Tag: Florida
Opponents of Academic Freedom on Teaching Evolution Using Outlandish Rhetoric
A modified version of the Louisiana Academic Freedom Bill moved out of the Louisiana Senate Education Committee on Thursday, following testimony from both proponents and opponents of the bill. I recently predicted that, “For the Darwinists who oppose the bill, this battle is about falsely appealing to people’s emotions and fears in order to suppress the teaching of scientific information that challenges evolution.” If you don’t believe me, consider the latest testimony from Darwinists encouraging legislators to oppose the bill yesterday before the Louisiana Senate Education Committee: Unfortunately, Senator Cassidy’s amendment seems to have passed into the revised version of the bill; however, the bill still contains good language encouraging school boards “to create and foster an environment … that Read More ›
Florida Evolution Academic Freedom Bill Moves Forward
The Florida Academic Freedom bill has moved forward today past Florida’s Senate Judiciary Committee. It has now been approved by both Senate committees and will soon get a vote on the floor of the Florida Senate. Unfortunately, the Florida newsmedia continues to misrepresent the bill, as the Orlando Sentinel wrongly claimed that, under the bill, “Florida teachers could mention religious theories about human origins.” The Florida newsmedia seems to be taking their talking points directly from Florida Citizens for Science. If one reads the text of the bill, it’s clear that it only protects the teaching of “scientific information” and does not cover the teaching of religion. Darwinist groups have attacked the academic freedom bill as being “smelly crap” or Read More ›
The Darwinist Misinformation Train Makes a Long Stop in Florida
How is misinformation spread about intelligent design? In some cases, it’s a simple pathway going from lawyers working with the NCSE and ACLU right into the willing hands of the media. First, attorneys cooperating with the NCSE and ACLU during the Kitzmiller v. Dover case invented text from the “Wedge Document,” wrongly stating in their “Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” submitting during the Kitzmiller trial that, “The Wedge Document states in its ‘Five Year Strategic Plan Summary’ that the intelligent design movement’s goal is to replace science as currently practiced with ‘theistic and Christian science.’” Next, Judge Jones copied and pasted this misinformation directly into his Kitzmiller ruling, stating: “The Wedge Document states in its ‘Five Year Strategic Read More ›
Florida State Board Tricked into Meaningless “Compromise” to Retain Dogmatism and call Evolution “Scientific Theory”
Today the Florida State Board of Education voted 4-3 to adopt science standards that call evolution “the fundamental concept underlying all of biology.” While it is good that students will learn about evolution, these standards will make for bad science education because they elevate Darwin’s theory to a dogma that cannot be questioned. Even worse, some board members thought that they could rectify the dogmatic tone of the standards by calling evolution a “scientific theory.” Some news articles are even calling this a “compromise.” Those board members were tricked into a false compromise: inserting the word “scientific theory” before the word “evolution” is a meaningless and impotent change that will do absolutely nothing to actually inform students about the scientific Read More ›
Florida State Board of Education Receives Minority Report That Covers Evolution Objectively
Rob Crowther recently discussed the fact that the proposed Florida Science Standards take an extremely dogmatic approach towards evolution education. The proposed standards assert that evolution is “the fundamental concept underlying all of biology,” and they claim that it “is supported by multiple forms of scientific evidence.” There are no mention of any scientific problems with neo-Darwinism anywhere in Florida’s proposed standards. Notwithstanding the extremely well-organized efforts of the Darwin-only contingent in Florida, Fred Cutting, a member of the Framing Committee for Florida’s science standards, has written and submitted a Minority Report to the State Board of Education that would introduce objectivity into the evolution curriculum. Some time ago, Mr. Cutting inquired with us for information about solid evolution education, Read More ›