Evolution Wins In Kansas
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, Religion, ScienceA followup to my post yesterday, the creationists/intelligent designers/what-have-yous were largely voted out in favor of moderate candidates who’ll keep religion out of science classes.
From USA Today:
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) � Conservative Republicans who brought international attention to Kansas by approving academic standards calling evolution into question lost control of the state school board in primaries.As a result of the vote, board members and candidates who believe evolution is well-supported by evidence will have a 6-4 majority. Evolution skeptics had entered the election with a 6-4 majority.
Five seats were on the ballot this year. Three incumbent conservatives faced primary foes, and there was a contested GOP race for the seat held by a retiring conservative. A pro-evolution Democratic incumbent also had a challenger.
Thank God.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006 and is filed under Education, Religion, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:28 am
Does this mean the religious right will go back to complaining about how oppressed they are?
August 2nd, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Most likely, now that they aren’t oppressing us they will have become the oppressed again.
August 2nd, 2006 at 4:25 pm
First Ralph Reed, and now this. It’s good to see mainstream Republicans taking back the party.
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:00 pm
What evidence for evolution could they possibly have? There is hardly any evidence for evolution. Micro evolution is the only one ever really observed and tested in science and thats not really evolution. As far as Cosmic, Biological, Chemical, Marco, or Stellar goes these have never been observed and tested. (Micro evolution is a variation in the kind of animal ex: like short haired dogs or long haired dogs. We have still never seen a horse have a rabbit. Besides who would be gullable enough to believe that we came from rocks.
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Wh
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:01 pm
..
August 2nd, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Whether or not you accept the evidence for evolution, there can be no doubt about devolution. Just look at the “religion” of the religious right, as it has devolved from Christianity. Or, in other places places from other starting points, from Islam. Devolution at its most blatant.
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Les, If you’re being sarcastic and missing it, then I’m sorry, but your arguement is the same one many oponents of evolution use and it’s wrong. The theory of evolution is about small and subtle changes over a very long period of time give rise to new species. If a new environmental niche is created some species will evolve to fill it, eventually. Intelligent Design is a nice phylosophy, but it just has no place in a science classroom. or are you a creationist? As for no evidence of evolution, read up on pesticide resistant incests.
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:56 am
Les — Don’t you know that the new definition of the “center moderates” is: “I’m right and you are wrong. My way is the only centrist way, all others are fringe fanaticism (usely religious right).” This applies to education, healthcare, foreign policy, constitutional law, evolution and everything else. There is a particular disdain for religion. By reading the comment section of Donklephant, particularly over the course of a year, you start to understand the gimmick and the scam. The supposed “center” is rigidly secular and their take on the Seperation Clause is straight out of the ACLU handbook, NOT the more moderate position that demands government neutrality.
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:18 am
Dp, this question to me is much more about mixing religion and science than religion and government. If you want to teach your kids ID I don’t care. If your priest/pastor/minister wants to preach it from the pulpit then that’s fine too. But don’t tell me it’s science. If everyone in the government says “I believe in ID”, I’m cool with that. I’m even cool with saying that I think it’s pretty compelling. It’s still not science though, and I’m unwilling to throw out the scientific method because some people continue to try and mix religion and science.
August 3rd, 2006 at 12:21 pm
I agree with Kevin. Creationsim, ID, whatever, do NOT belong in science class. Evolution does. You can teach religion in a religion class in a private school or in bible school or CCD or something. Even in private school, teach it in religion class, not science class.
In a public school, the only way you can teach it is if it’s part of a world religions class or something, which would have to cover every religion ever to be known to man, in order for it to be constitutional.
Separation of Church and state is in the Constitution. The framers intended it to be that way. It shouldn’t even be an issue in politics.
ID and Creationism are an attempt on the part of some to change or push back the longstanding rules that have been in place from the beginning. Therefore, others must fight to defend those rules. No one is trying to force the country to be secular or to erase religion. It’s the protection of religion that is the whole point of the separation of church and state.
Right now, most people in this country are some form of Christian. Well, what if that dramatically changed? Would you want Buddhists or Muslims or Jews to be able to insert their beliefs into your kids’ science classes to be taught as scientific fact? Of course not.
August 3rd, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Les, though the theory of evolution is pretty limited in its usefulness and doesn’t even have a widely accepted definition, it’s still a scientific theory, while ID is not. Just because it’s not that robust or useful a scientific theory doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taught in a science class. It may not be much, but it’s the best we’ve been able to come up with.
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:20 pm
Justin, nobody seems to have noticed the irony of your concluding line. So I will.
LOL!!
August 7th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Thank you Amba. Perhaps they just didn’t want to give me the satisfaction!
August 29th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Brian,
You’ve got to be kidding. Not that useful? Evolution is the foundational theory of modern biology. It is at least as important to science as relativity.
November 24th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Justin, nobody seems to have noticed the irony of your concluding line. So I will.