Evolutionary Debate

POSTED BY: AnthonyT
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 16:16
VIEWED: 20170
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FREDGIBLET

Friday, February 9, 2007 5:50 AM

By the way, just out of curiosity why do you put a link to your myspace in your sig when it's set to private so that no one can see it?

FREDGIBLET

Friday, February 9, 2007 5:56 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

They used to teach kids that the earth was flat in school at one point.

First, by the time that formal schools were built sailors had pretty much figured out that the Earth wasn't flat (from what I understand the extent of that belief was much smaller than is generally thought).

Second, like I said, when scientists discover new information that disproves old theories the old theories go away, some day we might hit the point where we truly know everything but that's a long way off.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, February 9, 2007 6:15 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by fredgiblet:
By the way, just out of curiosity why do you put a link to your myspace in your sig when it's set to private so that no one can see it?

Sorry bout that. I never used to have it private, that's just recently. My friend is having a custody battle for his kid and the insane mom has been trying to friend me and talk to me on MySpace. I didn't want to give her ammo like bringing my profile to court and telling them that my friend has crazy friends like me. I'll remove the private when that's all over, but until then, maybe I should remove it from my sig.

'Course, you could always friend me if you wanted to know more.

As far as the whole school thing is concerned, I see my little brother who is only 12 years old who is convinced there is no god and has the spagetti monster up on his desktop. I don't think he has been around long enough to be making up his mind about such things, and I know for a fact that he is basing his decision not on researching the possibilities himself, but only making them based on the one sided information he gets at school and TV, compounded by the fact that the church has been in a horrible light since the kids have come out about preists molesting kids. This is my problem with evolution being taught in school, and I believe this is how we will all one day live in a world with only science, completely devoid of religion. Hence the "Brave New World" reference. It's like government is telling you to believe in one thing while completely sheilding you from another.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

FREDGIBLET

Friday, February 9, 2007 6:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by fredgiblet:
By the way, just out of curiosity why do you put a link to your myspace in your sig when it's set to private so that no one can see it?

Sorry bout that. I never used to have it private, that's just recently. My friend is having a custody battle for his kid and the insane mom has been trying to friend me and talk to me on MySpace. I didn't want to give her ammo like bringing my profile to court and telling them that my friend has crazy friends like me. I'll remove the private when that's all over, but until then, maybe I should remove it from my sig.

I always love it when I get dragged into other peoples problem...don't you? Good luck with that.

Quote:
As far as the whole school thing is concerned, I see my little brother who is only 12 years old who is convinced there is no god and has the spagetti monster up on his desktop. I don't think he has been around long enough to be making up his mind about such things, and I know for a fact that he is basing his decision not on researching the possibilities himself, but only making them based on the one sided information he gets at school and TV, compounded by the fact that the church has been in a horrible light since the kids have come out about preists molesting kids. This is my problem with evolution being taught in school, and I believe this is how we will all one day live in a world with only science, completely devoid of religion. Hence the "Brave New World" reference. It's like government is telling you to believe in one thing while completely sheilding you from another.

I understand where you are coming from, but evolution is the foundation of biology, you can't teach biology well without teaching evolution. Also evolution does not preclude religion, it just requires that religions adjust a little to fit the way the world works. The growth of knowledge through science explains away a great deal of what used to be in the realm of religion, whether this is good or bad depends on your opinion but the other option is suppression of knowledge, not usually something that should be aspired to.

As for religion in schools, as I said I have nothing agasint it as long as they are not taught as science. The problem is that teaching one religion to the exclusion of others is against the Constitution and isn't fair either. The only solution is to teach every religion or at least every major one, either way there would little time in a school year to learn any large amount about all the different religions without devoting an inordinate amount of time to it.

ANTHONYT

Friday, February 9, 2007 6:41 AM

Hey all,

I wanted to interject something.

Some people have said that evolution shouldn't be taught in school.

Others have said that religion shouldn't be taught in school.

When I was in school, I learned about philosophy. I learned about art. I learned about the religions of ancient Greece and Rome.

None of that helped me get a job, but all of it enriched my character.

I hate it when someone says that X shouldn't be taught at school.

We should be looking for ways to teach more things at school, not fewer things.

I'm still bummed they cut out Summer school.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

RUE

Friday, February 9, 2007 7:08 AM

"my little brother who is only 12 years old who is convinced there is no god ...I don't think he has been around long enough to be making up his mind about such things"

I was just a tad younger when I decided religion was a fraud.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, February 9, 2007 7:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by fredgiblet:
I always love it when I get dragged into other peoples problem...don't you? Good luck with that.

Yeah... I hate it. I can't believe she had the nerve to contact me.

Funny thing.... reading that sentence, I thought you were refering to me dragging you into my problems. I had to read it a couple of times before I got it. So strange how when we write things the meanings can be so distorted from their original intentions. Easy to see how many avoidable fights get kicked off online.

Quote:
....Also evolution does not preclude religion, it just requires that religions adjust a little to fit the way the world works.

....the other option is suppression of knowledge, not usually something that should be aspired to.

...I have nothing agasint [religion in schools] as long as they are not taught as science.

Agreed, agreed and agreed.

This whole debate would be nullified in my eyes if the following conditions were met. I don't think they're all that unreasonable.

A) It is guaranteed that evolution and science will never be taught to kids in a way where the kids are made to feel pressured that they have to choose one or the other. (God/Religion or Evolution/Science)

B) God (Allah/Buddah) be taught as a part of Social Studies, or Humanities and be given an equal amount of time devoted as evolution. If there are enough kids from non-christian religions at the school, they should also have time devoted to their religions as well. (We don't need PC laws telling us we need to teach the Koran to Christians and Athiests kids if there aren't any Muslims, and vice versa). The situation at each school will be unique and should be weighed accordingly.

C) Assholes like Dawkins don't get anymore spotlight. Dawkins is the Jesse Jackson of Evo/God. He exists simply to divide the two, enflame and enrage people and make sensational news stories. He's a big part of the reason why many religious people aren't going to accept evolution in the first place. I don't have a problem with somebody being Athiest. I have a problem with somebody telling everybody else about it and ramming it down their throats. Surely he's the main reason that my brother is an atheist at 12 years old, and he reads some of the most terrible passages of the Bible to people to show what a horrible person God was. At the same time he's never tried to actually read the bible. He pulls quotes off of the internet that people like Dawkins tell him to tell other people.

I think my Uncle said it best when he said "Let the homosexuals screw on the front steps of City Hall for all I care, I just don't need to hear about them everyday". I think that's advice that we could all live by.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

RUE

Friday, February 9, 2007 7:15 AM

BTW 6-string

You seem to think there is no downside to being non-scientific. That if there is a god you win but if there isn't you lose; whereas learning or not learning science is neutral.

As I mentioned earlier, there is a serious donwnside to not knowing science, and that is to be in a stagnant economy with low-paid jobs. Like Pakistan with its madrassa-educated population.

RUE

Friday, February 9, 2007 7:15 AM

OOOHHHH - I WIN ! I rolled a double!

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, February 9, 2007 7:19 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by rue:
"my little brother who is only 12 years old who is convinced there is no god ...I don't think he has been around long enough to be making up his mind about such things"

I was just a tad younger when I decided religion was a fraud.

Good for you Rue. I've decided quite a while ago from other posts that you are a government yes-man (woman?), and there's no suprise that you've made up your mind about this at such a young age. You come off as a very cold and robotic person and imagining a world in the future where all the kids grow up to be like you is very scary indeed.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

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