Comments on: Texas: Religious Antievolution’s Silly Season

By: Alexander

Alexander — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:02:39 +0000

I actually live in Huntsville now and I’ve lived in Texas all my life. I have to say that while I’m not surprised by this it’s also not exactly par for the course. The town I grew up in quite literally had more churches than schools, but I can’t remember any discussions in class about Creationism at all. Maybe I just got lucky with my teachers but I remember being fascinated by discussions of genetics and evolution, even as early as intermediate school. On the other hand my entire family lost their minds when I stopped going to church, so the coin quite obviously is two-sided.

By: Jolly Rationalist

Jolly Rationalist — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:24:06 +0000

If giving live birth defines a mammal: then presumably some insects are mammals!

Some species of aphid bear live young. [however they don't suckle their young, aren't vertebrates & etc.]

By: Qk.

Qk. — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:39:47 +0000

… Any chance that “teacher” worked for Fox news? They seem to have the same way of thinking..

By: tyydyy

tyydyy — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:37:40 +0000

Is it true that nipples are vestigial mounting points for our ancestors helicopter blades?

By: Phylophreak

Phylophreak — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:14:07 +0000

OK, Austringer, a plagiarized outbreak of T-shirt envy–wishing I could get away with wearing that to school. (I’m seriously considering the bumper sticker, though…) I do, however, take credit for my email sigline, “…And God saw that it was good, and evolution continued.”

By: Gary Hurd

Gary Hurd — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:03:44 +0000

I like to remind many creationist teachers of James 3:1. “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”

By: Austringer

Austringer — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:34:44 +0000

Funny that you would say that... :-)

By: Phylophreak

Phylophreak — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:03:42 +0000

I just hate people who pick up on some minor comment and blast away at it, ignoring the main thrust of a perfectly valid argument! Like this (to Praetorianstalker): “Especially in rural schools where teachers are going to most likely be religious themselves and who “cannot abide by” any way of thinking other than their religion.” Well, I’m a science teacher in a rural east Texas school and am not only religious, but even Baptist (though not, I hasten to add, Southern Baptist). However, like many other scientists and teachers who take their religions seriously (Hindu, Christian, Muslim, etc.), I am firmly convinced by the massive evidence in favor of evolution. I just want everyone to remain clear that religiosity doesn’t necessarily imply ignorance or evil intentions on young minds. So now I have demonstrated my point by ignoring Praetorianstalker’s excellent point that complicated topics like evolution can easily be unintentionally “mangled” when crammed into a brief presentation to a young audience with limited skills in critical thinking. Anyway, “Trust God. Teach Evolution, y’all!”

By: everettattebury

everettattebury — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:29:19 +0000

My third grade teacher explained the Archimedes principle by telling us that Archimedes was able to tell gold from lead because “gold floats.” I had already learned about water displacement, and I tried to correct her. It was one of the things that opened my eyes to the fact that just because someone is a teacher doesn’t mean they’re not a total dumbass.

By: Praetorianstalker

Praetorianstalker — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:06:32 +0000

In all seriousness though, I think in ways that something like evolution taught in schools is going to get mangled by teachers, even ones who mean well. Especially in rural schools where teachers are going to most likely be religious themselves and who “cannot abide by” any way of thinking other than their religion. Although the case here is quite eggregious and could possibly be something more than an uninformed person, IE someone trying to obfusticate young minds with anti-science to try and turn them away…