[asa] The Eagle Forum speaks on evolution

The following is taken from an email sent to the "faithful" this week by
the Eagle Forum:

Date: August 21, 2006
From: Eagle Forum
By: Phyllis Schlafly

August 2006 PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY REPORT (Excerpts)
. . .
The Most Censored Speech in America

The most censored speech in America today is not flag-burning,
pornography, or the press. The worst censors are those prohibiting
criticism of the theory of evolution in the classroom. A Chinese scholar
once observed, "In China we can criticize Darwin but not the government.
In America you can criticize the government but not Darwin."

All polls show that the vast majority of Americans reject the theory of
evolution, as have great scientists such as Lord Kelvin and Louis
Pasteur. But that does not stop an intolerant minority from trying to
impose a belief in the ape-to-man theory on everyone else.

In a much publicized case late last year, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area
School
District, Judge John E. Jones III issued a 139-page rant against anyone
who objects to the public schools force-feeding children with the theory
of evolution. He accused parents and school board members of
"breathtaking inanity" for wanting their children to learn that
"Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs
from Darwin's view."

Contrary to most media coverage, the Dover case was not about whether
the
theory of evolution or Intelligent Design (ID) is correct or should be
taught. The Dover school board did not propose to say ID is
scientific or
valid, or even to decrease its teaching of evolution. Students were
merely to be read a brief statement asserting that "gaps in the Theory
exist for which there is no evidence," and that ID provides an
explanation for the origin of life that could be further explored by
consulting a book in the school library. The evolutionists would not
have
made such a big case out of this innocuous language ordered by the Dover
school board unless they were pursuing an ideological cause. They
converted the trial into a grand inquisition of religious beliefs
instead
of addressing science or the statement to be read to students.

Judge Jones nevertheless permanently enjoined the school board "from
requiring teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of
evolution" and from saying that the theory has gaps.

Judge Jones said that ninth-graders were referred to (although not
assigned) a book called Of Pandas and People published by the Foundation
for Thought and Ethics, "a religious, Christian organization." Using
guilt-by-association reasoning, he implied that books published by
religious groups, or by persons motivated by religious convictions, can
and should be banned from public school. He denigrated several officials
because they "staunchly and proudly touted their religious
convictions in
public." He approved an astronomical award of about $2 million in
attorney's fees to the pro-evolution lawyers.

Even in an era of judicial supremacy, Judge Jones' biased and
religiously
bigoted decision is over the top. His decision will ultimately hurt the
evolutionist cause because it shows that the evolutionists cannot defend
their beliefs on the merits; they can only survive by censoring
alternate
views.

For decades, the Darwinians have propped up their dominance in the
classroom by the persistent use of frauds and flacks. The fraudulent
pro-evolution embryo drawings of Ernst Haeckel littered schoolbooks
for a
hundred years, and it took specific action by the Texas Board of
Education to keep them out of current textbooks even after the New York
Times exposed Haeckel's deception.

Many textbooks feature pictures of giraffes stretching their necks to
feed high off of trees, but genetics and observed feeding habits
disprove
that as a basis for evolution of their long necks. Moreover, the
striking
beauty of the colored pattern on the giraffes illustrates that design,
not merely usefulness, animates our world.

Continued censorship of criticism invites additional fraud, so evolution
has suffered more embarrassments than any other scientific theory. The
Piltdown Man was a lie taught to schoolchildren for decades, even
featured in the Scopes trial textbook. Less than seven years ago a
dinosaur-bird fossil hoax was presented as true on the glossy pages of
National Geographic.

If Darwinians want to teach that whales, which are mammals, evolved from
black bears swimming with their mouths open, as Darwin proposed, we
should surely be entitled to criticize that. Yet school libraries have
refused to accept books critical of evolution, even when written by
college professors.

Responding to the majority of their constituents, Georgia's Cobb County
authorized a textbook disclaimer saying "Evolution is a theory, not a
fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be
approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically
considered." The trial court threw out this disclaimer, but the Court of
Appeals in Selman v. Cobb County School District reversed that decision
and ordered the trial court to reconsider.

In December 2004, a world-famous champion of atheism, Antony Flew,
announced his conversion to acceptance of intelligent design underlying
our world. The Dallas Morning News observed, "If the scientific data are
compelling enough to cause an atheist academic of Antony Flew's
reputation to recant most of his life's work, why shouldn't Texas
schoolchildren be taught the controversy?"

Darwinians know they cannot persuade skeptical adults, so they try to
capture impressionable schoolchildren. At our expense and against our
wishes, children are taught that the world exists only for what is
useful, not by design.

To typical schoolchildren full of wonder, we live in a world best
described as a marvelous work of art. The snowflakes that grace us at
Christmastime typify the artistic beauty that bestows joy on all ages
but, like an acid, evolution corrodes this inborn appreciation of beauty
and falsely trains children to view themselves as mere animals no more
worthy than dogs or cats.

There is a strong correlation between belief in evolution and liberal
views on government control, pornography, prayer in schools, abortion,
gun control, economic freedom, and even animal rights. For the most
part,
the schools in the blue Kerry states are strongly pro-evolution, while
the red Bush states allow debate and dissent.

It should surprise no one that the United States, land of the free and
home of the brave, has the lowest percentage of evolution believers in
the world. The highest percentage lived in Communist East Germany.

The Tom Daschle Senate quietly slipped a provision into the No Child
Left
Behind Act that requires, by the 2007-2008 school year, science testing
by grade 5. Unless changed, that language will give the censors the
authority to force ten-year-olds to believe and defend evolution.

It is long overdue for parents to realize they have the right and
duty to
protect our children from censorship about evolution. Hooray for the
courageous school boards - from Georgia to Pennsylvania to Alabama to
Ohio to Wisconsin to Kansas - that are finally rejecting censorship and
allowing debate.

Burgy

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Received on Thu Aug 24 00:01:44 2006