Was: teacher resigns amid persecution
Allen Roy forwarded this piece:
> Chemistry teacher resigns amid persecution
> Report by Stacia Byers
>
> Jefferson High School (in Indiana, USA) has a penchant for making
>the news.
>
> In September 2000, JHS chemistry teacher, Dan Clark, invited
>AiG speaker Geoff Stevens to address his class on 'The Nature of
>Science Regarding Origins,'an appropriate topic for a chemistry class,
>as evolutionary chemists claim to have proof that life evolved from
>chemicals.
News to me.
> Without mentioning 'religion,' ... Geoff demonstrated 'operational'
>science to the students by conducting an experiment on making hydrogen.
>He also discussed the current findings of 'information science,' which
>show that coded information (such as is contained in our DNA) cannot
>arise from matter by itself.
News to me.
>Geoff also explained that natural selection, by definition, cannot
>generate new information, but only gets rid of existing information.
I understand that topics must sometimes be simplified for high
school students but this is extreme. Upon what does natural selection
operate? Variation.
Hmm... Could it be possible that these components, variation AND
selection, may generate information? Yes.
>He concluded that, when it comes to origins, since no one can know for
>sure what happened in the past, one must accept either a purely
>naturalistic explanation, which is not substantiated by true science,
>or a supernatural explanation.
> Later that month, the school superintendent, Ed Eiler, issued
>a formal letter of reprimand to the teacher of the class, Dan Clark,
>accusing him of introducing 'religion' to his classes.
[...]
And terribly bad examples of science as well. Given that the speaker
was from AiG, and that he presented terribly distorted picture of info
science and evolutionary mechanisms, I think it is clear that Dan Clark
did intend to introduce a viewpoint slanted more to religion than
science. That he never mentioned the words, "Holy Bible" or "Creationism"
is but a dishonest ruse to sneak it in the back door.
[...]
>We wish Dan the best as he teaches his new students the nature of true
>science.
[...]
What publication published Stacie Byers report? It article doesn't sound
like terribly good reporting.
Regards,
Tim Ikeda
tikeda@sprintmail.com
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