Monday, September 08, 2008

"Strengths and Weaknesses"

The Eugene Register-Guard has an editorial on the growth in popularity of the phrase "strengths and weaknesses" with regard to teaching evolution. Written anonymously (maddeningly), the author notes:

It is the quintessential irony that nothing has evolved more conspicuously than the strategies creationists keep devising to challenge evolution, which has been accurately characterized as “the organizing principle of life science.”

Ample evidence of this exists, of course. One such example is the pre-Edwards vs. Aguilard text of Of Pandas and People and the post decision text, which had substituted the word "creationist" with the words "Design Proponents." The author also points out the hypocrisy in these movements:

Ever the trailblazer for pioneering new methods to legitimize injecting religion into science classrooms, the Texas State Board of Education is again considering a science curriculum that teaches the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution. Not creationism or intelligent design, just “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution.

This needs to be pointed out more often.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:10 PM

    This is a shameless plug, but will hopefully be relevant to a fellow evolutionary creationist.

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  2. Someone should construct a phylogenetic tree of creationist tactics. I don't say "ideas" -- they haven't evolved since Paley. Just the tactics. :)

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  3. Shameless. Just shameless :)
    I will have to pick up a copy.

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  4. I think someone (Robert Pennock?) has. If you went through Ronald Numbers' excellent book The Creationists, I bet you could.

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