James Madison: "...a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."
Knowledge for an informed debate.....
1. Demographic studies show that religious families consistently have more children. Parents invest enormous amount of time, money and emotional energy into raising their children, only to lose them to secular worldviews pounded into their minds through public education and the entertainment culture. A study in Britain found that non-religious parents have a near 100% chance of passing their views to their children, whereas religious parents have only about a 50/50 chance of passing on their views.
Breeding for God
The reason?
Government schooling which pushes secularization, and post modern concepts, i.e., those not necessarily based on truth.
2. Perhaps as a consequence of the above, there is a growing number of Europeans who want schools to cover evolution and creation
a." More than half of British adults think that intelligent design and creationism should be taught alongside evolution in school science lessons a proportion higher than in the US. .... "Evolutionary theories should be taught in science lessons in schools together with other possible perspectives, such as intelligent design and creationism.".... Advocates of intelligent design argue that some features of the universe and nature are so complex they must have been designed by a higher intelligence." Teach both evolution and creationism say 54% of Britons | Science | The Guardian
b the most blatant attempt to ban evolution from the classrooms occurred in Italy in 2004. Letizia Moratti, then education minister, caused a public outcry when she removed the theory of evolution from the curricula of Italys middle schools2 on the grounds that teaching Darwins theory of evolution can instill a materialist view of life in young minds.
c A recent study by Observa Science in Society, a Vicenza-based body that promotes informed debate on scientific issues, shows that only 11% of Italians support the exclusion of Darwinism from curricula. But almost two thirds would prefer lessons to cover both evolutionary theory and the creationist view.
d. According to a 2005 US study, just 40% of Americans accepted the theory of evolution, down from 45% in 1985. (Miller, J. D. et al. Science 313, 765766 (2006).
http://www.scienceinschool.org/repository/docs/issue9_nature_graebsch2006.pdf
e. Microevolution, the adaptation of species to their environment, is an observed scientific fact, which we of course do not deny. But macroevolution, the gradual process of development of new species, is a mere conclusion, theres no observational evidence for that. Peter Korevaar is head of the physics and cosmology working group of Germanys Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen, one of the largest creationist groups in Europe. He holds a PhD in astrophysics and now works at IBM in Mannheim. http://www.scienceinschool.org/repository/docs/issue9_nature_graebsch2006.pdf
Again:
"But macroevolution, the gradual process of development of new species, is a mere conclusion, theres no observational evidence for that."
The fact that there is no observable evidence for one species 'evolving' into another, and no fossil-trail for same, is, as much as possible, kept assiduously hidden from the public.
This fact alone should give one pause.
3. The idea that secularization is the irreversible wave of the future is still the conventional wisdom in intellectual circles here. They would be bemused, to say the least, at a Dutch relapse into religiosity. But as the authors of a recently published study called De Toekomst van God (The Future of God) point out, organized prayer in the workplace is just one among several pieces of evidence suggesting that Holland is on the threshold of a new era--one we might call the age of "post-secularization." God is back in Europe's most notoriously liberal country .The decline of liberal Protestantism has been matched by that of liberal Catholicism .among the under-20s it is rising again, and by a significant margin. A CBS survey noted that between 2003 and 2004, church attendance among under-20s rose seemingly inexplicably, from 9 percent to 14 percent. Holland's Post-Secular Future | The Weekly Standard
4. The secularization thesis: Societies secularize when the cosmopolitan confrontations of city living exposed the relativity of the myths and traditions men once thought were unquestionable.
Harvey Cox, The Secular City, p. 1
a. While it might seem that the above reflects the decline of religion....actually, a major factor in the reversal of this thesis can be traced to the fall of totalitarian regimes with their state-enforced atheism.
b. And, it has been shown that during the rapid urbanization of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both Protestants and Catholics actually predominated in cities more than in rural areas. Perhaps Mr. Clark is missing the point.
See Finke and Stark, The Churching of America: 1776-1990,p. 203-207
5. Resurgence on secular college campuses?
Harvard students are increasingly "churchgoing, Bible-studying, and believing," says Jay Harris, the dean who administers the General Education program. "We have a very strong evangelical community.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/02/10/harvard-s-crisis-of-faith.html
Why the fear of debate?
Is it possible that 'evolution' is less a scientific concept than a political one?
