{"id":569,"date":"2008-04-30T06:38:18","date_gmt":"2008-04-30T10:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=569"},"modified":"2008-08-31T16:04:41","modified_gmt":"2008-08-31T20:04:41","slug":"more-good-editorialscolumns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=569","title":{"rendered":"More good editorials\/columns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida newspapers continue to editorialize on the side of good science. The Daytona Beach News Journal: Anti-evolution bills defy science<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawmakers don’t seem to be questioning the validity of “alternative theories” to evolution. Instead, they’re bickering over how far they should push public schools to allow those alternatives — which don’t qualify as valid scientific theories — to be taught. In the process, lawmakers strain the credibility of an education system that already ranks among the most distressed in the nation.<\/p>\n

And they try their constituents’ patience. Those listening to the debate on the House version of the evolution bill undoubtably came away with a poorer opinion of their elected leaders; the discussion was rancorous, peppered with sanctimony and disdain for established scientific standards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tallahassee Democrat “My View” column: Seeking ignorance in the name of God<\/a><\/p>\n

The Christians for whom I am attempting to speak do indeed believe that God created the heavens and the earth, including the process of evolution, by which we have arrived at this unique place in the history of the world. We also believe that God has spoken to us through the inspired words of Scripture. And we even believe that God continues to hear our prayers, however imperfect our understanding of that phenomenon may be. But what we do not believe is that God created the universe in a literal six-day period a relative few thousand years ago. We also do not believe that mentioning God’s name in public a few more times each day will cure the ills of our country. And we do not fear the theory of evolution being taught to our children in the public schools.<\/p>\n

Christians have no reason to fear evolution, and in fact have much to celebrate when considering the wonder of biodiversity, of which we humans are an integral part. But we should fear ignorance in God’s name. One, because it weakens the place of God in our world; and two, because legislation such as the Evolution Academic Freedom Act will inevitably invite some students to ignore the preponderance of evidence supporting the process of evolution if they so wish, weakening their own standing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida newspapers continue to editorialize on the side of good science. The Daytona Beach News Journal: Anti-evolution bills defy science Lawmakers don’t seem to be questioning the validity of “alternative theories” to evolution. Instead, they’re bickering over how far they … 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":[23],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-9b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":502,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=502","url_meta":{"origin":569,"position":0},"title":"News roundup","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"My apologies for this quick news link dump. The chemistry class I'm taking now is kicking my butt. I hope to have some thoughts on the movie situation up here tonight. In the meantime: Herald Tribune. I'm not buying what Mr. Luskin is selling. Stein and John Stemberger, president of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Creationism Bills"","block_context":{"text":"Creationism Bills","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3395,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3395","url_meta":{"origin":569,"position":1},"title":"“Controversial Theories” bill returns to Florida senate","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A bill was pre-filed for the 2019 legislative session in the Florida senate that would impact the standards for all academic subjects, especially science. The bill proposes allowing school districts to adopt their own sets of educational standards if they are equal to or more rigorous than the state's educational\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Controversial Theories bill 2019"","block_context":{"text":"Controversial Theories bill 2019","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=36"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2633,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2633","url_meta":{"origin":569,"position":2},"title":"“I have witnessed children being taught that Global Warming is a reality.”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I believe we can defeat the bad Instructional Materials bills\u00c2\u00a0making their way through the Florida Senate and House (see our Instructional Materials bills '17 blog category for information about these bills). I believe we can offer substantial resistance to these bills by simply emphasizing our opponent's own materials. They're handing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=552","url_meta":{"origin":569,"position":3},"title":"Early news reports on today’s tap dance","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Senator Storms' tap dancing has made the news here and there. (edited to add the Palm Beach Post editorial.) Palm Beach Post editorial: Fraudulent evolution bill Translated, the bill wants creationism - disguised as \"intelligent design\" - to have equal billing in classrooms. The bill is a fraud. The staff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2951,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2951","url_meta":{"origin":569,"position":4},"title":"“Controversial theories” science education bill filed in Florida senate","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a live one. This past Friday Sen. Dennis Baxley filed a bill in our state legislature concerning public education. Senate Bill 966\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purpose is to revise \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards; providing that such standards are the minimum baseline core content standards for K-12 public schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Controversial Theories bill 2017\/18"","block_context":{"text":"Controversial Theories bill 2017\/18","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=34"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":560,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=560","url_meta":{"origin":569,"position":5},"title":"Late night tidbits","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It feels good to know we're not the only ones who can see through the so-called \"academic freedom\" and \"critical analysis\" of evolution certain lawmakers are trying to push. Newspapers in Florida have consistently been on the side of reality and good science. The St. Petersburg Times has an editorial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569"}],"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=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}