Intelligent Design Theory: Science or Religion?

Spendi, do you think that valid science should be determined by votes?

still taking our Mr aspirin a day Bernie?

I don't like this meds regimen thing.

Evolution wording attacked
(February 08, 2006, Catherine Candisky, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH)

More than two-thirds of scientists and educators who initially advised the State Board of Education on science standards are urging the board to scrap a portion of the guidelines.

Ohio's standards for teaching 10th-grade biology and their accompanying lesson plans undermine Darwin's theory of evolution by singling it out for critical analysis, they said yesterday in a letter to Gov. Bob Taft.

The guidelines also open the door to teaching religion in the public-school classroom, the letter says.

Thirty-two committee members made recommendations on state science standards in 2001, and a second, larger committee was then impaneled to write the standards. Wording questioning the validity of evolution was added in 2002.

Two other committees made recommendations and wrote the lesson plans that were adopted 1½ years later.

State Board President Sue Westendorf said members likely will discuss the issue at their next monthly meeting Tuesday in Columbus, although the issue is not on the agenda.

Some members already are circulating a renewed motion to strip the controversial provision. Others are talking about sending the standards and lesson plan to a review panel.

Twenty-three members of 2001's Science Content Standards Advisory Committee signed the letter condemning the 2002 standards and the 2004 lesson plan.

They said the 19-person state board, of which the governor appoints eight members, has ignored their concerns.

"Many of us warned then that in singling out this one scientific theory that has historically been opposed by certain religious sects, the board sent the message that it believes there is some problem peculiar to evolution.

"This message was unwarranted scientifically and pedagogically," the 23 wrote.

Panel fails to agree on revisions in state's standards for teaching biology
(BY CHRIS DIXON, Charleston Post-Courier, February 9, 2006)

Columbia - A state panel failed Wednesday to approve revisions to the language that dictates how South Carolina teaches evolution, setting up a showdown in the full Education Oversight Committee.

Three members of the subcommittee could not reach agreement on new language in four of seven "indicators" for biology classes.

Revision proponents say they encourage critical debate on shortcomings in the theory of evolution.

Opponents say the revisions are a thinly veiled means of using a term called "critical analysis" to insert intelligent design or creation theory into science instruction.

It was the second time in a month the subcommittee failed to find a compromise.

With no agreement on revisions among EOC members Rep. Bob Walker, R-Landrum; Wallace Hall, an Edgewood middle school teacher; and Robert Staton, a Republican candidate for state school superintendent, the state's entire biology standards now face a close vote.

Should these standards not be approved, science teachers will be instructed to base their curriculum on standards that have been in effect since 2000.

State Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum refused to offer more concessions and called for an "up or down" vote by the full oversight committee.

"These scientific standards have been developed over a period of a year and a half," she said.

Tenenbaum sparred with state Board of Education member Terrye Seckinger, who argued that inclusion of the term "critical analysis" simply meant exposing students to what she said were shortcomings in Darwinism.

The full Education Oversight Committee will meet Monday in Columbia to vote on the teaching indicators.

Scientists using Darwin's birthday to rally support for evolution
(KATHY MATHESON, Associated Press, February 10, 2006)

Thanks to the "intelligent design" movement, Charles Darwin's birthday is evolving into everything from a badminton party to church sermons this weekend.

Defenders of Darwin's theory of natural selection are planning hundreds of events around the world Sunday, the 197th anniversary of his birth, saying recent challenges to the teaching of evolution have re-emphasized the need to promote his work.

"The people who believe in evolution ... really just sort of need to stand up and be counted," said Richard Leventhal, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. "Evolution is the model that drives science. It's time to recognize that."

The museum's celebration will include birthday cake, a little badminton (reportedly a favorite game of Darwin's) and a reading of his "The Origin of Species" by Penn junior Bill Wames, who planned to dress up as the 19th-century naturalist. "Come to my party!" Wames, in costume, bellowed Wednesday while handing out fliers around campus. "Sunday at one o'clock!"

At the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, philosophy students will get a jump-start on Darwin Day on campus Friday by singing Darwin carols they composed.

Darwin, who was born in England on Feb. 12, 1809, and died in 1882, was 50 when he published "The Origin of Species." His conclusion that species evolve over time was based in part on zoological and geological discoveries made during a five-year voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle.

The intelligent design movement challenges Darwin's theory, contending that organisms are so complex that they must have been created by some kind of higher being. Critics of intelligent design say it is creationism camouflaged in scientific language.

Intelligent design proponents suffered legal setbacks last year in Pennsylvania and Georgia, but Kansas education officials have approved science standards that treat evolution as a flawed theory.

Polls have shown many Americans don't accept evolution. A Gallup poll in 2004 found that about 35 percent of Americans believe Darwin's theory is well supported by evidence, another 35 percent thought it was not well-supported and 29 percent said they didn't know enough about it.

To show religion and science are not at odds, more than 400 churches of many denominations - most of them in the United States - have agreed to participate in "Evolution Sunday" by giving a sermon, holding classes or sponsoring discussions.

The museum's celebration will include birthday cake, a little badminton (reportedly a favorite game of Darwin's) and a reading of his "The Origin of Species"

Why don't they have a pigeon pie eating competition?

Pigeon Pie
serves 6

12oz/350g puff pastry
6 pigeons, plucked and gutted
salt and pepper
1 large carrot, thickly sliced
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
spice bundle (a few black peppercorns, allspice and juniper berries, and 2 cloves, tied in a bit of muslin)
4 shallots, peeled and chopped
4oz/110g button mushrooms, quartered
2oz/50g/4 tbsp unsalted butter
6oz/175g sliced cooked ham or gammon, cut into small strips
8oz/225g good steak, beaten and cut into small thin slices
seasoned flour for sprinkling
4 hard-boiled egg yolks, quartered
egg wash for glazing

Cold pigeon pies were popular fare for summer picnics, and indeed still are; only today we use the pinions and other oddments for gravy to moisten the meat instead of using them for show.

Roll out the pastry to fit an inverted 1¾ pint/1 litre/4½ cup English pie dish with 1½ inches/4 cm to spare all round. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Carefully separate the pigeon breasts from the carcases. Season the carcases and put them into a fairly large pan with the carrot, onion and spice bundle. Cover with water. Simmer for about 40 minutes, then strain the stock into a bowl and discard the bones, vegetables and spices.

Meanwhile sauté the shallots and mushrooms in about 1oz/25g/2 tbsp of the butter until both are softened; use more butter if you need it. Add the ham or gammon. Sprinkle the steak with seasoned flour, then layer the steak, quartered hard-boiled egg yolks, shallots, mushrooms, ham and pigeon breasts in the pie dish with a pie funnel in the centre. Fill up the dish with the stock and leave to cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 425°F/220°C/Gas mark 7. Cut off a 1 inch/2.5cm strip around the edge of the pastry. Moisten the rim of the pie dish and fit on the strip, sealing the join. Moisten the strip lightly and fit on the pastry cover. Knock up or flute the edge if you wish. Cut some triangular slits in the crust to let steam escape, lift the flaps slightly, then brush the crust with egg wash.

discard the bones