Note to self, hire no one from Alabama

If your state puts stickers in your textbooks telling you to ignore scientific fact, don’t complain when you end up working for Taco Bell.

This week, Alabama made headlines for revising its state science education standards. For the first time, teachers in the state will be required to teach evolution and the fact that humans contribute to climate change. But buried in that news was acknowledgement of a “sticker” that the state requires be placed on its biology textbooks, telling students that evolution is a “controversial theory,” not a fact. - Rawstory

The original article is worth a read, unless you are from Alabama. I’d just skip it and read a pop up book.

John Freshwater's Crusade is over

John Freshwater WAS a teacher who was fired after it was learned that he was branding students with a cross and secretly teaching creationism while trying to recruit children for Christ. All actions were unethical. The school district fired him and now he’s lost his last appeal. The long sad story is over. John Freshwater will not get his job back nor will he be compensated. 

"John Freshwater, a creationist and former Ohio public school science teacher, isn’t getting his job back.

The 57-year-old Freshwater, who taught eighth-grade science at Mount Vernon Middle School for 20 years, was fired in 2008 for insubordination after he refused to stop teaching creationism and displaying religious symbols, as well as for burning a cross into a student’s arm."

Source:Freshwater’s Stale Crusade | Americans United:

I’ve posted on John Freshwater several times over the years, and I’ve called him a nutball. I think it was justified. The one thing that stands out for me in this case is that he was willing to lie and cheat in order to spread his religious views, which, in the end was seen as dishonest and repugnant by everyone involved except his religious community. Now if only he would pay the school district’s legal bills…

Christine O'Donnell "Evolution Is A Myth"

Christine O’Donnell is such a piss ant. She recites the creationist’s most moronic argument as if saying it makes it true.

Technorati Tags: Christine O’Donnell,Politics

So stupid it hurts

The rapid fossilization of hats debunked: I love this guy. He makes me laugh so hard I have trouble breathing. Checkout Potholer65debunks for more.

Technorati Tags: Creationism,Evolution

Many High School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism

Wired Science has an interesting article called School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism.

One in eight U.S. high school teachers presents creationism as a valid alternative to evolution, says a poll published in the Public Library of Science Biology.

Of more than 900 teachers who responded to a poll conducted by Penn State University political scientist Michael Berkman and colleagues, 32 percent agreed that creationism and intelligent design should be taught as scientifically unsound. Forty percent said such explanations are religiously valid but inappropriate for science class.

However, 25 percent said they devoted classroom time to creationism or intelligent design. Of these, about one-half -- 12 percent of all teachers -- called creationism a "valid scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species," and the same number said that "many reputable scientists view these as valid alternatives to Darwinian theory." (The full study makes for interesting reading: Evolution and Creationism in America’s Classrooms: A National Portrait.

Read More...

People ask me why I care. It seem obvious, no?

Only in Texas: Fundie running the Board of Education

Don McLeroy has been on my fundie watch list for a few years. His antics on the Texas State Board of Education would have lead to his ouster in almost any other state. Not so in Texas, he's been promoted chair the Board of Education. The National Center for Science Education is up in arms.

In a press release dated August 7, 2007, the Texas Freedom Network accused Don McLeroy, who recently was appointed as the new chair of the Texas state Board of Education, of harboring "a shocking hostility to both sound science education and religious tolerance." TFN's charge was based on the transcript of a 2005 talk McLeroy gave at Grace Bible Church in Bryan, Texas, on the debate over teaching evolution and "intelligent design." "This recording makes clear the very real danger that Texas schoolchildren may soon be learning more about the religious beliefs of politicians than about sound science in their biology classes," TFN President Kathy Miller said. "Even worse, it appears that Don McLeroy believes anyone who disagrees with him can't be a true Christian."

Read the transcript, McLeroy is a fundie loon hell bent on throwing out the teaching of evolution in the classroom. He will chair the Texas Board of Education until 2009. What the hell are they thinking?

I first heard of Don McLeroy while driving through the hill country of Texas. I passed a radar trap town's only church at a blinding 25 miles per hour. The sign out front read "Pray for Don McLeroy". I thought he had leukemia.

Technorati tags: Texas, Science, Education, Evolution, Don McLeroy, fundamentalism, fundies, Christians

Behold the Creation Museum

I found this on digg. Two young Atheist visit the Creation Museum and document it in pictures posted in a photogroup on Flickr. It is worth a few minutes of your time to watch the slide show. I've got to get his T-shirt.

