02-12-2005, 05:09 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Crazy
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65% of Americans support teaching creationism in public schools
To me, this begs the question of how seriously Americans value the 1st Amendment. It makes it look like the majority of people are perfectly willing to discard the Constitution whenever it stands in the way their own personal religious agenda. I have no problem with people getting out in public and arguing for or against the matter with their own voice, but when they seem so willing to just toss aside the Bill of Rights as part of their political game I find that more than a bit disturbing.
Quote:
Evangelical Christians, buoyed by the re-election of Republican President George W. Bush, are turning American schools into a battleground over whether evolution explains the origins of life or whether nature was designed by an all-powerful force. In at least 18 states, campaigns have begun to make public schools teach "intelligent design" - a theory that nature is so complex it could only have been created by design - alongside Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
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Supporters have proposed laws in state assemblies, campaigned for new policies at state and local school boards, and placed stickers in textbooks saying evolution is controversial and that students should consider alternatives. The Dover Area School Board in Pennsylvania now requires that ninth-graders are told there are "gaps" in the theory of evolution, and that intelligent design is an alternative they should consider. The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the policy in court as unconstitutional. A bill in Missouri would require public school biology textbooks to contain a "critical analysis of origins" and highlight controversial topics "such as biological evolution."
According to the National Council for Science Education, a pro-evolution group in Oakland, California, other states considering legislation on the issue include Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Texas. Other state or local school boards debating the teaching of intelligent design include Ohio, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee and Alaska.
Most Americans believe in some form of creationism, according to a CBS poll conducted ahead of last November's election. 55% of Americans believed God created humans in their present form and a further 27% believed humans evolved, but God guided the process. 65% of all Americans favoured schools teaching creationism and evolution while 37% wanted creationism taught instead of evolution. The poll found greater support for teaching creationism among Republican voters - 71% of Bush voters favoured teaching creationism alongside evolution.
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http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_st...%3fformat=html |
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