I mean it is hard to believe that one of the most technologically and scientifically advanced countries in the world would... Do they teach it as a part of a religious class or in the science class?

Nobody has got in the classroom. I think the farthest creationists have pushed it is getting a little disclimer in the textbook saying evolution is just a theory or some shit like that. And even that is in a few small towns. Everywhere else failed to win the coart case proving that its not religion. And if its religion it cant be taught in schools.


Having a creationist museum is just as bad. Claiming people lived with dinasours etc. burn it

But don't forget that a number 'fundamentalists' like to home-school their children. There, they can teach pretty much whatever the fuck they want.

There are also a large amount of Christian universities with bogus "accreditations" that regularly teach biblical creationism.


Sad.

In Kansas, they teach it right along side evolution.

Only in the south/hick areas.

There are also a large amount of Christian universities with bogus "accreditations" that regularly teach biblical creationism.


Sad.


Actually, Some of those christian universities (BJU comes to mind) claim that they choose not to be accredited, when in reality, they cannot become accreditied because they refuse to believe in science.

Sad is an understatement in my opinion. Whats worse is that they turn out hundreds of graduates.

Phew, thanks guys for the helpful replies! I feel better knowing that it is not a widespread class :)

So if I understand well, it isn't taught in science class apart from a few backwards schools in the south and ?! Kansas?

Good point...

I am sure there are plenty of privet schools that teach creationism.

Yes, particularly parochial schools.

I live in rural SW Kansas and no they don't, you're an ignorant piece of shit.

They do, however (and I think this is done all over the United States actually), word history books and science books in such a way that they're not actually outright lying to you about the history events or the science but it implies the misinformation. For example, they say stuff like: "And the English men came over to the Americas and the natives practices cannibalism, sacrificed people, were uncivilized, and the English tried to give them religion.... There was violence and lots of Native Americans were killed."

It doesn't matter though, the only real education is self-education, and those who rely on the school system to educate them deserve to be fed bullshit.

I go to a public school in Texas (right in the heart of Bible country). The way it works is that most teachers have to put a disclaimer at the beginning of any lecture over evolution, out of fear that one of the students might run home to tell his hardcore fundamentalist parents that he was taught in school that the Bible was wrong. Creationism isn't taught straight out in public schools, but due to the many years of influence from their parents and church leaders the vast majority of kids I know take it as true, or at least try to reconsile creationism and evolution through intelligent design.

Sorry, I was mistaken about Kansas, the actual curriculum is left up to local school districts, but the decision still encourages challenges to evolutionary theory and may "encourage activists in small, rural districts to push for more overtly religious science lessons."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2005-11-08-kansas-science-standards_x.htm

Minnesota dominates education, and I would never know about creationism if I didnt hear about it in the news. Many churches stay off the subject, because thats how much being intellegent kicks ass. Religion and uneducation are strongly related.

Thus begins the downfall of American society, when we begin to turn a blind eye to the truth that is in front of us, and revert to believing in old age superstitions, pseudo-science, and just plain mumbo jumbo.

Peace.

Yes. I personally don't believe in it, but it's a matter of faith, and students need to be educated and open-minded about the beliefs of other people. Our nation is becoming increasingly more hostile and prejudiced against Christians, and it's scary.

I agree, evolution is shit.

I agree, evolution is shit.

I was refering to christianity as the mumbo-jumbo.
The earth and everything you see on it was not created in 6 days. Sorry.

Heres a thought. What if both sides are wrong, but yet right? What if God is real and he created evolution?

Peace.

Onward, secular soldiers. Religion in the developed world is a pitiful helpless giant being slowly brought to its knees.. But not if the evangelical right have their way.

At least people aren't and won't be killing you in the streets for your beliefs. Now that is scary. After all, part of the problem Christians have is their loud-mouth extremists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson prejudicing people who would otherwise not give a shit against the religion.

ive gone through school in australia, and was never taught anything to do with evolution. if i took biology or whatever then i would have been, but everything i know about evolution i had to learn on my own. this isn't to do with any religious reasoning, it is just a leaning the education system takes here towards maths and "real" sciences.

the point is, why is this a big deal. i know censorship isn't something we want near our schools, but if there is this much drama over the teaching of evolution why not just change the curriculum to something like mendels experiments with genes and adaptation. the same thing as evolution, but none of it can be discredited or tagged with "theory". if you learn about that then you will have an understanding of adaptation of species, and whether you choose to apply the mechanism to humans is totally up to the individual.

it seems to accomplish the educational goal of teaching the student about evolution without contradicting what the fundies believe.

i personally believe that evolution should be taught completely and unparalleled, but in the states where the rednecks roam it seems like a good compromise.

At least people aren't and won't be killing you in the streets for your beliefs. Now that is scary. After all, part of the problem Christians have is their loud-mouth extremists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson prejudicing people who would otherwise not give a shit against the religion.

Oh BULLSHIT! Prejudice doesn't exist because of the bad elements in a group, it exists because of the irrational thoughts within the individual who chooses to apply one person's set of attributes to all others who share a common attribute. Jerry Falwell sucked, and Pat Robertson sucks - rational thought deduces that those two sucked because of their individual personalities, not their religion. Irrational thought sees a common trait in two people, and applies anthropomorphic judgment to the entire collective that shares that one trait.

