One of the things you can say about the Christian right is that sometimes they are downright devious.
Bobby Jindal, the Roman Catholic right wing governor of Louisiana, has signed the "Louisiana Science Education Act." This bill allows science teachers to "freely teach the scientific evidence both for and against Darwinian evolution," says Casey Luskin, a representative of the Discovery Institute.
The Discovery Institute is a right wing outfit dedicated to overturning the teaching of evolution in the public schools and replacing it with creationism or creationism's cousin, intelligent design.
Luskin claims this bill keeps the state's hands off teachers who "'help students understand, analyze, critic, (sic) and objectively review scientific theories being studied' and that includes, of course, the scientific theory of evolution."
Here again we have a religious rightist casting aspersions on the "theory" of evolution as if it were not the basic explanation of life on this planet, failing to recognize that without evolution one cannot understand any of the fundamental sciences which circumscribe our world.
Supposedly the law forbids teachers to promote religion. Hell, any smart religious right teacher can circumvent that pretty easily.
Onenewsnow says that "Besides opening the door to critiquing leading theories of evolution, the bill also protects teachers from being harassed, intimidated, and sometimes fired for offering evidence critical of Darwinian theory."
"Theories" of evolution? Please.
The truth is plain: This bill is an open door to the religious propagandizing inherent in creationism and intelligent design! Whatever else you want to say about creationism and/or intelligent design, neither of them work at all without positing a creator of some sort. They begin with a creator - in fact - they begin with the god of Genesis.
They are religion not science. They will always be religion, and no matter how either of those nonsense "theories" are dressed up, they will never be science, and they are lousy religion at that!
What a travesty that in the 21st century we have politicians that are so damn dumb they don't know the difference between real science and trash science. Maybe they were all home-schooled.
It is of some interest and amusement that Jindal, an ultra-conservative, who promotes a brand of Catholicism called "muscular" Catholicism, signed off on this legislative stupidity! The Roman Catholic Church has no problem with evolution and believes the theory of evolution is quite compatible with its version of the Christian faith.
Louisiana once again is in the limelight for backwardness.
1 comment:
An idea that cannot be duplicated or proven is not science. I assume that these same people do benefit from scientific research and achievements. Which would they like to disown that were never contemplated in any religious book? Even cross breeding our pets and our crops depends upon some knowledge of science.
One can believe that God ordered Mohamed to convert the world, but that does not prove that it happened any more than any bibles apply to all mankind equally. We choose to believe as we cannot know. Faith is not science. We do not know much about the origins of God but we do know something about the origins of man and most animals on Earth, thru science. One can decide not to have faith in science just as one can choose which Bible or religion is the right one for each individual. There are many to choose from and each has its adherents. We will not know which is correct until after we leave this body. We might never learn if we do not wake up after Death.
Bob Poris
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