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Comment by Adriana on February 10, 2013 at 1:14pm

I'm so sorry I did not know of her before.

Comment by Michel on February 10, 2013 at 11:24am

Either way, we know if we believe. There is no such thing as not knowing if we believe.

Exactly!

Comment by Don on February 10, 2013 at 11:07am

Judith Hayes died just last year. She was a forceful and persuasive writer about all the atheistic matters that mean so much to us here.

One quote of hers I've always liked is this one:  "One cannot be an agnostic. Agnostic means 'not to know' and almost by definition all humans are agnostic about God in that no one can be sure whether a God of some sort really exists. I know I haven't a clue. But no thinking person can say that he does not know if he acknowledges a God. We all know if we believe in a God. In our heart of hearts, we either do believe or we do not believe. Either way, we know if we believe. There is no such thing as not knowing if we believe. This supposedly 'neutral' position about the existence of God, agnosticism, is no position at all. The sooner it is eliminated the better, for all of us freethinkers, atheists, unbelievers, nonbelievers, humanists, or whatever."

--Judith Hayes, from the essay, "A Freethought Easter In Orlando"

Comment by Adriana on February 10, 2013 at 10:41am

I don't who Judith Hayes is but that quote is BRILLLIANT

Comment by Davy on February 10, 2013 at 10:19am

He reset the meanings of the words because he knows the people he is trying to please don't really think about what their pollies say when they speak idiotic bullshit! 

With science, using the available knowledge and data and using models to predicate future outcomes is a form of determining the destiny of a natural phenomenon.

Comment by Michel on February 10, 2013 at 9:47am

Now that's refreshing: the theory of destiny?!?

Anti-Evolution Missouri Bill Requires College Students to Learn About Destiny

—By Dana Liebelson

Fri Feb. 8, 2013 12:21 PM PST

• 

Late last month, Rick Brattin, a Republican state representative in Missouri, introduced a bill that would require that intelligent design and "destiny" get the same educational treatment and textbook space in Missouri schools as the theory of evolution. Brattin insists that his bill has nothing to do with religion—it's all in the name of science.

"I'm a science enthusiast...I'm a huge science buff," Brattin tells The Riverfront Times. "This [bill] is about testable data in today's world." But Eric Meikle, education project director at theNational Center for Science Education, disagrees. "This bill is very idiosyncratic and strange," he tells Mother Jones. "And there is simply not scientific evidence for intelligence design."

HB 291, the "Missouri Standard Science Act," redefines a few things you thought you already knew about science. For example, a "hypothesis" is redefined as something that reflects a "minority of scientific opinion and is "philosophically unpopular." A scientific theory is "an inferred explanation...whose components are data, logic and faith-based philosophy." And "destiny" is not something that $5 fortune tellers believe in; Instead, it's "the events and processes that define the future of the universe, galaxies, stars, our solar system, earth, plant life, animal life, and the human race."

The bill requires that Missouri elementary and secondary schools—and even introductory science classes in public universities—give equal textbook space to both evolution and intelligent design (any other "theories of origin" are allowed to be taught as well, so pick your favorite creation myth—I'm partial to the Russian raven spirit.) "I can't imagine any mainstream textbook publisher would comply with this," Meikle says. "The material doesn't exist."

The bill also establishes a nine-person committee (who must work for free) responsible for developing ad-hoc textbook material until appropriate textbook material is found.

MORE

Comment by archaeopteryx on February 10, 2013 at 12:06am

"If we are going to teach “creation science” as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction."
-- Judith Hayes --

Comment by doone on February 9, 2013 at 11:06pm

Comment by Adriana on January 29, 2013 at 11:07am

Texas Public Schools: Still Teaching Creationism

—By Josh Harkinson

| Mon Jan. 28, 2013 3:01 AM PST

Williac/Flickr

In Texas public schools, children learn that the Bible provides scientific proof that Earth is 6,000 years old, that the origins of racial diversity trace back to a curse placed on Noah's son, and that astronauts have discovered "a day missing in space" that corroborates biblical stories of the sun standing still.

These are some of the findings detailed inReading, Writing & Religion II, a new report by the Texas Freedom Network that investigates how public schools in the Lone Star State promote religious fundamentalism under the guise of offering academic courses about the Bible. The report, written by Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University, found that more than half of the state's public-school Bible courses taught students to read the book from a specifically Christian theological perspective—a clear violation of rules governing the seperation of church and state.

Many school districts pushed specific strains of fundamentalism in the classes:

Read the rest here. 

Comment by doone on January 19, 2013 at 5:29am

MUSLIM THOUGHT ON EVOLUTION TAKES A STEP FORWARD

Salman Hameed in The Guardian:

An imam of an east London mosque, Usama Hasan, received a death threat for arguing in support of human evolution two years ago. On Saturday, London played host to a riveting intrafaith dialogue on Islam's stance on the theory of evolution. The east London imam was one of the speakers – but this time there were others who shared his viewpoint.

The event, organised by the Deen Institute, was titled Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution? The speakers included an evolutionary biologist, a biological anthropologist, two theologians and a bona fide creationist.

It lasted seven hours, yet almost everyone stayed till the end. There were more than 850 people in the audience and even though the topic was sensitive and controversial, there was no heckling or disruption. At least from my limited interactions, it seemed that the audience was comprised mostly of young professionals. Most had no strong opinion, but their interest was evident as they were willing to spend their entire Saturday hearing about Muslim positions on evolution.

They were not disappointed.

More here.

Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 11:34 PM | Permalink

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