Could be?
Knowledge for an informed debate.....
1. Demographic studies show that religious families consistently have more children. Parents invest enormous amount of time, money and emotional energy into raising their children, only to lose them to secular worldviews pounded into their minds through public education and the entertainment culture. A study in Britain found that non-religious parents have a near 100% chance of passing their views to their children, whereas religious parents have only about a 50/50 chance of passing on their views.
Breeding for God
The reason?
Government schooling which pushes secularization, and post modern concepts, i.e., those not necessarily based on truth.
2. Perhaps as a consequence of the above, there is a growing number of Europeans who want schools to cover evolution and creation
a." More than half of British adults think that intelligent design and creationism should be taught alongside evolution in school science lessons a proportion higher than in the US. .... "Evolutionary theories should be taught in science lessons in schools together with other possible perspectives, such as intelligent design and creationism.".... Advocates of intelligent design argue that some features of the universe and nature are so complex they must have been designed by a higher intelligence." Teach both evolution and creationism say 54% of Britons | Science | The Guardian
b the most blatant attempt to ban evolution from the classrooms occurred in Italy in 2004. Letizia Moratti, then education minister, caused a public outcry when she removed the theory of evolution from the curricula of Italys middle schools2 on the grounds that teaching Darwins theory of evolution can instill a materialist view of life in young minds.
c A recent study by Observa Science in Society, a Vicenza-based body that promotes informed debate on scientific issues, shows that only 11% of Italians support the exclusion of Darwinism from curricula. But almost two thirds would prefer lessons to cover both evolutionary theory and the creationist view.
d. According to a 2005 US study, just 40% of Americans accepted the theory of evolution, down from 45% in 1985. (Miller, J. D. et al. Science 313, 765766 (2006).
http://www.scienceinschool.org/repository/docs/issue9_nature_graebsch2006.pdf
e. Microevolution, the adaptation of species to their environment, is an observed scientific fact, which we of course do not deny. But macroevolution, the gradual process of development of new species, is a mere conclusion, theres no observational evidence for that. Peter Korevaar is head of the physics and cosmology working group of Germanys Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen, one of the largest creationist groups in Europe. He holds a PhD in astrophysics and now works at IBM in Mannheim. http://www.scienceinschool.org/repository/docs/issue9_nature_graebsch2006.pdf
Again:
"But macroevolution, the gradual process of development of new species, is a mere conclusion, theres no observational evidence for that."
The fact that there is no observable evidence for one species 'evolving' into another, and no fossil-trail for same, is, as much as possible, kept assiduously hidden from the public.
This fact alone should give one pause.
3. The idea that secularization is the irreversible wave of the future is still the conventional wisdom in intellectual circles here. They would be bemused, to say the least, at a Dutch relapse into religiosity. But as the authors of a recently published study called De Toekomst van God (The Future of God) point out, organized prayer in the workplace is just one among several pieces of evidence suggesting that Holland is on the threshold of a new era--one we might call the age of "post-secularization." God is back in Europe's most notoriously liberal country .The decline of liberal Protestantism has been matched by that of liberal Catholicism .among the under-20s it is rising again, and by a significant margin. A CBS survey noted that between 2003 and 2004, church attendance among under-20s rose seemingly inexplicably, from 9 percent to 14 percent. Holland's Post-Secular Future | The Weekly Standard
4. The secularization thesis: Societies secularize when the cosmopolitan confrontations of city living exposed the relativity of the myths and traditions men once thought were unquestionable.
Harvey Cox, The Secular City, p. 1
a. While it might seem that the above reflects the decline of religion....actually, a major factor in the reversal of this thesis can be traced to the fall of totalitarian regimes with their state-enforced atheism.
b. And, it has been shown that during the rapid urbanization of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both Protestants and Catholics actually predominated in cities more than in rural areas. Perhaps Mr. Clark is missing the point.
See Finke and Stark, The Churching of America: 1776-1990,p. 203-207
5. Resurgence on secular college campuses?
Harvard students are increasingly "churchgoing, Bible-studying, and believing," says Jay Harris, the dean who administers the General Education program. "We have a very strong evangelical community.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/02/10/harvard-s-crisis-of-faith.html
Why the fear of debate?
Is it possible that 'evolution' is less a scientific concept than a political one?
Could be?
