This Missouri Congressman Wants Parents to Be ‘Warned’ if Schools Teach Evolution to Children
Bob Cull
February 15, 2014
A Missouri state Representative has launched another attack on science, introducing a law requiring any school district that teaches evolution to “warn” parents ahead of time so that they may opt their children out of the course before it is taught.
Representative Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville said that this latest attempt to limit the teaching of science in science class is designed to make it more acceptable to opponents than his previous two attempts. ... “What my bill would do is it would allow parents to opt out of natural selection teaching,” Brattin explained. “It would not prohibit the child from going through biology from learning about cell structure, DNA and the building blocks of life.”
He displays his own ignorance of science when he stresses that evolution is a “theory” but that schools teach it as fact. We often use the term “theory” in science when we are actually talking about a fact, usually because all of the mechanics of the facts are not completely understood. We speak of the “theory” of relativity and no one in Japan would ever question that it may not be factual, we also have a “theory” of gravitation but no one would ever question its existence either.
Sadly, this is Missouri and he has many supporters. One woman interviewed by television station KCTV said, “I definitely think parents should be notified if evolution is taught 'cause I believe in creation.”
Another local resident Brandon Eastwood said, “evolution is just, it’s not taught in the Bible so it shouldn’t be taught in class.” He then added, “Even if I had to spend some time in jail I wouldn’t subject my kids to that nonsense.”
read more: http://aattp.org/this-missouri-congressman-wants-parents-to-be-warned-if-schools-teach-evolution-to-children/
========== * * * ==========
posted a couple of weeks ago ....
1. Fourth-Grade Science Quiz From A South Carolina School
http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/sciencetest.asp
2. Florida Christian School Tells Children Atheists Don’t Understand Gravity Because God Did It
http://aattp.org/florida-christian-school-tells-children-atheists-dont-understand-gravity-because-god-did-it/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Liam O'Connor
February 12, 2014
The state education committee in South Carolina has agreed a series of new science standards for students, but has omitted a crucial clause that refers to evolution through natural selection:
“Conceptual Understanding: Biological evolution occurs primarily when natural selection acts on the genetic variation in a population and changes the distribution of traits in that population over multiple generations.” P. 78 of the South Carolina Academic Standards and Performance Indicators for Science.”
Senator Mike Fair, a Republican who had advocated dropping the reference, said he believed it was right to teach children other “theories”:
“Natural selection is a direct reference to Darwinism. And the implication of Darwinism is that it is start to finish. To teach that natural selection is the answer to origins is wrong. I don’t have a problem with teaching theories. I don’t think it should be taught as fact.”
...
This is yet another attempt by Christian fundamentalists to pollute the minds of children with pseudoscience based on superstitious claims. It is part of an ongoing campaign to promote the false idea that the United States is a Christian nation. Every time one of these attempts has been challenged in court, they have been defeated and labelled as blatantly unconstitutional. -
read more: http://aattp.org/south-carolina-dept-of-education-decides-kids-dont-need-to-learn-about-evolution/