You fail. :P

Oh BULLSHIT! Prejudice doesn't exist because of the bad elements in a group, it exists because of the irrational thoughts within the individual who chooses to apply one person's set of attributes to all others who share a common attribute. Jerry Falwell sucked, and Pat Robertson sucks - rational thought deduces that those two sucked because of their individual personalities, not their religion. Irrational thought sees a common trait in two people, and applies anthropomorphic judgment to the entire collective that shares that one trait.

You fail. :P

What part of "part of the problem" did you miss? Extremists ARE part of the problem - they prejudice ignorant or irrational people against otherwise benevolent groups and individuals ALL the time. They act as a focus point for that garbage. Christianity has fuckwits like Falwell and Robertson, Islam has the jihadists. Don't mistake what I'm saying as blaming the religion... the blame is on the extremists and in part on their followers.

Some Atheists suffer from the exact same thing - they see the world through the narrow tunnel of what they've experienced with that religion in their own lives and blame the entire religion for it.

I still pose that it is solely the result of irrational thought that the prejudice exists. Falwell and Robertson were/are shitty people. The rational deduction ends there. Does coal pollute the air, or is it the burning of coal that pollutes the air?

Stop smoking pot then trying to sound like you are making a point.
Religion is far far less influential now then it ever was.

Who cares.

Even in parochial schools they are required to learn evolution.

It doesn't matter who teaches creationism, it's important that they all have to teach evolution.

I'd have to disagree if you say it's the sole cause. After all, prejudice may have its birth in irrational though, but it is spread in ways that have nothing to do with rationality. Indoctrination, for example. Why bother with trying to argue an adult into an irrational point of view when you can simply brainwash little kids into believing it? Start them young, get the belief nice and deep-seated and then in some cases no matter how intelligent they are, they'll always be for you.

That's only a single example. Propaganda exists for a reason, as do oaths in court about telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Irrationality is far too simplistic a root to be the entire cause, IMO.

i almost got stuck going to a catholic school. i had to go detour it with my parents, and there were nuns all over the place, and there were kids praying in the classrooms-

i told my parents if the made me go there i was going to set one of the nuns on fire.



i now go to sheldon high school :)

I'd have to disagree if you say it's the sole cause. After all, prejudice may have its birth in irrational though, but it is spread in ways that have nothing to do with rationality. Indoctrination, for example. Why bother with trying to argue an adult into an irrational point of view when you can simply brainwash little kids into believing it? Start them young, get the belief nice and deep-seated and then in some cases no matter how intelligent they are, they'll always be for you.

That's only a single example. Propaganda exists for a reason, as do oaths in court about telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Irrationality is far too simplistic a root to be the entire cause, IMO.

Rationality is the ability to ensure the premises used are parallel to objective reality. Irrational thought includes the acceptance of things you are told (as you are failing to check the premises for accuracy). And irrationality is not a simple root at all. Delusion is ever more complex than reality.

Also, you mistake intellect and rationality as synonymous.

i told my parents if the made me go there i was going to set one of the nuns on fire.

Epic.

Rationality is the ability to ensure the premises used are parallel to objective reality. Irrational thought includes the acceptance of things you are told (as you are failing to check the premises for accuracy). And irrationality is not a simple root at all. Delusion is ever more complex than reality.

Also, you mistake intellect and rationality as synonymous.

That's an interesting definition of rationality you've used there. If one were to subscribe to such an extremely narrow and technical definition, anyone who ever fails to "ensure" that the premises used are objective is guilty of irrationality. Convenient kind of definition if you want to attack anyone that ever disagrees with you. Just find a single flaw in their argument and accuse them of irrationality.

The definition of rationality in a Webster's is more basic - the power or faculty of reasoning; soundness of mind.... extended: sanity, sensibility, reasonablenss

What this means when applied to real-world situation is that while rationality and intellect are not the same thing, rationality has intellect as one of its foundations. A person who is ignorant will have a hard time with any rationality on anything other than subjects based on life lessons, and a person who is less educated than another (a child being indoctrinated for instance) will not have the resources to out-reason a Biblical scholar. Some children certainly are irrational, but to assert that they all are simply because they do not have the education to counter what they are being told simply for the sake of making the point is wrong.

Stop smoking pot then trying to sound like you are making a point.
Religion is far far less influential now then it ever was.

I have to disagree,

1) In France, the law of separation of the church was created in 1905 and ran unimpeded since, until around a year ago when pressure from Islam was too strong and now the government is thinking of amendments.

2) Muslims are starting to wear scarves and burkas even when they live in a secular country.

3) Evangelicals are growing in South America, Africa, the U.S.A

4) A part of the U.S GOVERNMENT is getting soft on the theory of the evolution of the species!

5) Muslim extremism and terrorism was never this strong...

Want more?

ive gone through school in australia, and was never taught anything to do with evolution. if i took biology or whatever then i would have been, but everything i know about evolution i had to learn on my own. this isn't to do with any religious reasoning, it is just a leaning the education system takes here towards maths and "real" sciences.
.

I was taught plenty about evolution. Both in primary school in Perth, then high school in canberra and Brisbane.

Some children certainly are irrational, but to assert that they all are simply because they do not have the education to counter what they are being told simply for the sake of making the point is wrong.

I'm not asserting that all children are irrational. I'm asserting that irrationality is the root of prejudice; the SOLE root of prejudice. Being told that niggers are evil is fine and dandy if you have the rationale to question what you are told - you can't force someone to accept a lie. If you lack the faculty to question both premises and conclusions (sensibility and reason play in here for those who do question the two), you are irrational by the very definition you provided, and likely to believe that niggers are evil simply because you were told so.