One man's attempt to explain his rationale for the otherwise very mundane things he does.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Strike one up for...somebody?!?

Slashdot is covering an article on a judge in Georgia who ruled that the following statement on a sticker, placed in the front of Biology books was "unconstitutional": This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.”

Few things wrong with this whole bit:
  1. Evolution of man (not the type where moths turn black, and then white to match their surroundings), is just what the sticker says: a theory. There is no arguing with that, it cannot be proven to be true, therefore it is posited that man must have evolved from a lower being.
  2. The statement makes no direct claims for any of the other theories on the existence of man, namely the most widely accepted "intelligent design", or creationism. The judge argued that, “[by] denigrating evolution, the school board appears to be endorsing the well-known prevailing alternative theory, creationism or variations thereof, even though the sticker does not specifically reference any alternative theories.” This is hilarious to me, we have introduced religion into schools by encouraging students to think critically. (Watch out College English, you're next! You and your reading of Beowulf! Damnit, don't make me think!)
  3. The desire of six parents and the ACLU to have this sticker loaded with "religious dogma" has trumped the free speech demands of 2000 parents interested in reminding children to think critically about something, and consider other sources (potentially those unaffilliated with the government) for more information on the theory of evolution.
<soapbox>I'm having to try very hard not to get into a big, hairy discussion on how this really reinforces the State mandated teaching of the religion of atheism. I'll be good this time. </soapbox>

Now, I'm sure since this was a lawsuit that someone won...I'm just not sure who.

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