Intelligent Design?
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Intelligent Design?
| Sun, 08-31-2008 - 11:09am |
Are you concerned about a potential vice president that supports teaching the idea of intelligent design side by side with evolution? I have tried to look into it since hearing that Sarah Palin supports both being taught and I confess I am deeply troubled. Maybe someone could enlighten me but I definitely do not what my children taught that 'intelligent design' as scientific fact. I live in an area where religion is already dangerously encroaching on public education and this bothers me. My religious beliefs are personal and I am tired of people telling me that I should believe what they believe - everyone seems to think their religion is 'the one' without allowing that I may feel the same about mine. Maybe someone can enlighten me - but this idea really concerns me. I know vice presidents don't make policy - but should something happen to McCain this woman would be president.




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"OK maybe I am assuming science because of the whole 'teach them side by side' thing - where else would you teach evolution but in science?"
I don't know...and I am not saying your view is wrong...I just took it to mean that we should teach evolution...but that we shouldn't be so quick to shut down any discussion on other beliefs.
My fears over Roe V Wade go beyond just abortion - it extends to the possibility that conception could be more narrowly defined and the problem extended to birth control. So I really would just like Roe V Wade to stand. On this issue I agree with Obama's speech - about finding ways to prevent unwanted pregnancy and help women who chose to carry their pregnancy to term. My impression was that she was further to the right than McCain and he has said many times he supports overturning Roe V Wade so maybe I just assumed, but I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere - not the article you quoted.
I confess the polar bears was for my daughter - polar bears are her favorite animal - maybe not an factual position, just an emotional one :)
As for drilling - I don't have a position yet. I am sure technology has come a long way and if it can be done safely with a minimal impact on the environment I might be ok with it. Not to happy with the thought of possibly off shore drilling near me, I live very close to the Atlantic Ocean and don't want my beaches spoiled. I would much rather see us move away from oil altogether. I think many people of my age remember the Exxon Valdese disaster and so it does factor in to the ecological implications for anything related to oil, but again I am sure technology has come a long way - I am just not familiar with how.
The guns in my corner or the world is a big issue - we have urban gun issue even in our little town - and unless you are hunting sea gulls I'm not sure what the point of a gun is here! But I do know that every year we have one or two brought into our middle school and even more in the high schools, gang violence has increased, as have armed robberies. Recently I was unable to get the guns out of my aging ex-father-in-laws house because he had legal permits - never mind that he is losing his mind (senility) and sitting around all day with two loaded guns in his lap! So I am a bit sensitive on the gun issue!
Not only is ID not fact, it is also not a scientific theory. I agree. It should not be taught in schools, because in order to teach it one has to misrepresent 1. the facts, 2. the methods of science, 3. scientific consensus, 4. the evidence for that consensus, as well as 5. the nature of science itself.
ID is not science at all and should not be taught as if it were.
"Why not allow them to ponder both sides as they work through it all? "
Evolution and creationism are not equivalent in any reasonable sense of the term. Evolution is science - very good science. It is both a fact and a theory. It is a brilliant theory, the vast majority of whose detractors do not understand it.
If we bring creationism or ID into the picture in a science class, it can only be to show how wrong they are, how they are not science at all.
"it extends to the possibility that conception could be more narrowly defined and the problem extended to birth control. So I really would just like Roe V Wade to stand"
Well, she is pro life but pro contraception.....she fully supports efforts for woman to prevent unwanted pregnancy (at least from what I was reading the other day...can't remember where though).
" YIKES, I would be sensitive to. Do you mean you weren't able to get any police assistance to get them out of the house even with a "danger to self and others" speal?"
Yes that is exactly what I mean. He lives in a different state than we do. Two weeks ago when I visited him, I have been going down to run errands and help out as he and his wife are disabled and my children and I live closer than their children do, he was sitting in his den with two loaded guns. One was in the basket of his walker, the other under some tissues in a Kleenex box. He told me they were loaded and I don't know anything about guns at all - like how to tell if the safety is on or not. So I was afraid to touch them. As soon as I left I called the local police as well as the state police since they are close to the city limits and explained the situation - he is over 85 and losing it mentally and lives in a neighborhood where the houses are fairly close together - I was told by both agencies that as long as he had permits they couldn't/wouldn't do anything. If I wanted I could hire a lawyer and have him declared mentally incompetent - now mind you I am his EX daughter-in-law so that route didn't sound very hopeful! So yes there are some problems with gun laws. This man should not be able to sit around all day with two loaded guns because he is afraid that someone might break into his house - in all likelihood anyone breaking in would know more about guns than I would and could get to them faster than he could. Plus his hands are losing sensation so just picking it up and aiming he could possibly kill his wife for crying out loud! I didn't get anywhere with this argument and his kids haven't been to see him in probably two years, my ex hasn't seen him for nearly a decade. Needless to say I will not be taking my children back until I know the guns are gone, luckily they weren't with me that day!
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