Antievolution legislation in Mississippi

Does this mean every bible gets a sticker?

"Possibly a hoax and can impair judgement of all living things"

oh Wait that would involve church with state
waitttt a minuteeeeeeee

And I quote, "No one was present when life first appeared on earth. Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered a theory."
That would make creationism a theory too. The religious institutions should just back off.

Climate Change is a more pressing issue

This article is brutally old... why the fuck is it on the tech page?

this is stupid and ignorant fuck!

this is stupid and ignorant fuck!

why aren't they fighting to teach the stork theory of where babies come from in health class?

One thing that the United States Congress could do that would help our country move forward again in terms of science and technology would be to require that scientific education in this country be based on science. Creationism and Intelligent Design should be banned from being taught as science, by law, until its proponents can bring forward some genuine, empirical, scientific evidence to back those two theories up.

Isn't this the same state that reported the highest teen birth rate in the country. Seems to me like they need to take a serious look at their education system. And teaching fact as theory doesn't help anyone.
Jesus was a philosopher, which was great (Im all about the philosophy), and the corrupt church turned him into a figure which they used to suppress people and get money. Look, its great to believe in something like that but take the bible as what it is, a bunch of camp fire stories to draw morals from. Not something to take literally word for word. Personally, I can't believe in the teachings of something that doesn't view all people as equal. Also, if this guy really believes there should be a disclaimer in evolution textbooks then they definitely should be in the bible too.

Maybe they should put disclaimers in front of bibles and other religious texts that declare they are "controversial theories."

...just trying to apply the same reasoning elsewhere.

this is ironic that a state such as Mississippi would outlaw the teaching of evolution because a majority of that state's residents are actually evolving in reverse anyway.

"No one was present when life first appeared on earth."

I love this statement.

Mississippi isn't a state, it's a club.

Being religious IS pretending like you have all the answers.

evolution isn't a theory in the colloquial sense, it's an observable fact. natural selection is the scientific theory which explains evolution, which also happens to be factual. it's been refined somewhat since darwin published it, because that's how science functions, through scrutiny and repeated testing to make sure every aspect is rigorously verified.

imagine if religion espoused such high standards of veracity. actually, that's called buddhism.

Wow I thought this was old news, I remember hearing about this same issue about 4 years ago but it was in Georgia. I mean hey, at least they are still PRESENTING evolution. It seems like the disclaimer is to placate those who disagree with it or may feel uncomfortable with the idea. That way maybe they will feel more comfortable with accepting it. Also a moment to chastise those with such negative comments about us southerners, you guys are sounding worse than the most closeminded dixie stereotype you are imagining.

When did they start allowing text books into the state? You see all the trouble they cause when it's not a bible.

I am going to live on the moon until this whole religion thing blows over.

Then they should put a disclaimer about religion creation of the world: "Disclaimer: This was write by people under the effect of several drugs and everything was write about this creationism is totally incoherent and is not based in any real fact"

Evolution is basic to an understanding of the biological sciences.
Our current misuse of planetary resources are leading to losses of biodiversity and viability of Earth to sustain human life if taken to its extreme : a path that it does not seem that we are avoiding.
Empire thrives on static conditions including culture and knowledge.
Monopoly is a basic tool to enforce power.
Secrecy leaves people vulnerable to surprise attack.
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/
Media are owned and controlled by a few corporations.
Am I alone in seeing a troubling pattern?

And here I thought when Bush left the white house the age of american unreason would come to an end. But then there is Mississippi.......You know it is only in the non-scientific community that evolution is considered just a theory. 99.9% of all scientists call it the Law of Evolution. And all that disclaimer does is pretty much say "Stop! Before you learn this I just want to let you know that we think it is false." What's the point of education if you are going to strip it of it's credibility before it is even taught? Hopefully the Mississippi state legislature has enough common sense to not pass this. Then again, it is Mississippi. Fun word to spell though, I'll give it that.

The big question here seems to be whether it's logical, reasonable or practical for anyone, especially a right-wing whack job, to be even attempting to impose their religious agenda on their constituents by proposing such a preposterous scheme as this in their local legislature.

The 'holier than thou' is getting out of hand...the children aren't as ignorant as this 'so called' pillar of society would deem them to be...

Well it is a theory haha
you guys are bashing religion all u want but remmber this Darwinisem (i can;t spell) is a theroy whose creator in the end didn;t even believe think about that

That is very sad, kicking science education in the nuts for a religious reason. If that passes it should make any parent with a brain want to move out of the state.