Technorati tags: photography, Creation Museum, flickr

Chinese writing '8,000 years old'

Via Gospel of Reason: It seems that the young earth creationist's 6,000 year old age of the earth may have hit another snag. It seems people were writing in China 2,000 years before the supposed creation of everything in the universe. I'm told the writing is a recipe for pork dumplings...

The Damaidi carvings, first discovered in the 1980s, cover 15 sq km (5.8 square miles) and feature more than 8,000 individual figures including the sun, moon, stars, gods and scenes of hunting or grazing. [ed. and pork dumplings]

Technorati tags: creationism, archaeology, China

Do you believe in Evolution?

I don't know what to say... wait, now I have it. There is no way in hell I will vote for a Republican candidate who does not believe in the Theory of Evolution. Three candidates publicly proclaimed they did not believe in evolution in the first Republican debate held Friday night. Sen. Sam Brownback, Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Rep. Tom Tancredo - you can all quit now, your political careers are over (or at least your presidential aspirations are over).

Watch for yourself:

Huckabee offered up a few campaign coffin nails by proclaiming himself a bible thumping fundamentalist in a follow-up interview. He accepts the biblical view of creation on faith, because the bible says so. Screw science.

Fundie Quote: Mike Huckabee

" I'm not sure what in the world that [Believing in evolution] has to do with being president of the United States."

Just say NO to fundamentalism. Just say no to Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, and Tom Tancredo.

Technorati tags: Politics, Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, evolution, Republican Debate

Where Evolution Is Taught In the US

Via Strange Maps - Where (and How) Evolution is Taught in the US

"Mississippi appears determined to keep evolution outside its borders"

In Texas - "human evolution (not covered)"

In Georgia - "treatment of evolution... useless"

Technorati tags: evolution, maps

Darwin's God

The New York Time Magazine published Darwin’s God by Robin Marantz Henig over the weekend. It is a powerful exploration of the evolutionary basis for our collective religious tenancies.

The magic-box demonstration helped set Atran on a career studying why humans might have evolved to be religious, something few people were doing back in the ’80s. Today, the effort has gained momentum, as scientists search for an evolutionary explanation for why belief in God exists — not whether God exists, which is a matter for philosophers and theologians, but why the belief does.

At 12 pages, it takes a few minutes to read. I should have read this outstanding article instead of wasting my time with The Tomb of Jesus.

Technorati tags: Evolution, Darwin, Darwins's God, Robin Marantz Henig

New Edition of the Bible Says Evolution Is True

I really don't know what to say here besides WTF? Do we really need a bastardized bible that incorporates science into the narrative and uses Tony Robbins for source material?

If you believe that we evolved from apes, that Genesis is great poetry, and that the Universe is billions of years old, can you still enjoy reading the Bible?

Bronx school teacher and book artist Ruth Rimm thinks she has an answer. Her latest book series, the "Lost Spiritual World," is a lavishly illustrated, "postmodern" edition of the Bible for skeptics, seekers, and people of different faiths.

"There may be a profound message behind the miracle stories, but the big bang and evolution implore us not to read things literally," Rimm says. "Most Americans would rather discover the spiritual truths behind the religious metaphors, especially given how fundamentalism is impacting public life with a narrow view of religion."

Unless this is a complete hoax, it qualifies for nutball status as new age pseudo-religious crapola.

Don't forget to watch the Parable of the Gorilla.

Technorati tags: Religion, Science, Evolution, Nutballs

Blinded by Science: Stuck in Creationism

Discovery Magazine has a review of Answers In Genesis's new Creationist Museum. Bruno Maddox wrote the article. 

In the beginning, wrote God in His epic, loosely autobiographical best seller, The Bible, the Lord made the heavens and the Earth. Pondering from the vile comfort of the Marriott in Hebron, Kentucky, I assumed that this single statement represented the bulk, if not the entirety, of creationist ideology. Hence the name, I reckoned in a flash of insight. God created everything; if something exists, then God created it. Yes, that's what they believe, those creationists.

I can see myself heading to Kentucky soon. I am intrigued by this work of fiction. Like any good lie, their elaborate construction will start to unravel the moment skeptical minds focus on it. I want to get a look inside before the reset the the skeptical world tears it apart. From Maddox's account, it sounds like we have our work cut out for us.

Technorati tags: Creationism, Evolution, Science

The Jews are behind evolution!

Via the Neural Gourmet - The Jews are behind evolution!

It makes me proud to be an American - but happy I live in the great state of California - Georgia and Texas have something in the water which breeds stupid fundamentalists.

Technorati tags: Evolution, Science

Evolution beats ID in Kansas

Via Reuters - Conservatives lose latest Darwin Battle in Kansas

The Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday threw out science standards deemed hostile to evolution, undoing the work of Christian conservatives in the ongoing battle over what to teach U.S. public school students about the origins of life.

