway transitions from simply being incorrect to downright offensive with his assertion, "At the core of Hitler's belief was evolution."

I am not blaming Hitler or the Holocaust on Christianity.

We still don't know plenty about the universe, and much of this may defy any scientific explanation. So why can't religion stick to those questions rather than the ones science has already answered?

Galloway asserts mutations cannot add any beneficial traits to genomes. A simple counterexample is lactose tolerance in humans. Humans naturally lose the ability to digest lactose after childhood. Around the time animal husbandry was being developed in Europe and other regions, a mutation allowing continued production of lactose digesting enzymes emerged in these populations.

self-replicating polypeptide chain through advantageous mutations culled by natural selection. How this original polypeptide formed is a more difficult question, but it is a question of abiogenesis, not evolution.

Luther, arguably the father of Protestantism, penned "On the Jews and Their Lies" in 1543, in which he urged Christians to enslave the Jews and burn their homes, schools and synagogues to the ground. Luther believed it was every Christian's duty to take revenge on the Jews for the death of Jesus and wrote, "We are at fault in not slaying them."

We need a theological justification, not a load of special pleading, for the advantages to the state of driving religion to the periphery or liquidating it altogether.

Are you certain that this is the atheist point of view?

For Kopplins, lobbying in state Capitol will be a family affair
(Michelle Krupa, New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 26, 2011)

Andy Kopplin, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's chief administrative officer, probably won't be the only member of his family pressing a case in Baton Rouge this spring.

While the mayor's right-hand man likely will trek up Interstate 10 to lobby the Legislature on city matters, his son, Baton Rouge Magnet High School senior Zack Kopplin, plans to push for the repeal of the Louisiana Science Education Act, a 2008 law that governs how local school systems can introduce supplemental materials into science lessons on topics such as evolutionary biology, global warming and cloning.

State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson of New Orleans has said she will sponsor the repeal legislation.

Though the act doesn't mention creationism or "intelligent design," wrangling since the bill's introduction has revolved around those topics. Livingston Parish School Board members have cited the law in their push to mandate that creationism be part of the science curriculum.

In testimony in December before the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education committee considering adoption of new high school biology textbooks, the younger Kopplin went up against leaders of the Louisiana Family Forum, who argued that the proposed texts were too accepting of the theory of evolution.

Kopplin, one of several advocates, testified that up-to-date biology texts are crucial to preparing Louisiana students to compete in a global economy.

While there are plenty of jobs for biologists, he said, "there are zero creationist jobs. Zero."

The panel recommended adoption of the texts.

Asked about his son's political initiative, Kopplin called his eldest child "smart, courageous and relentless."

"Every 17-year-old, you know, they are quite independent thinkers," he said. "I'm extraordinarily proud of him. He's a strong-willed young man, and I'm proud of him."

The elder Kopplin also has served as chief of staff to two Louisiana governors and as executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. As for whether father and son might cross paths in the halls of the Capitol this spring, "I suspect you'll see him there," Andy Kopplin said.