Tag: evolution
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab Fires Cassini Mission Senior Computer Admin Who Filed Discrimination Lawsuit
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) just dumped a lot of fuel on the fire of David Coppedge’s discrimination lawsuit by firing him on Monday. Coppedge’s lawsuit against JPL alleges discrimination because he was prevented from talking about intelligent design (ID). This could potentially expose JPL to a claim of wrongful termination and increase the merits of Coppedge’s claim that JPL retaliated against him. According to Coppedge’s attorney William Becker, JPL claims the firing resulted from downsizing in the face of budget issues, but Coppedge is the most senior member of the team that oversees the computers on NASA and JPL’s Cassini Mission to Saturn. Coppedge doesn’t seem at all like the first person who would normally be forced to leave Read More ›
God and Evolution: A Response to Stephen Barr (part 2)
This is the second of three posts responding to Stephen Barr. The first post can be found here. Mainstream Theistic Evolution: Directed or Undirected? In the initial decades after Darwin proposed his theory, theistic evolution typically was presented as a form of guided evolution. Although Darwin himself rejected the idea that evolution was guided by God to accomplish particular ends, many of Darwin’s contemporaries (including those in the scientific community) rejected undirected natural selection as sufficient to explain all the major advances in the history of life. Instead, according to historian Peter Bowler, there was widespread acceptance of the idea “that evolution was an essentially purposeful process… The human mind and moral values were seen as the intended outcome of Read More ›
Fort Worth Weekly factually challenged when it comes to intelligent design and Darwinian evolution
This story by Laurie James Barker in the Fort Worth Weekly completely misrepresents not just the important issue of how evolution is taught in Texas, but also the views and policy positions of Discovery Institute. Ms. Barker didn’t bother to talk with anyone at Discovery Institute, or it seems to even adequately research our organization. Never mind that she’s produced an extremely biased polemical piece, as opposed to objective reporting of the issue. There are numerous factual errors, errors of omission and such, but for brevity I will simply focus on a few of her mistakes.
Biden, Clinton, Edwards, Kerry, McCain (in 2001) Agree: High School Curriculum Should Inform Students About the Evolution Controversy; Palin (in 2006) Lets It Be Optional
Press reports on Governor Palin as the Republican nominee for Vice President featured her position in 2006 on the teaching of alternatives to evolution: “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of education. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools.” Palin later clarified: “I don’t think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.” On this thin reed stand accusations that Palin is a “creationist.” But if that makes someone a “creationist,” then the ranks of the creationists include the Democratic party’s 2008 nominee for Vice-President, both of its 2008 runners-up for the Presidential nomination, and both its 2004 nominees for Read More ›
Back to School With Explore Evolution
As students around the country gear up to head back to classes and homework, some of them will be learning the complete story of evolution for the first time.Adopted by secondary schools and colleges, Explore Evolution (Hill House Publishers, 2007), the first biology textbook to present the arguments for and against neo-Darwinism, is invigorating the study of biology for a new generation of budding scientists. While we’ve documented several textbooks which teach bogus information to students, it’s good to remember that there are texts out there that not only teach correct and current information on evolution, but do so in a way that gets young minds involved and interested in the exciting questions of science.