Chalk one up to common sense. Of course, there are five years worth of High School graduates who won't be going to med school.

Technorati tags: ID, Evolution, Kansas

Charles Darwin, the father of terror

Thump the Bible or the Koran, it does not matter, when you start asserting that the theory of evolution is the true source of terror, you qualify as a fundie nutball in my book. (That would be the Big Book of Fundie Nutballs available at a bookstore near you.)

PARIS (AFP) - Tens of thousands of French schools and universities have received copies of a Turkish book refuting Darwin's theory of evolution and describing it as "the true source of terrorism."

Apparently the best way to get the word out in France is to bypass the bureaucracy by distribution anti-science books directly to public schools. I'm sure some nameless French bureaucrat is really pissed off at the moment. The situation is made even more bizarre by the official message from the French Government that the book does not follow educational guidelines - how do you say duh in French? Duh?

(Posted while listing to Ultimate Fakebook - Soaked in Cinnamon - off This Will Be Laughing Week)

Technorati tags: Darwin, Nutballs, Islam, France

How old is the Grand Canyon?

I am going to file this one under "Dumb Things our government does". Via Jon Voisey of The Angry Astronomer - a trip down the rabbit hole of creationism.

Ever want to know how old the Grand Canyon is?

Well, don't ask the park services. They can't tell you.

Why not? As you might expect, it's due to pressure from Bush appointees, ignoring the protests of its own scientists as well as every scientific organization.
Read the whole thing...

This situation will last about as long as Bush remains in power - I hope.

 

Technorati tags: creationism

ID on the move in Louisiana

Via Jon Voisey of the Angry Astronomer we find that the Ouachita Parish School Board slipped in language that would allow the teaching of Intelligent Design in science classroom.

Where topics are taught that may generate controversy (such as biological evolution), the curriculum should help students to understand the full range of scientific views that exist, why such topics may generate controversy, and how scientific discoveries can profoundly affect society.

Source: Ouachita board OK's academic freedom' in classroom - The Shreveporttimes.com

Jon writes:

If the actual wording of this is upheld, then I think it would be rather innoculous. I fully support the teaching of the "full range of scientific views". But the key word there is scientific.

Unfortunately, I suspect that my definition of science (you know... involving the scientific method and all) is quite different from there's (uses lots of big words we don't know but tells us what we want to hear).

Read more...

This news means that the clock is ticking on a lawsuit. My bet is three months.

 

Technorati tags: ID, creationism, Ouachita, science

Muslim Creationism

Further proof that their fundies are worse than our fundies...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A lavishly illustrated "Atlas of Creation" is mysteriously turning up at schools and libraries in Turkey, proclaiming that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is the real root of terrorism.

Arriving unsolicited by post, the large-format tome offers 768 glossy pages of photographs and easy-to-read text to prove that God created the world with all its species.

At first sight, it looks like it could be the work of United States creationists, the Christian fundamentalists who believe the world was created in six days as told in the Bible.

But the author's name, Harun Yahya, reveals the surprise inside. This is Islamic creationism, a richly funded movement based in predominantly Muslim Turkey which has an influence U.S. creationists could only dream of.

Source: Creation vs Darwin takes Muslim twist in Turkey | Science&Health | Science | Reuters.co.uk

(For those of you who will send me hate mail; yes - I know there are Muslims in America, and yes - I know there are Christians in Turkey, so don't bother hammering that point home.)

 

Technorati tags: Islam, Muslims, creationism, darwin, Turkey, Harun Yahya

Creationist Lies and Blunders

I came across this collection of Creationist and iD "lies and blunders'" while doing research into an unrelated topic. The author states:

This site is dedicated to debunking a variety of falsehoods being propagated by creationists. Many are going to be outright lies though cases of glaring incompetence will be examined as well. My goal is not to be a mere nitpicker. But rather to emphasize falsehoods which very little excuse can be made especially ones that make a difference in the evolution/creation “debate.

Source: Creationist Lies and Blunders

He takes on some interesting subjects:

• Different parts of the Vollosovitch Mammoth dated 29,500 and 44,000 years respectively.
• Human lysozyme is closest to chicken lysozyme.
• The Lewis Overthrust is not folded.
• There is too little dust on the Moon for it to be billions of years old.
• The Earth’s rotation is slowing down too fast for it to be billions of years old.
• Dubois hid Wadjak Man for 30 years.
• Museum paleontologists say there are no transitional fossils.

My approach is less academic. If approached by a creationist, I respond with "you guys are nutballs" and turn up my music.

Technorati tags: Creationism, ID