Thanks for posting this Keith. As a Southern Baptist myself I'm disappointed at the misleading tone of this article. In fact I'm disappointed and a little embarrassed at the tone of much of the material from
Baptist Press, which seems to be basically a pro-SBC propoganda tool. Funny, we Southern Baptists are often quick to criticize the "liberal biased mainstream press". I don't think the SBC has an official position on OEC/YEC so I'm always looking for articles like this to clarify their position.
--- kbmill@ksu.edu (Keith B Miller)
> wrote:
>Following is a Baptist Press story on the recent decision by the Kansas
>BOE. You will notice a comment by John Weister. I want to be on the
>record, as an intimate participant in this whole affair, that his
>characterization of the standards is completely false. The committee that
>drafted the standards are extremely dedicated science educators and
>teachers who fully understand the distinction between scientific
>methodology and naturalistic philosophy. Nowhere in the standards is
>science, or evolutionary theory, associated with a philosophical position
>that denies divine direction or purpose. One of the most consistent
>statements made by the committee, supporting members of the BOE, and those
>testifying on behalf of the standards was that science as a way of knowing
>is in not in conflict with Christian faith. Rather, the limitations of
>science were clearly understood.
>
>BTW: For those who heard my comments at the last ASA meeting, you will find
>in this article examples of several of the misunderstandings and
>misrepresentations of science that I discussed.
>
>Keith
>
>
>>Evolution returns to prominence in Kansas; vote called 'bad
>>science'
>>
>>By Lee Weeks
>>
>>=DD TOPEKA, Kan. (BP)--The Kansas State Board of Education voted
>>Feb. 14 to reinstate evolution as the primary theory in Kansas'
>>science curriculum, reversing its decision 18 months ago to
>>remove the controversial concept from state assessment tests
>>designed to measure student competency in science.
>>
>>=DD The board voted 7-3 to approve new science standards
>>recognizing the theory of evolution as the central thread of
>>biological studies and the origin of life.
>>
>>=DD The new standards restore evolutionary concepts to the state's
>>science curriculum such as the Big Bang theory on the creation of
>>the universe and the process of macroevolution leading to the
>>origin of humans.
>>
>>=DD The Big Bang theory advocates that the universe originated in a
>>colossal explosion of matter and radiation about 15 billion years
>>ago. Macroevolution describes the process of change from one
>>species to another, culminating in the evolution of humans from
>>apes.
>>
>>=DD The new standards will set guidelines for what Kansas students
>>in the state's 304 public school districts are held accountable
>>for on the state's standardized science tests. Students in the
>>fourth, seventh and 10th grades are scheduled to be tested this
>>spring according to the new standards.
>>
>>=DD "I believe now that we have science standards that the rest of
>>the world could look to," board member Carol Rupe told the
>>Associated Press.
>>
>>=DD But board member Steve Abrams, who led efforts in 1999 to
>>de-emphasize evolution by rewriting teaching standards, said of
>>the board's Feb. 14 vote, "This is not good science," the AP
>>reported.
>>
>>=DD Abrams pointed to the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens as
>>an example of where the earth can undergo monumental changes in a
>>short period of time. Since the 1980 volcanic explosion, rock at
>>the site has tested to be millions of years old, Abrams said.
>>
>>=DD "That ought to lead us to questions of perhaps it [evolution
>>theory] isn't all we know and understand about it because we saw
>>that [rock] formed," Abrams told The Topeka Capital-Journal.
>>
>>=DD Abrams countered the newly approved standards by proposing a
>>set of alternatives produced by Intelligent Design Network, Inc.
>>His recommendation was defeated by a 7-3 vote.
>>
>>=DD Proponents of intelligent design theory argue that the earth,
>>life and humanity owe their existence to a purposeful,
>>intelligent creator.
>>
>>=DD Darwinism, or evolution, the theory first proposed by the 19th
>>century scientist Charles Darwin, meanwhile holds that all
>>diverse and complex organisms exist as a result of undirected
>>mechanistic processes, primarily through random mutations and
>>natural selection.
>>
>>=DD Hal N. Ostrander, associate dean and professor of Christian
>>theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's James P.
>>Boyce College of the Bible, Louisville, Ky., told Baptist Press
>>that while the Kansas school board's decision is a step forward
>>for evolution, it could "prove to be two steps forward for
>>anti-evolutionary thinking."
