On 22 Dec 2005 at 8:26, Horton, Joseph J. wrote:

> So is there a book Stephen, or other Tipsters, that you would reccomend that 
> would provide responses to these claims? Ideally such a work would have 
> explanations that would be understandable by undergrads in psychology, or 
> psychology professors who do not have strong backgrounds in biology. :)

The website that I cited in my post (http://www.vuletic.com/hume/cefec/ ) for 
the llist of criticisms of evolution provides a response to each. Just click on 
the claim to see the response.

Yet I envisage something more readable and suitable for high school students, 
which is why I mentioned "model lessons" prepared by experts.  For one thing, 
sites such as vuletic.com have too many claims, too much information, and the 
responses are too complicated.  The lessons should instead take a short list of 
the most  persuasive and often-repeated arguments advanced by creationists and 
provide a succinct and readily-understandable response to them, citing well-
established findings.

For example, take the assertion of creationists that the earth is much younger 
than claimed by evolutionists [According to Wikipedia, young earthers say it's 
6,000 to 10,000 years old rather than the 4.5 billion years claimed by 
scientists.] How many of us could convincingly describe the evidence which 
supports the scientific claim of an earth of such enormous age?  But we should 
learn to do this in school. Then the contrast between how science supports its 
claims with the "evidence" of creationists ("The Bible tells us so") would be 
telling. 

In response to Paul Okami, who said:

>  I think the injunction is against *teaching* ID (as an 
>  alternative to evolutionary theory), *not* discussing it 
>  as a social event 

I think the injunction _is_  meant literally, namely that biology teachers 
should not take the initiative in bringing ID into the classroom. I'm 
advocating that they should, to contrast it with science and to refute its 
specious claims. We can't stand by and expect that high school students will 
know how to do this on their own. To them, ID sounds like a credible 
alternative. We have to show them that it's not. 

Stephen

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Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.          
Department of Psychology     
Bishop's University                e-mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7
Canada

Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at
http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm
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