Bill Nye Discusses Why We Must Keep Religion Out Of Science Books

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by JEAN ANN ESSELINK on SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Yesterday, The New Civil Rights Movement let you know that people who live in the real world are gathering in Austin, Texas, in an attempt to keep religious fantasy out of the science books that high school students across the country will be using for the next ten years. The Texas Freedom Network is sponsoring the gathering, where you can come and have your picture taken with a dinosaur. (I think that refers to an actor in a costume, and not actual members of the Texas Board of Education.)

I am glad the protesters are there to Stand Up For Science, but’s it’s probably a fool’s errand. The fifteen-member board is well-stocked with creationists, including the chair, Barbara Cargill. They have been negotiating with the publishers of fifteen new science books (all of whom are looking at a multi-million dollar payday if their book is chosen) over what “facts” they would be wiling to fudge.

Meanwhile, a panel of right wing volunteer appointees has been advising them on the suitability of the material with advice like this:

“I understand the National Academy of Science’s [sic] strong support of the theory of evolution. At the same time, this is a theory. As an educator, parent, and grandparent, I feel very firmly that ‘creation science’ based on Biblical principles should be incorporated into every Biology book that is up for adoption.”

Today, the citizens of Texas will speak, as the board holds a public comment session. Realists and religionists (I made that word up, I don’t know what to call them that doesn’t sound pejorative.) will take to the microphone to express their opinion on including biblical information as a counter-argument to scientific theory. The Stand Up For Science Rally will be held outside the hearings.

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http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/bill-nye-discusses-why-we-must-keep-religion-out-of-science-books/news/2013/09/17/75215

[gopiscrap]

1. Thank you Bill Nye

[DetlefK]

2. Just biblical "creation science" or are other believes allowed, too?

The Old Greeks believed that Gaia gave birth to Kronos and their offspring yaddayaddayadda

The Old Germans believed that a male giant and a cow suddenly showed up in a cosmic void.

There is a race of aliens in "Hitchhiker's Guide through the Galaxy" that believes that the world was created when God sneazed.

[lastlib]

3. I personally subscribe to the theory of "Un-Intelligent Design".....

Basically, this theory holds that God was just working on his next model of creatures, when he screwed up and had to hide the evidence (a deity can't be seen as making a mistake after all). So he just dumped the stew on the third rock from the Sun, thinking it'd never come to anything there. When he saw it actually developing, he hosed the place down (hence Noah's Flod) hoping to just wash it into the ocean. It didn't quite work out. The rest, as they say, is history. We're the result of a major deity boo-boo. There is really more evidence for this theory than for any competing theory out there: Republicans. Need I say more?

[defacto7]

5. The only Un-intelligent design

is that which comes from the people who try to support fabricated myth by demand and manipulation. The universe is the intelligent design, it's its own beautiful symmetry and chaos, its own making, and its own creation. That is far more intelligent than the human struggle to make it all fit into a preformed set of Iron age fables.

[defacto7]

4. Big K&R Bill!