Evolution hearings show scope of cultural divisions

By Scott Rothschild, Lawrence Journal-World
Wednesday, May 4, 2005 = Topeka — It's being dubbed Scopes II and Evopalooza. There are concerns that Kansas again will be the butt of late-night comedians.

The national media are parachuting in. Opposing sides are setting up information booths, lining up experts, scheduling press conferences and zipping alerts and documents through cyberspace. But for Kansas, it's just another battle in the culture war.

Hearings set to start Thursday on biological evolution are the result of an ongoing political revolution on the State Board of Education. For years, the 10-member board received little attention, tending to a public school system of 450,000 students in 301 districts across the state. But starting in the late 1990s, the board became the battleground between social conservatives and moderates.

The evolution hearings will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the auditorium at Memorial Hall, 120 SW 10th Ave., Topeka. The auditorium seats 140 people. Forty seats have been reserved for the media, and the rest are available to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis.

http://ljworld.com/section/evolution/story/203780

of all the posts yesterday was that no matter how the trial came out evolution would still be there, a valid scientific fact, used by biologists, doctors, archaeologist and chemists to unravel the mysteries of the past and the direction of the future.

they are only hurting themselves. and their children. and their reputations.

standards). umm...maybe some stilly congressperson of national stature will step into the fray and demand intelligent design be taught as a theory (Frist, Delay, etc)--then the show will begin.


....... Pro-evolution scientists have boycotted the hearings, saying they refuse to be drawn into a debate over intelligent design, which they consider a philosophy or religion and not a scientific theory that can be tested.

But the scientists will set up an information booth outside the hearings to contradict the hearing testimony.

News organizations will broadcast coverage worldwide, which has raised the concern of some that Kansas will again be depicted as a hayseed state.

"I never like to see Kansas have a black eye in any way," Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said.

She said the board needed to adopt science standards that would give students the opportunity to do well on standardized tests "and not jeopardize the opportunity for Kansas kids to compete.".......

Anyone that believes that these were actual events and that god whispered the stories in some writer's ear has the mental level of below 90 and a maturity level of a 3 to 4 yr. old.

I do think that people should know what is going on so if you do go to school you should know some thing about the Bible as you should know about Marx. But that also means those people should know something about the enlightenment and the age of reason.

... reviving the Salem witch trials. Only in America...