lpetrich

In what way was the Big Bang not an explosion? It seems like an explosion to me.

lpetrich

Something like Lactantius's "demonstration" that the Earth is flat. He said that the inhabitants of the opposite side would fall upward, which he found totally absurd.

lpetrich

Defenders of evolution often split hairs on this question, which is unreasonable, since the shared human-simian ancestors would have seemed very simian.

openeyes

I don't see how the state can set "standards" and then say the depth and treatment of the discussion of evolution can be left to the individual communities. Perhaps I don't understand the word "standard"?

I've been doing a search of the various private colleges located in Minnesota with religious ties of some sort and looking to see if they offer classes in biology (so far they all have). If available, I look at their class descriptions in their intro biology courses to see if evolution is mentioned. I haven't gotten too far, but I didn't see the word listed on the two nearby "bible" colleges, although one did seem to have a fairly thorough biology curriculum which would seem very difficult to teach without accepting evolution. (I actually couldn't find class descriptions on the other.) My alma mater, St Benedicts/St Johns mentions evolution. They covered it in depth when I attended back in the late 70's. This school also has a geology degree which I'm sure doesn't get into the effects of the "flood". The other two that I researched so far mention evolution also. (I'm assuming all the state-run post-secondary schools teach evolution in their biology courses, right pz?)

Can a post-secondary school get accredited to teach biology without teaching evolution?

My point is, how can the state say it's preparing kids for college if it avoids explaining evolution when almost all the colleges in the state teach it as fact?

Of what use is a creationist explanation, except to affirm your bible?

I just finished reading "Time Traveling with Science and the Saints" by George Erickson, a local atheist. This book outlines how the Church squelched science at about every possible turn by many means, including torture and murder, and slowed down the advancement of mankind for a millenium and a half at least. It makes me even more "fired up" to not let the creationists take over.

notMichaelJackson

I can't think of a greater tragedy for the educational system than something being added or removed from the classroom simply because popular opinion was allowed to dictate such.

pz

As far as I know, yes...at my university, evolution pretty much permeates every biology class.

notMichaelJackson

Once schools start teaching Biology without evolution, they will need to start teaching chemistry without the periodic table, and physics without math, just to be consistant.