What is it about religion bashing that liberals and the left love so much?

All of you need to get off your high horse and pretending like you have all the answers, especially the 'scientific' ones.

All of these kids in school deserve to hear both sides of evolution and creationism and decide for themselves what they want to believe.

Religion teaches people to be better human beings and gives people faith, what is so wrong with that?

I love watching National Geographic and Animal Planet, too, but what is so wrong with believing that maybe we aren't little tadpoles that learned to walk and think on our own??

Leave religion alone and find something better to do with your time.

they should put the same disclaimer on bibles. and other religious documents.

since, y'know, nobody alive today was alive when it was written so everything in it is basically unreliable and unproven information.

Actually humanity grew because of religion, I’m not a religious person but I recognize that the earliest civilizations created their first writing, art, and monuments due to their various religions as early as 10,000B.C. Also when the Roman Empire collapsed after the barbarian invasions in 476 A.D. it was The Church of Rome and its pope that kept the last bits of civilization together. Even the first university was built by the church in 1110 A.D. All these facts can be proven if you would like to research them for yourself. Whether they had a bill passed or not the majority of teachers say this out loud anyways has csmonut said. I’m only 16 and I come from the south, in tiny town called LeFLore Oklahoma to be exact, would you say I’m slow or stupid?

Well then the same should go into the bible. Science = Truth

If science textbooks need a disclaimer for the word theory in Theory of Evolution, the Bible should be right next to Asop's Fables with a huge "fiction" stamp on the spine

even religious scientists tend to resist teaching "intellegent design", because it has nothing to do with the scientific process. its a philosophical/theological stance. belongs nowhere nere biology. if you're gonna teach creationism in school, why not teach the belief that lighting is generated by MJOLNIR (spelling?) as thor beats down upon giants from the clouds, or that some love-sick nymph, not soundwaves bouncing off objects, is the cause of echos?

Well then the same should go into the bible. Science = Truth

Welk, it is only a theory! Maybe you forgit and therefore, the need for such disclaimer?

How do religious people justify a disclaimer about evolution, when they portray the oldest book of fairytales in the world as absolute fact? This drives me nuts.

Its dem swamp fewms makes em duhm.

Just playing a game on Xbox Live w/ anyone from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi will tell you exactly how far behind this area of the United States is with the rest of the world.

My response to this would be that there would need to be an exact disclaimer on every single bible printed and every time someone attends church...because those "theories" are as unproven, and "fantastical" for that matter, as the way this dude is describing evolution. I wonder if his district is actually pushing for this or if they are even aware of what he is focusing on??

This debate in Mississippi about how to present the Theory of Evolution is getting all of the press, as usual, but I wonder what OTHER interesting things Mississippi schools are teaching their children that DON'T get this kind of press. At a minimum, I am guessing that the school libraries in my state have a much broader selection of books. That is one of the foremost problems with this kind of policymaking. It is insidious. I have this image in my mind of ignorance in the form of a dense fog, slowly enveloping and permeating everything it encounters. We see the tiniest bit of it and recoil, but the true extent of it would absolutely horrify us.

Or not -- after all, it's just a "theory."

cztheday

This has absolutely nothing to do with Religion! Get that out of you way and you'll see the many flaws that Evolution has and that it's unfair to teach this in our public schools as fact! After all our aim to teach our students to think and make decisions on their own, force feeding them the THEORY of Evolution as fact is impeding any progress!

Shouldn't science books just teach what the word theory means? I have no qualms with explaining the word theory, but singling out the theory of evolution seems like a promotion of religion.

*chuckles* conservative efforts to halt progress always makes me laugh...

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting the theory of evolution is inaccurate. I believe it's the best interpretation we have of all the data, and most likely true.

I was only saying in regards to HUMAN evolution, there are some weird questions I've yet to get my head around- NOT THAT RELIGION HAS THE ANSWER!

I also don't see why theories of an "intelligent designer" (of the cosmos) and evolution need to be mutually exclusive. Only religionists or dogmatic atheists would think so- certainly not true scientists.

everything now stop evolving!!!

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

First off, I'm extremely pro-science and anti-religion so don't get me wrong here. I am not saying that evolution and creationism should be on equal ground in a classroom or anywhere else. But...

