Al wrote:
As long as Al brought up the teaching of Creationism (Creation Science) and/or Intelligent Design in the St Paul Public Schools, here goes.
There are so many people in America, and even in St. Paul, who are hung up on this subject that I think we Democrats should give in, allow creationism in our schools and let it take a spot in our idea marketplace. The result will be evolution (that's evilution in some circles) in action and a dodo-like ID disappearance in the not too distant future.
1. Creation Science is an oxymoron. Before Tim gets all upset about this being an insult, I'll explain. The basis of modern science is testability. Science, as such, is a process that describes how hypotheses are verified (the actual term is falsified). Creationism is not testable, is not falsifiable. It is based on belief. It just is. As a person of faith, I am greatly insulted by the term Creation Science because it calls my religious integrety into question.
2. Al's statement, I think, reflects the widespread American missunderstanding about what Science is.(Al can correct me if I am not correct.) We in the US tend to think of science as this magical process that creates wonderful new goods for our society. First, this confused science with technology. Second, it ignores the hard work associated with actually doing science (scientists don't wave magic wands to get their results). Third, these ideas represent magical thinking that, in part, can be associated with the extremely poorly education most Americans recieve in science. So...
3. We would be much better off if the St. Paul Public Schools engaged in vigorous teaching about both science and technology rather than dealing in the teaching of the religious beliefs of some (or even many) St. Paulites.
Mike Schoenberg
MacGroveland
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