thebeave

Obviously, when the legislators talk about a Creator they are referring to the Christian God, though they won't admit it. It would be funny if all the bioscience teachers banded together and played along with their game of including a Creation account in the curricula, but instead of the Biblical account of Creation, they teach the Islam (or Hindu or Greek or other non-Christian) account of Creation. I would pay big money to watch those legislators squirm and come unglued once they find out the teachers weren't teaching THEIR version of Creation.

Phoenixstar

Gahh and I am originally from Detroit. I better call my people up there and tell em to sound the alarms. Hopefully that nonsense will not be passed. That would be a disservice to science and to our youths education.

Nectaris

So I drafted up a potential letter to my representative in the house, and I was hoping for an honest critique and any changes I should make before sending it off, I will post the letter below:

Dear Representative _______


I would like to express my concern over House Bill 4946. Education is a serious concern for all citizens of our great state and science is an integral part of any child’s education. The Bill itself states:

(a) In the science standards, all references to "evolution" and "how species change through time" shall be modified to indicate that this is an unproven theory by adding the phrase "All students will explain the competing theories of evolution and natural selection based on random mutation and the theory that life is the result of the purposeful, intelligent design of a Creator."

Science does not deal with proof or disproof, but merely what is supported by the evidence. In this case, the Theory of Evolution is supported by such a mass of evidence that the only person who refuses to accept would be one who is willingly doing so.

I also take note of the use and capitalization of the word Creator. Could it be that the proponents of this bill have intent another than attempting to encourage scientific honesty? This seems similar to the political movement used by proponents of creationism to sneak in their unscientific and untested hypothesis that the universe and earth was somehow created 6,000 years ago by a being with supernatural powers. If creationists want this to be taught as a science in a classroom, they should be doing research and experiments in laboratories and not attempting to pass legislation. One cannot legislate what is scientific and what is not.

To intentionally harm the scientific curriculum in the State of Michigan by attempting to sneak religion in to public schools would do more harm than good—both in harming our fine State’s reputation and limiting the potential of our students who want to continue into a career in a scientific or medical field. This is not merely a matter of having a religion being pitted against those not having any religion, as there are many religious people who have no problem accepting the Theory of Evolution, including, members of the Catholic faith, Lutherans, Episcopalians, and members of the Jewish faith.

Please join in expressing your disapproval of House Bill 4946 and help to guarantee a quality education for all public school students in the State of Michigan.

Thank you for your attention to my concern.

Sincerely,



David Asman

Lobstrosity

I think the letter sounds good with the exception of this line, which I find to be a bit awkward and appears to be missing the word "it." It seems obvious to me that anyone who doesn't accept a claim is willingly rejecting it. I willingly reject creationist claims as unsupported and unfounded. Perhaps you should say that the only person who refuses to accept this evidence is one who is formulating his opinions based on preconceived biases, not based on science.

Nectaris

Thanks for the advice Lobstrosity and I think your suggestion sounds better. This will be the first letter I've ever written to my representative. I have sent some through the ACLU, but all I have to do is tell them my zip code, and they take care of the rest.

acidphos

Check out some of the other bills this same legislator is pushing-

HOUSE BILL No. 4596-
(1) A document or other object that contains the
2 Ten Commandments may be displayed on public property if all of
3 the following circumstances are met:

HOUSE BILL 4048 - Honest attempt to get real experts in their respective fields or clever backdoor for ICR loonies to preach in bio classes?

DMB

I like some of the ancient Greek creation myths.

Ouranos, the sky god and husband of Gaia, the mother earth, shut his children up inside Gaia. Then one of the children, Kronos, god of time and known in Latin as Saturn, was given a stone sickle by his mother, Gaia. When Ouranos came to have sex with Gaia, Kronos reached out with his sickle and castrated Ouranos. Drops of his blood fell onto Gaia and as a result she gave birth to the the Furies. Ouranos's genitals fell into the sea and the resulting foam of semen produced Aphrodite.

Rhaedas

From 4596:

This implies that the 10C had major influence...just because it mentions murder is bad doesn't mean it's THE source for murder laws, or the first to say so.

Why don't they just draw up a generalized guideline on the definition of secular documents can be shown on a public property...oh wait, the 10C wouldn't pass that...

Joe Meert

[QUOTE]Originally posted by pangloss
[B]Having lived in Michigan for 10 years, this only surprises me in that it had not been done a long time ago. Both sides of the political spectrum here lean towards creationism - the right-wingers for the obvious reasons, the left for the simple fact that a largew chunk of the left in MI is made up of minorities in urban areas, whom, in MI at least, have a tendency to be very religious. When I lived there, a local news station (FOX 44) ran a story on a poll of metro Detroiters in whihc it was reveal;ed that 60+% accepted biblical creation.

[QUOTE]

I believe Ann Arbor once was home to some creation science organization. Weird considering the democratic stronghold at UM, but I'm near positive they once had a main office there. Creation Research Society or something like that.

Cheers

Joe Meert

Joe Meert

JM: To answer my own question

The CRS was incorporated in the state of Michigan as a nonprofit corporation for educational and scientific purposes. Shortly thereafter it was granted 501(c)(3) not-for-profit tax-exempt status by the IRS. The first issue of the Creation Research Society Quarterly was published in July, 1964.

Right there in Ann Arbor since moved to Missouri

http://www.creationresearch.org/about_crs.htm