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From: bill@utastro.UUCP (William H. Jefferys)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion
Subject: Re: "Secular Humanism" banned in the US Schools.
Message-ID: <703@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Sep-85 10:54:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.703
Posted: Thu Sep 12 10:54:45 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Sep-85 09:37:36 EDT
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Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
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First let me say that in my opinion there should be provision for
parents who are "conscientious objectors" to their children being
taught some subject, such as evolution, to have their religious
sensibilities respected by the public school system.  I am not sure
that it would be *wise* for them to take advantage of such a
provision, but it should exist.

However, I completely disagree with Paul Dubuc when he says:

> Who decides what is the minimum necessary content of an education?  Is
> the teaching of evolutionary theory absolutely necessary?  I think not.
> One can teach biology, chemistry, and physics (the understanding of
> how things work) quite apart from any speculations about their ultimate
> origins.  These can be reserved for future studies in the school of
> the students own choosing.

Society has the responsibility of ensuring that children educated in
the public schools are prepared to act responsibly when they become
adults.  There are important questions of public policy that require
a basic understanding of evolutionary theory if they are to be handled
intelligently.  Last night, for example, I watched a NOVA repeat on
parasitic diseases.  It was pointed out that in the case of malaria,
both the insect vector (Anopheles mosquito) and the parasite have
developed resistance to the agents used to combat them.  Medicine
in general faces a serious problem when overuse of antibiotics, for
example, causes them rapidly to lose efficacy.  Legislators (usually
laymen in scientific matters) are required to legislate wisely on
the question of whether, for example, animal feed ought to be treated with 
antibiotics, producing cheaper meat at the possible cost of increasing
bacterial resistance to these antibiotics.  Whether you believe in
evolution or not, these organisms seem to behave *as if* natural
selection is operative, and until a better theory comes along, 
the people who have to make such important decisions had better
understand the basic ideas of evolution.

Nearly all scientists would agree that evolution is one of the
great scientific ideas of all time.  We ought to protect the
religious sensibilities of all, but it would be wrong to let the
objections of some parents deprive all children of a good education.  
To be blunt, it is *flat out wrong* to claim that a person is
adequately educated in biology if that person does not understand
the basic issues of evolution.  Merely teaching the phenomenology
of biology, as Paul proposes, would be to teach a severely emasculated
subject, since evolution pervades all aspects of the field.

Indeed, *even while stressing the importance of allowing
conscientious objection to the teaching of evolution*, I believe
that the children of Creationist parents would be better served by
taking courses that include evolution.  They can learn about their
Creationist heritage as part of their religious upbringing, and
they will, I hope, grow up understanding all the issues and being
stronger in their faith.  To my way of thinking, this is vastly
preferable to being brought up sheltered from unpleasant ideas.

-- 
Glend.	I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hot.	Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you
	do call them?    --  Henry IV Pt. I, III, i, 53

	Bill Jefferys  8-%
	Astronomy Dept, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712   (USnail)
	{allegra,ihnp4}!{ut-sally,noao}!utastro!bill	(UUCP)
	bill@astro.UTEXAS.EDU.				(Internet)