{"id":321,"date":"2007-11-22T00:58:11","date_gmt":"2007-11-22T04:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=321"},"modified":"2008-08-05T20:01:23","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T00:01:23","slug":"newspaper-blog-takes-notice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=321","title":{"rendered":"Newspaper blog takes notice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lakeland Ledger has been filling their pages with news about the Polk County School Board’s evolution heartburn quite a bit lately. The newspaper also has a blog, which saw fit to post about Wesley Elsberry’s recent open letter<\/a> to the school board.<\/p>\n

The newspaper’s letters to the editor section<\/a> has also been featuring dueling letters on the issue. My personal favorite is the following:<\/p>\n

Mr. Harv Buckner recently wrote about his concern that the teaching of evolution in the schools would be in stark contrast to the religion he taught at home. He makes the erroneous assumption that the teaching of evolution would violate his belief in a supreme deity, when, in fact, the theory of evolution opens the door to a greater understanding of the ongoing creative process at work in our universe, more awe inspiring than the limited understanding of God that he endorses.<\/p>\n

Mr. Buckner makes several assumptions that create his dilemma: First, he assumes that he possesses the final word on the truth of religious understanding. He also has a strong bias against science, as if one cannot have religious beliefs and honor the work of science at the same time.<\/p>\n

In fact, the conservative brand of religion he claims is often anti-science, and bases its belief on distorted interpretations of scripture, confusing mythology with history, and the literal interpretation of scripture as the final word of God.<\/p>\n

The sad truth about Mr. Buckner’s belief system is that he has apparently closed his mind to the idea that he may be wrong in his religious perceptions, and in the process is losing out on a greater understanding of creation and the marvel of the creative power in and through it all.<\/p>\n

THE REV. ROBERT E. WILLOUGHBY<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you, reverend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lakeland Ledger has been filling their pages with news about the Polk County School Board’s evolution heartburn quite a bit lately. The newspaper also has a blog, which saw fit to post about Wesley Elsberry’s recent open letter to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-5b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2451,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2451","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":0},"title":"We lost a friend","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There is some very sad news from over the weekend. Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel Prize winning chemist teaching at Florida State University, passed away Saturday. He was a great friend to us here at Florida Citizens for Science. During the big fight over evolution in the state standards back in\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2451#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":639,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=639","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":1},"title":"Please correct the record","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A persistent letter writer to the TCPalm looks to be having his way with his creationist fantasies in the newspaper. Have a look (bold highlight mine): Roger Hule recently wrote in answering mine and several other letters objecting to his support of evolution. The letter was long on rhetoric and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antiscience nonsense"","block_context":{"text":"Antiscience nonsense","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":405,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=405","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":2},"title":"11th editorial, other tidbits","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The 11th newspaper editorial supporting evolution in the schools appeared in the TCPalm today. Editorial: Science classes need to evolve And, since Charles Darwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the Origin of Species\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was published in 1859, in which his theory of evolution was first introduced, scientific research and discoveries have added immensely to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1292,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1292","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":3},"title":"Evolution newspaper story a confusing mess","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm feeling mighty confused by an article that recently appeared in Hernando Today (a Tampa Tribune paper): Educators: Bill that criticizes evolution won't hurt students. Read the following excerpt and ponder what is being stated for a moment: Dr. Stacey Thomson, chairwoman of the science department at Pasco-Hernando Community College,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Critical Analysis\" bills '11"","block_context":{"text":"\"Critical Analysis\" bills '11","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=29"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1000","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":4},"title":"Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace VII: Causing the Nation to Fall!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the seventh part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) \u00c2\u00a0Non-scientific theories The April 22, 1980 meeting of the Hillsborough County school board was a marathon one. The meetings the previous December paled in comparison to the flood of people wanting\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1000#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":922,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=922","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":5},"title":"Florida’s Greatest Menace V: Brainwashing Students","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the fifth part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) A new leader Waging a battle against the teaching of evolution has but one requirement: a leader with a fire in the belly and time to devote to the cause. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=922#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}