Cross posted @ the Atheist Oasis
Man, in his ignorance, supposed that all phenomena were produced by some intelligent powers, and with direct reference to him. – Robert Ingersoll, The Gods
“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.” Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
It is simple madness, to try to smother the truth by passing a law against it:
Unprecedented Attack On Evolution 'Indoctrination' Mounted In Missouri
A Missouri lawmaker has proposed what ranks among the most anti-evolution legislation in recent years, which would require schools to notify parents if "the theory of evolution by natural selection" was being taught at their child's school and give them the opportunity to opt out of the class.
Holy shit, like it’s not bad enough some parents resist sex education. But this? It’s lunacy.
The bill had its first public hearing Thursday after being introduced in late January.
It really shouldn’t have been heard at all.
State Rep. Rick Brattin (R), who sponsored the bill, told a local TV station last week that teaching only evolution in school was "indoctrination."
Oy gevalt. A Republican sponsored it. Whadda surprise.
"Our schools basically mandate that we teach one side," he told KCTV. "It is an indoctrination because it is not objective approach."
Oh, let me guess: this assclown wants to the schools to teach Islamic or Vedic creationism, right? Also, reeks of a tu quoque.
The bill is one of several anti-evolution proposals that have already appeared in statehouses across the country; the Daily Beast counted four states (Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Virginia) where legislation had been introduced. The proposals would allow for a range of approaches to evolution, from presenting a "debate" over evolution versus creationism to requiring that local school boards allow intelligent design to be included in biology courses.
There is no debate. This was settled back in the seventies. Forensic evidence for the win! (Were it that easy.)
But Brattin's bill appears to be the only one, and perhaps the first, that would mandate parental notification that their children were being taught evolution in school, the curriculum that most mainstream science teacher groups endorse.
Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, told TPM that he was not aware of any state legislation that had included a provision that parents be notified if evolution was being taught at their local schools.
Well, then that’s it for biology.
“It’s an absolute infringement on people’s beliefs,” Brattin told the Kansas City Star of requiring schools to teach evolution. “What’s being taught is just as much faith and, you know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion."
Codswallop. No, better to call it what it is: bullshit. Religion is just the rotting dingleberry on the anal hairs of humanity. Evolution is many things, but the core component is anything but ‘faith’. It is a systemically empirical methodology whose very foundation is based on scientific principles.
Unsurprisingly, the proposal has drawn criticism from those science teacher organizations.
The bill "would eviscerate the teaching of biology in Missouri," Branch said in a statement. "Evolution inextricably pervades the biological sciences; it therefore pervades, or at any rate ought to pervade, biology education at the K–12 level. There simply is no alternative to learning about it; there is no substitute activity."
"The value of a high school education in Missouri would be degraded," Branch said.
So people’s hard-earned tax dollars are being funneled into unnecessary political nonsenses? Wonderful.
Brattin's bill provides:
The policy shall require the school district or charter school to notify the parent or legal guardian of each student enrolled in the district of:
(1) The basic content of the district's or school's evolution instruction to be provided to the student; and
(2) The parent's right to remove the student from any part of the district's or school's evolution instruction.
The bill would also require schools to "make all curriculum materials used in the district's or school's evolution instruction available for public inspection ... prior to the use of such materials in actual instruction."
It looks like the future of our children’s education is falling into the wrong hands: the hands of the preacher, who breaks the back of reason with rhetoric; the mob, who will shred the rational in the name of superstition; the foam-flecked fanatic, with his fantasies of world’s end and all living bowing down to his deranged dogma; the willfully woefully ignorant, who delight in their lack of sense and are rewarded for their mindlessness with empty promises of an afterlife never to come.
May the days of religious ignorance end soon: it is an embarrassment to the species.
Till the next post, then.
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