On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, Mike Scoles wrote:
> Good news. The Arkansas house voted down the anti-evilution bill this
> morning. ^^^^
Ah, yes. Evolution is the evil work of the devil. Was that
intentional?
And while we're on the topic, a thought, although I expect (with
trepidation) I'm going to hear from Jim Clark about it. We're
rightly outraged by the attempt by the religious right to censor
Darwin. But we have no problem with censoring creationism from
textbooks, on the grounds that it's not science. True, it's not,
but why not let it in anyway?
The best response to an untenable position is reason, not
censorship. Why not allot the creationists one page to take their
best shot at evolution, and one page for the rebuttal. This will
give them an opportunity to make their case, even if not equal
time. Better to have it out in the open where the wrong-
headedness can be addressed. Otherwise students may just get it
elsewhere, and we won't have the chance to point out why it isn't
science. To labour the point, wouldn't it be more educational to
point out what's wrong with "creation science" or "intelligent
design" rather than to just suppress it?
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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