Not long ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal received praise for a speech after the Republican defeat warning fellow Republicans that, if they want to win again, “We’ve got to stop being the stupid party.” He seems to have forgotten that particular reform in comments this week supporting the teaching of both creationism and intelligent design in public schools as part of teaching “the best science.”
Jindal has joined other GOP leaders in treating creationism as a science. He insisted: “Bottom line, at the end of the day, we want our kids to be exposed to the best facts. Let’s teach them about the big bang theory, let’s teach them about evolution – I’ve got no problem if a school board, a local school board, says we want to teach our kids about creationism, that people, some people, have these beliefs as well, let’s teach them about ‘intelligent design.’”
He asked “What are we scared of?” Well, Governor, we are afraid that in the midst of widespread failing schools and dropping science scores, we will be now teaching religion as science.
Source: Salon
James,
It wasn’t just FOX news. I blame most of the MSM. They were complicit in the “torture” debate. They went along with the “enhanced interrogation methods” tag.
Mike S wisely offers, “One of the great logical fallacies that seems to have overtake our era is false equivalency.”
Such as there being “two sides” to the torture debate. Once the order was given, and we strayed with all due haste into war crimes, the political debate was ended despite the best attempts to “gain a permanent Republican majority” or “elect the White Horse prophet” or install the 24/7 terror-generatiing propaganda network known as fox “news.” We are not afraid of these things any longer.
What has lagged are the criminal charges. And that story is not yet ended.
Nick
We must have gone to the same parochial school: Our Lady of Perpetual Hypocricy (George Carlin?)
This just in….Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has also given his endorsement to Home Economics courses in Cheeses of Nazareth.
Mike A.,
Your words were exceptional to Hubert….. I really appreciate reading your posts…..
Mike Spindell — which nuns were those? They didn’t know ANYTHING. The nuns in MY town got it right — no hairy palms, no menses. Equal for both genders: you just go blind.
Leading of course to the well known dilemma: “didn’t know whether to sh!t or go blind.”
Louisiana Governor: Teach Creationism In Public School
Hubert flails madly with, “…while supporting the belief that a pineapple and a porcupine share a common ancestor…”
Not belief. Clearly demonstrable. Another problem with your argument is the biology texts that you did not read but were only given highly edited bits by Pastor all seem to have been written before 1980.
Your ignorance demands a fleet of clue buses be dispatched to arrive at your door within the hour.
he seems to be ruling out Louisiana’s future as a techno-hub. i wonder what will happen in NC (where research is a big business) and Georgia (a lot of medical research in ATL)?
But, small minds are part of this creationism horseshit and the “possibly false anecdotes” accusations.
That’s pretty weird stuff, I know. Some insular folks might call them “possibly false” anecdotes. They are not!!
If we were to allow the nuns who taught me to determine curriculum boys would believe masturbation causes hairy palms and girls that if they have sex before marriage they will live in constant menses.
One of the great logical fallacies that seems to have overtake our era is the false equivalency. With it one can take scientifically tested and validated theory and say that something like the creation story of a religion should be given equal weight. It can’t be given equal weight since it is first just a story some people think is true as a matter of faith..Secondly, because it is obviously meant as a metaphor, rather than a description of actual history. Catholicism, as Mike A. stated above, accepts both evolutionary theory and the Christian Bible. Religious people can still believe that God created the Universe, but understand that the work might not have done as Genesis stated. In any event these Fundamentalist teachings have no business being taught in public schools and any private schools that teach creationism as part of their science curricula should be suspect regarding biology and ecology.
Karen,
Here are links to some of my posts about charter schools and school vouchers:
Stateside Louisiana: School Vouchers and the Privatization of Public Education
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/08/13/stateside-louisiana-school-vouchers-and-the-privatization-of-public-education/
A Look at Some of the Driving Forces behind the School Reform Movement and the Effort to Privatize Public Education
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/03/a-look-at-some-of-the-driving-forces-behind-the-school-reform-movement-and-the-effort-to-privatize-public-education/
Charter Schools and The Profit Motive
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/16/charter-schools-and-the-profit-motive/
Karen,
Good grief, woman!
Literature is taught in English class. It’s not taught as science. People know that fables are…fables. Did your teachers actually teach you that the fox and the crow were real, true-to-life characters that could speak French or English or any other “human” language?
History is taught in history class. It’s not taught as science. It’s not meant to be taught as science. Did you learn all about Winston Churchill in biology class? In chemistry class? In physics class.
“bad science colliding with bad theology” (Mike Appleton)
That sums it up nicely as theology is often defined as the science of religion.
Elaine,
I’m just reading your post about school vouchers and I remember you taught. What do you think of charter schools? (I have no firm opinion but a lot of wondering about them and where its going.) This is a blog you might like http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/
Elaine,
Literature is all unscientific. Languages classes — I can still recite a lot of that fable about the fox and the crow, neither of which animals actually speak French.
There are different opinions of historical events and people in history. Some people think Winston Churchill was a great man; some people think he was a bloodthirsty war monger, for example.
I’d have to hear more from Jindal before having an opinion about what he said. Actually, I’d have to know more about what exactly they are teaching in the schools in Louisiana.
Dear Mr. Cumberdale:
I am always amazed when people who attack scientific facts which appear incompatible with their religious beliefs think so little of their call to witness that they refuse to use their real names. Wait, I think I heard a cock crow.
I was taught high school science and theology by Jesuits. Not once in the course of those four years was there any suggestion of a conflict between evolutionary theory and religious belief. And that was over 50 years ago.
Your post is merely an example of the sort of fundamentalist know-nothingism that increasingly pollutes education in this country. There is hardly anything more annoying than the sound of bad science colliding with bad theology.
Hubert:
Well guess what. THAT belief, is ……. STUPID. No, things don’t spontaneously generate out of nothing (no mater how many x-billion years) and a pineapple is NOT related to a porcupine.
********
Where did the “creator” come from then?