There are reasons not to shudder at the questioning of evolution or the suggestion of "intelligent design". Though the theory of "intelligent design" is often used by bible-thumping god-mongers in a contemptible effort to force religion down our throats, we shouldn't throw out the idea just because some of the people pushing it have bad motives. All theories must withstand constant scrutiny and challenges, and they should never be considered complete or factual when our understanding of any subject will always be limited by our very finite nature.

Neither classical nor quantum physics have provided a theory that explains creation or the precision of cosmological mathematics without at least considering the possibility of an intelligent creative force behind it all. A true believer in science fears neither the absence or existence of an intelligent designer. We should only keep our minds open and seek the truth.

While there is a consensus among scientists that evolution is the best explanation of all the data we've accumulated about life on Earth thus far, it is still accurate to say it is only a "theory". The theory is not "controversial", but neither is it absolute or complete. It does leave room for as yet unanswered questions.

For example, the process of evolution is extremely slow. Human evolution from "apes" began nearly 5 million years ago at a snails pace. There was in fact very little difference, physically or otherwise (tools), over this long, slow adaptation over millions of years.

Yet 300,000 years ago, quite suddenly and in the blink of an eye by evolutionary timetables, modern humans appear- quite distinct from even the most similar primates. After a couple hundred thousand years as hunter-gatherers in the wild, we suddenly establish civilization and within a mere 15,000 years, we are where we are today.

The sudden "jump" in our evolution is very difficult to explain, even by the most ardent Darwinists.

I've also always wondered about this: if the point of mutation, adaptation, and evolution is the survival of a species, why are there still other "primitive" primates like apes? Shouldn't we have replaced them by now? And why haven't we seen any massive "jumps" in the evolution of other species? Just some things I've yet to learn, oh well...

My point is there are always unanswered questions. While modern religion has long outlived it's purpose (IMO), science tells us that "maybe" is the way to the truth.

oops. just read the whole thing and i changed my mind. this IS retarded.

fuck the police

this is not anti-evolution.

this is just being carefull.

you never know which dumbass is going to get offended next

Evolutionary theory doesn't pose that "random" forces direct life. Hardly random at all, the strongest the forces at work are natural selection responding to the environment (among others).

But hey, that's a damn funny picture.

I think it would be good to knock evolution down a notch. I would like to see Intelligent Design talked more about or even just PRESENTED at all.

Intelligent Design is a theory that even scientists unassociated with any "religious" beliefs have started to give thought to. I think it's just as valid.

The best theory evolution has for how the non living became living is crystals. Pretty sad. Science is furthered when people think outside the box, but now we have this evolutionary box and anyone who dares think outside of it gets crushed. I just don't think that's right.

If you look at the states such as Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama...you get a very clear picture of what a society looks like that uses a 2000 year old book of Jewish mythology as a model. As Carl Sagan said " science is a candle burning in the darkness" and there are those who would extinguish that candle because it exposes them for the frauds that they are.

Evolution is absolutely NOT controversial. Well maybe it is, but only to stupid people. The fossil, DNA, etc, etc evidence backs it up, and disproves creationism utterly. There should be no consideration whatsoever in our schools for any primitive, magical, made-up explanations as real alternatives to actual science..

How sad are the leaders in the south?

It’s like they refuse to advance.

My teacher said this aloud before he taught us evolution.

Ah...one step forward and two steps back.
Ya can't cure stupid.

Evolution is a science theory, therefor it is taught in science classes. It is a subject that should be addressed just the same as "What is in the center of the Earth like". There is now way we can prove it and we look twords our religion for answers.

State-sponsored religion is not good.

Religion some how install basic moral principles in our lives. Where seem to me that science is great but it some how lessen our moral principles. Sorry for lack of explanation for my theory. Just wanna get it out there. So religion is not soooo bad. It has its good, and some time when is use right, is great.

And just when I thought,that part of the Islamic world was stuck in the middle ages,I read this story about Missississippi.Apparently,Islam and Christianity have more in common than I thought.

Really? This is the most pressing issue in the Mississippi House of Representatives right now? I can see why things are a little "slower" down south.

Ugh, stupid, stupid, stupid!

This is pure stupidity. The religious right has a problem with keeping their faith to themselves instead of trying to push it on everyone else.

I'd like to see a world where science is forgotten and religion is the only thing people have...say Medieval times? Things were great back then when religion determined everything!