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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Education of creationists' children
Message-ID: <1236@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 30-Nov-84 11:59:08 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.1236
Posted: Fri Nov 30 11:59:08 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Nov-84 13:21:59 EST
References: 
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 50
Summary: 


>  ==============
>  To sum up, I think that creationist children should not be
>  required to attend classes that they deem offensive to 
>  their religion.  At the same time, we should make sure that
>  creationists will not force pseudo-science into the science
>  classroom.
>  -- 
>  
>  Yosi Hoshen
>  ==============
>  
>  I originally suggested that the right to determine their children's
>  education might be taken from creationists (I should have said SOME
>  creationists, perhaps, but the more extreme claim will do for now).
>  This suggestion was provoked by a series of bewildering pseudo-physics
>  comments made by a creationist, that showed that he had been denied
>  a significant chunk of the heritage of human Civilization.
>  What is more disturbing, he seems not to be aware of his deprivation,
>  as a slave may not be aware of his lack of freedom.
>
>  Martin Taylor
>
I suppose that what is really being discussed here is whether the
children of creationists should be required to learn about evolution.
===============
No, it's wider than that.  The original suggestion that children
were being denied part of their heritage was stimulated by a
demonstration of profound ignorance of physics on the part of
a creationist.  The heritage that I was meaning is the spirit of
enquiry and what it leads to.  What these people wish to deny their
children is the feeling of being able to question dogma, whether
scientific or religious.  Civilization is built on tolerance and
enquiry; adherence to dogma is the key to theocracies.
Basic sciences have developed from, and are a route to the spirit
of enquiry and tolerance for strange ideas.  To deny children training
in basic sciences is to deny them a substantial part of their heritage.

I've no objection to children being exposed to creationism, provided
that they are given both the factual and the methodological tools
with which to evaluate it.  The fate of any one theory doesn't matter;
all theories are wrong in the end when it comes to detail.  I object to
people being brought up with the idea there is one truth, and that
someone KNOWS that truth.  I think such people are dangerous to the
rest of us and to the kind of society we find tolerable to live in.
-- 

Martin Taylor
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