>>
>>=DD "The intelligent design movement's entree into the
>>neo-Darwinian cultural stronghold ... will once again be brought
>>to a busy citizenry's attention, no doubt allowing the
>>intelligent design contingency to regain a foothold toward
>>educating the public about the pitfalls of evolutionary
>>thinking," Ostrander said.
>>
>>=DD The Kansas school board's reversal of its stance on evolution
>>seemed inevitable as early as last August after voters ousted two
>>of the six anti-evolution board members who had approved the
>>de-emphasis of evolution in the classroom a year earlier,
>>including then-chairwoman Linda Holloway. A third anti-evolution
>>board member resigned before moving out of state.
>>
>>=DD In August 1999, an anti-evolution majority board created a
>>national firestorm of controversy when they voted 6-4 to
>>eliminate references to the theory of evolution on state
>>assessment tests. At the time, Kansas Republican Gov. Bill Graves
>>described the board's action as "a terrible, tragic, embarrassing
>>solution to a problem that didn't exist."
>>
>>=DD All three of the newly elected board members voted in favor of
>>the pro-evolution standards Feb. 14.
>>
>>=DD "Teachers and scientists are very pleased that the Kansas Board
>>of Education made the right decision," Eugenie Scott, executive
>>director of the National Center for Science Education in
>>Berkeley, Calif., told Reuters news service. "It will show other
>>states and communities around the country that backing good
>>science education is the politically smart thing to do as well as
>>the educationally smart thing to do."
>>
>>=DD John Wiester, a member of the American Scientific Affiliation's
>>science education commission, meanwhile told Baptist Press, "The
>>new Kansas science standards tilt toward indoctrination rather
>>than education."
>>
>>=DD American Scientific Affiliation is an international
>>organization made up of 2,500 evangelical Christian scientists
>>who advocate teaching evolution as one of many scientific
>>theories not an ideology.
>>
>>=DD "The new Kansas science standards have enshrined philosophical
>>naturalism as the official definition of science," Wiester said.
>>"The purposeless, undirected Darwinian mechanism of natural
>>selection is our official creator. It is by definition protected
>>from critical analysis and alternative hypotheses by the new
>>Kansas science standards. ... Teaching our children that they are
>>the result of an accidental process is naturalistic philosophy
>>masquerading as science."
>>
>>=DD David A. DeWitt, assistant professor of biology at Liberty
>>University, Lynchburg, Va., and associate director of the
>>school's Center for Creation Studies, described the Kansas school
>>board's decision as "a political move" lacking "scientific
>>evidence" to support it.
>>
>>=DD "Now what they've done is limit academic freedom and inquiry,"
>>DeWitt told Baptist Press.
>>
>>=DD DeWitt said evolution theories such as the Big Bang and
>>macroevolution should not be taught as the only legitimate
>>explanations for the creation of the universe and origin of
>>humans because they are founded on inference and not scientific
>>fact.
>>
>>=DD "Scientists don't have good evidence or explanation for those
>>historical events," he said. "When you require testing on
>>information that is not fact but based on guesses and hypothesis,
>>you require students to learn things that may not be correct."
>>
>>=DD Efforts to eliminate or de-emphasize evolution theory from
>>science curricula have been attempted in recent years with
>>varying degrees of success in Arizona, Alabama, Illinois, New
>>Mexico, Texas and Nebraska. Challenges to the preeminence of
>>evolution in science curricula have not been as successful in
>>Ohio, New Hampshire, Washington and Tennessee where some
>>proposals would have required those who teach evolution to
>>present evidence contradicting it.
>>
>>=DD Ostrander said the turn of events in Kansas should serve as a
>>lesson for Christians to understand "the subtle-to-blatant ways
>>in which the deep-rooted worldview thinking of those in cultural
>>authority affects the very lifeblood of a nation."
>>
>>=DD "To develop a thoroughgoing theistic science, with intelligent
>>design as its path-forging traveling companion, is part and
>>parcel of taking back our schools from purveyors of untruth,"
>>Ostrander said.
>>
>>-----------
>>The Baptist Press email service is a cooperative effort between
>>Baptist Press and crosswalk.com. Visit Baptist Press on the web
>>at http://www.BaptistPress.org/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Keith B. Miller
>Department of Geology
>Kansas State University
>Manhattan, KS 66506
>kbmill@ksu.edu
>http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~kbmill/
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