Bush - v - Darwin

[rederech]

George Bush is at it again now challenging Darwin's Theory of
Evolution. What will this man not stick his nose into ?

9th August, 2005

President George Bush has started a national debate in the US over the teaching of evolution in school.
The president has suggested that a theory known as "intelligent design" should be taught in the classroom.

It proposes that life is too complex to have developed through evolution, and an unseen power must have had a hand.

President Bush's championing of intelligent design will be interpreted as further evidence of the growing influence of the religious right.

The US president told newspaper reporters in Texas that children should be taught about intelligent design so they could better understand the debate about the origins of the universe.

Intelligent design differs from biblical creationism in that it is not tied to a literal interpretation of the biblical book of Genesis.

Nevertheless, intelligent design points to the role of a creator, and it has become increasingly influential in Christian circles.

Link :http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4136690.stm

Darwin's theory is that evolution of all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor:

Are your ancestors apes or is George Bush right ?

 

[petewood]

George Bush is only p****d off because he hasn't evolved as much as most humans.

 

[AdamW]

Creationism should be taught to young children. The stories about god creating the earth, the moon and everything in 6 days (and resting on the sabbath) are wonderful cultural legends that children need to know.

However, creationism is a CULTURAL subject, not a scientific one. I am not aware of a single culture that doesn't have it's own creation story. The Vikings believed in an ice god and a giant cow, ancient Egyptians believed Ra came out of an egg in the ocean, Christians (and no doubt Jews and Muslims) believe that God created everything in 6 days.

Intelligent design is an improvement on creationism, and carries more weight than creationism, but for now there is far more weight behind the theory of evolution through mutation and natural selection.

Of course, according to Star Trek, there were The Progenitors, who were the beings behind Intelligent Design... but where did THEY come from?

Intelligent Design seems to be favoured by those who prefer the logic in evolution, but can't get their head around the miniscule probability of the right chemicals being around in the right place at the right time to spark it all off, nor the fact that over billions of years (and countless trillions of iterations) a microbe can evolve into a human.

 

[Slogger]

you got to be joking we all know the bible is rubbish ? dont we

lets drop the RE side at school if they the kids want to learn about it let them do it when they are old enougth to make there minds up


ps jesus was an astronaut

 

[petewood]

we all know the bible is rubbish ? dont we

Couldn't agree more, give me the Koran any day.

 

[Big_Spark]

Here it starts, the Recidivists in the Christian Right appear to be getting Policital power, something intelligent Americans have feared for years.

This is the start if he gets his way, soon the US will be a Christian Fundermentalist Federal state.

The sooner we have a federal Europe the better.

 

[Moz]

If in a CofE church its the bible ....

til secondary school ... darwin ..


NO WORRIES NO PROBLIM ..


THE DEVIL WILL HAVE THIS FOR BUSH ..

LET THAT C*NT BUSH DIE IN AGONY FOR ETERNITY FOR HIS CHILD KILLING /ABUSING DAYS

 

[TexMex]

I see the creation theory as the beginings of scientific thinking. Since it is embedded into just about all religions, it must have been around for a very long time. It was probably one of the first incidents of a conceptual model being used to explain observations.

Unfortunately, it doesn't follow the natural development of modern scientific thinking. Nowadays, if further observations show the model to be unsound, it is either modified or abandoned. The creationalist theory, however, was userped as a means to control the masses. As such, it had to be defended at all costs. Any threat to it's validity had to be soundly put down. Too much power was at stake. Hence the invention of "faith" as a virtue.

Without this control, I wonder if civilisation would have ever got off the ground. Just imagine a world where the law of the jungle still prevails. How would you manage to persuade millions of people, that have known nothing but anarchy, to suddenly start following a set of rules, designed for the benefit some distant master. Bearing in mind, that you cannot show them any success stories, as this is about to be the first civilisation.

 

[AdamW]

Well, if they take creationism out of the infants then they might as well take Father Christmas and Spot the Dog too.

Evolution should probably be taught from Year 4 or 5: at that age kids are old enough to realise what is and isn't "legend", and many will have read enough books about dinosaurs to know what evolution is about. Before then, I think it might be lost on the majority of kids.

 

[Big_Spark]

Having lived in the US for 5 years, I have seen this argument on a local level over there, and it is not pretty I can tell.

The Christian Right in the US is a powerful lobby, and it is no surprise that GB has jumper onto their bandwagon, afterall he is a member of the Christian Right and once, as Governor of Texas, made a speech which stated that Darwinism was blasphemous and a heathen lie to undermine Christianiyy.

I can tell you here and now, if the Christian Right do m,anage to increase their popular support in the US, as seems to be happening, then I would not want to be in a Country that is not Christain, I remember hearing Bush say years ago that Non-Christians were non-believers..

This is a worry, it is not just about what is or is not taught in schools to children, it is also about the Religio-polital agenda of the Powerful Christian Right Movement and the incumbant President..

 

[Nige F]

we all know the bible is rubbish ? dont we

Couldn't agree more, give me the Koran any day.

......Here`s a good site for you guys...look for Landover in a search engine

 

[pna]

The comments about Darwinism, non believers and blasphemy do not seem a million miles away from some of the viewpoints expressed in Islam. It seems like we could be caught in the middle

I think Governments sometimes go to far, and for me, teaching of creationism/ evolution should be 'off bounds' in a free society, as it is too close to trying to influence what people believe and think. Evolution is a theory, not a fact. If we want to teach children theories or beliefs, there are many more - why stop at Darwinism? If Governments want to dictate what children should believe and think, then teach them about the value of being 'good' citizens.

 

[jtaunton]

Aaarghh ! I hate it when I can't tell if something's a spoof or not.....

(Nige's website, that is !!)