Guys, I’m as shocked as you are, but I think I actually respect this Freeper:
When I was in school a brief statement was made that stated many people believe the world was created by a creator. That’s about all that was said and that’s about all that was necessary.
And if that’s all that the IDers were asking for, the conversation would be over. Most science classes have a couple-sentence disclaimer like that, and if they don’t, a single student question can elicit one.
We also had a “moment of silence” after the pledge of allegiance.
I don’t see the point, but I also don’t see the outrage. Of course, I stopped saying the Pledge every day in the 8th grade, so I would have had a longer moment of silence.
Let me clarify. I had no objection to the sentiments in the Pledge. I never stopped reciting it on patriotic occasions. I objected to the force of daily habit. I objected to the rote recitation of words 90% of us had never given serious thought and maybe half could define if asked. I didn’t make a fuss; I just rose and placed my right hand over my heart, along with my classmates, but stood mute.
If I were a public school teacher, on my first — and quite possibly only — day on the job, my first act after the Pledge would be to ask the class, “okay, what you just finished saying, what does it mean?” I would not expect many hands to go up.
[snip]
>>Finally, an ID proponent admits that the purpose of ID is to introduce moral education into science classes. Would that they were all so honest.
It is not so much as to introduce it, but rather as a response to having it wiped out. When there is no morals in the government schools, society is weakened.
I agree. We need more robust citizenship, civics and ethics education. It doesn’t belong in biology class.
One of the second-tier talk show hosts — Michael Reagan, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, they all blur together for me — posed the question of what moral code is taught by evolution. I cursed myself for leaving my cell phone at home, because I had an immediate retort. What moral code is taught by calculus? Or by chemistry, physics or astronomy?
Answer: None That is not what they do. Is it immoral for a cheetah to kill a gazelle? A cheetah is a predator, the harshest epithet we can apply to a human criminal. Yet nature cannot function long without predators. That’s biology. How does that translate into human society? That’s ethics.
ID is a response to the mocking of religion, by those whose motives are merely masked by claiming to be scientific. It is a battle in the culture wars.
My position is that the “culture wars” are largely fiction. They’re the hysterical overreaction of some Christians to the fact that Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Animists and even (gasp!) atheists no longer “know their place.” Being denied a privileged position, even if it’s a traditional one, is not a form of oppression.
Even a blind squirrel, and etc, and of course he gets his ass kicked all over that thread by “Christians are persecuted! Evolution is the cause of abortion! You’re a Dhimmicrat!” and such. But I’m as startled at finding intelligent dissent in that forum as I am when Puck finds the litterbox all on his own.
A.