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Generic Other

(28,979 posts)
Mon Jun 25, 2012, 06:22 PM Jun 2012

Louisiana Private Schools Teach Loch Ness Monster Is Real In Effort To Disprove Evolution Theory

Some students at private schools in Louisiana are being taught that Scotland's fabled Loch Ness monster is real, a claim that is then held as evidence disproving Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the Scotsman reports.

Thousands of students across the state are eligible to receive publicly funded vouchers to allow them to attend private Christian schools where textbooks published by Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) claim the monster was actually a dinosaur that existed at the same time as man, an assertion which conflicts with the theory of evolution.

The Times Educational Supplement, a British publication for teachers, published an article in 2009 that included an excerpt from Accelerated Christian Education's Biology 1099 textbook, which was published in 1995:

Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence. Have you heard of the `Loch Ness Monster' in Scotland? `Nessie,' for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/louisiana-students-loch-ness-monster-disprove-evolution_n_1624643.html?ncid=webmail2

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Louisiana Private Schools Teach Loch Ness Monster Is Real In Effort To Disprove Evolution Theory (Original Post) Generic Other Jun 2012 OP
"an assertion which conflicts with the theory of evolution. " 4th law of robotics Jun 2012 #1
I believe in the tooth fairy Generic Other Jun 2012 #2
I also believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. RebelOne Jun 2012 #4
The tooth fairy fits an otherwise under utilized niche 4th law of robotics Jun 2012 #5
they also teach that the bible is true. no issues here with continuity nt msongs Jun 2012 #3
 

4th law of robotics

(6,801 posts)
1. "an assertion which conflicts with the theory of evolution. "
Mon Jun 25, 2012, 06:30 PM
Jun 2012

Er. No. It doesn't.

The theory of evolution doesn't require dinosaurs be extinct. It says nothing about any particular animal.

Evolution means that there can be inherited change occurring in populations over generations.

So in other words you just have to believe A) all living things have genes that code for their phenotype, B) there are variations within that code (ie, not every human is genetically identical) and C) for a variety of reasons not all organisms are equally successful in propagating their genes.

Mix A, B, and C and wait several hundred million years, occasionally sprinkling in a major natural disaster or geological shift, and you can get some pretty cool results.

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