Evolution theory rules in Roseville CA | Sacramento Bee

[Ediacara]

Evolution theory rules in Roseville
A plan to teach competing views loses in a 3-2 school board vote.

By Laurel Rosen -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, June 2, 2004


Parent Nancy Glatt, center, applauds Roseville
trustees' vote to exclude alternate theories to
evolution in biology classes.

In a move encouraged by teachers and school administrators during almost a year of debate, trustees of the Roseville Joint Union High School District decided Tuesday to keep anti-evolution ideas out of biology classes.

Trustees voted 3-2 against the "Quality Science Education Policy," introduced by parent Larry Caldwell and later modified by Trustee Dean Forman.

The proposed policy asked biology teachers to present the "scientific strengths and weaknesses" of the theory of evolution and mandated that a note be sent to parents each semester stating that "a growing minority of scientists question the ability of (Charles) Darwin's theory to provide an adequate scientific explanation for the origin and diversity of life on Earth."

Trustees Forman and Kelly Lafferty voted in favor of the proposal. Trustees Jim Joiner, Jan Pinney and Gary Kidder opposed it, prompting a standing ovation and loud whoops of joy from some audience members, including parents holding signs that said: "We have faith in our science teachers."

More at the Sacramento Bee

[phantom power]

1. maybe the age of reason isn't dead yet?

[Q3JR4]

2. Not in

Sacramento, CA it isn't. Elsewhere is another question.

[Canuckistanian]

18. I don't think it's dead in most of the world.

Just name me one country where "creation science" is taught as a serious valid academic subject.
The theory of evolution is the world standard. No better explanation of natural science explains, with proof and scientific method, the origin of modern day life.

[BonjourUSA]

3. I believed this question had been solved at least 150 years ago !

[lil-petunia]

4. growing minority?

I hope it continues to grow in its minority role. Smaller, that is, more like their frontal lobes.

[truthspeaker]

5. yeah, 3 last year, 4 this year

25% growth rate!

[AlCzervik]

6. roseville is full of republicans

i live about 20 miles away in another city full of republicans.

[David__77]

10. Let me guess: Auburn? Colfax?

I'm in Carmichael. Not too bad here. Roseville is filled with "my money" GOPers. There is a plague of amorality. There are still a couple of more Democratic precincts in old Roseville.

[AlCzervik]

11. elk grove

not too far from lovely scenic wilton<sarcasm> but we may be moving to Pacifica in the next year....hopefully.

[David__77]

13. Hey, Elk Grove isn't too Republican.

Actually, Laguna was carried by Gore, and I think Elk Grove only narrowly went for Bush. I have spent too much time studying our local demographics and politics, and I think that Elk Grove will trend Democratic in the coming years. A very different group of people is moving there as opposed to Rocklin or Roseville. As for new suburbs, Natomas, too, is not a GOP bastion by any means.

[AlCzervik]

14. Maybe 95758 is dem

but 95624 sure doesnt feel dem.

[David__77]

16. Don't know the zips by heart, but the western side is more Democratic.

That's all I know--the closer to the river is more Democratic. Laguna is Democratic as well, which I think is more to the west.

[AlCzervik]

17. 95758 is west

it's right near i5, i live on the "other side of the tracks" in 95624, eastward.

[GCP]

7. This is Stealth Creationism, and it's sticking its head up all over

I may be wrong, but I believe Kansas are promoting the teaching of creationism alongside evolution.
Christian fundamentalists get themselves voted onto school boards for this sole purpose, and nobody realizes what's going on until teachers start to speak up.

Good for the Roseville board of ed. At least some people can still think straight.

[lil-petunia]

8. Yup.

Kansas is doing it.
Some districts in Georgia are as well. Some skul districts in South Carolina actually debated not teaching any biology because so many parents threatened to home skule their kids to prevent them from learning about evolution.

I can only imagine what they think of sex ed.

[OhioDem]

9. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Finally the public is becoming aware of the stealthy devious tactics of the fundamentalist religious right.
These people have been quietly misrepresenting themselves and insinuating their theocratic agenda into local politics for decades. They know they are in the minority, so they have decided to force their will by using anti-democratic tactics that are eerily similar to those of the NAZIs in the 1920s. Their goal is to establish a theocracy and to outlaw any critical thinking that diminishes the absolute authority of their own interpretation of Christian Dogma and doctrine.
The typical modus operandi of these people is to run candidates in low profile races espousing seemingly non-controversial positions in favor of standards, stability, and community values. Once they get enough influence in any policy making board or legislative body, they make plays for their real agenda, theocracy.
In some areas of the country, they actually have enough public support to succeed on a legitimate basis, but where they don't (everywhere but the Bible belt) they will deceive the public as much as necessary.
These people are also actively seeking to mobilize their people into places where they can establish functional pluralities. Thay have done this in Colorado Springs, and in any number of suburbs around the country.
Progressives need to ask questions of any candidate who is running for a school board position or local council to find out whether they have hidden agendas. Most of these people pride themselves on not lying, at least in letter, although they believwe that they can say things designed to mislead you, and it is up to you to interpret their statements correctly. So you need to have your questioning strategy ready. You can ask general questions, and get platitudes for answers. To know whether a candidate is a secret theocrat, you need to ask specific policy questions that leave no wiggle room for the intentional deceiver. Some of these people will lie flat out, but at least you can hold them accountable if they do.
Be on the look out for these deceivers. If enough of them get onto your school board, your kids will be "learning" a bunch of irrational
disinformation crafted to develop a culture of two-dimensional intellectual conformity.
Fundamentalists of all strips would rather live in a culturally specific worldview that dispenses with all questions that confront the most basic of human conditions: doubt and uncertainty. It isnt that they don't have uncertainty, its just that they keep it in a part of their brains that is partitioned off and never accessed unless they have a crisis for which they cannot contrive Biblical answers. EVERYONE has a choice in the 21st Century about what to believe. It is truly remarkable that so many people can choose to attach themselves to limited cultural artifacts about the nature of God so completely that they will kill and die for intellectually lazy epistemology rather than deal with the real spiritual conditions we live in on this planet.
It is also remarkable, and ironic, how much their tactics resemble those of Satan as described in the Bible, the Koran, etc.

"Death to all fanatics!"
-The Principia Discordia

[newyawker99]

19. Hi OhioDem!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[bleedingheart]

12. a growing minority????

if a minority is growing...is it growing smaller into nothing??? or is it growing larger into something like...some??

[davidinalameda]

15. thank goodness they were stopped

"All three have said that their desire to add anti-evolution ideas to biology class is based on scientific - not religious - disputes with Darwin's theory."

can we all say bullshit boys and girls