textbooks

masters@ballistic.com
Mon, 1 Dec 1997 17:48:28 -0600 (CST)

Regarding the following assertions and responses: In the past year I have
surveyed over twenty high school and college level biology textbooks and
HAVE NOT FOUND ONE SINGLE BOOK WHICH STATES THAT GOD DOES NOT EXIST. In
fact, the books never mention the topic of "God." They make no statements
for or against the idea of God. They simply outline the logic of evolution
and discuss the various mechanisms as we understand them today. The topic
of evolution is treated in exactly the same manner as all other topics: how
cells divide, how cells reproduce, how cells die, how cells evolve, and so
on. As a Christian, I am not remotely offended by anything I've read in any
of the books.

At 04:12 PM 12/1/97 -0400, David Campbell wrote:

> Most
>textbooks I've seen claim that evolution supports atheistic (or possibly
>deistic) worldviews; this is neither true nor science.

Is this really true of TEXTBOOKS (as opposed to popularizers like Sagan
and Dawkins)?

I haven't seen any (high school or college) biology textbook in a long
time, but do they really say things that amount to "people used to think
some God created all these things, but now we know evolution did it and
God is nowhere in the picture"? If so, then there is a big problem,
though the Alabama inserts don't strike me as a good solution.

I would have expected the textbooks to say that evolution happened and
describe the mechanisms (perhaps with inadequate supporting evidence, but
that's another issue) and to stay away from metaphysical claims.

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