Why stop there?<\/strong><\/p>\nHurray for the bold efforts of Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, who is courageously battling against the scientific fact of evolution, and Darwin’s theory of natural selection as the mechanism for evolution to take place.<\/p>\n
He wants teachers to instruct kids to consider “intelligent design,” which has no supporting evidence whatsoever.<\/p>\n
Well, why stop there? Why not demand that teachers present alternatives to Newton and his so-called laws of gravity?<\/p>\n
Why not challenge Copernicus’ godless theory of a heliocentric solar system?<\/p>\n
And why not challenge Einstein’s theory that matter and energy are equivalent?<\/p>\n
That should satisfy Wise and his credulous, faithful and noncritically thinking supporters.<\/p>\n
JON DEHNER, Jacksonville<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A burden on schools<\/strong><\/p>\nState Sen. Steve Wise, a Jacksonville Republican, said he plans to introduce a bill to require teachers, who teach the well-established and well-recognized as accurate theory of evolution, to “discuss” the discredited “theory” of “intelligent design.”<\/p>\n
Why has he remained so long on an education committee, first in the House and now in the Senate, with such an idea? What an indictment of the leadership in both bodies.<\/p>\n
Of course, he will disregard the overwhelming opinion of teachers of science throughout the state who debunk his fostered, failed theory. He will say, “What do teachers of science know?”<\/p>\n
If this bill survives a Senate vote, and is voted out by House committee to the full House, it should be defeated by a very wide margin.<\/p>\n
The Scopes “monkey trial” (the same issue) was decided in the 1920s and the indefensible “theory” of “intelligent design” (a new phrase to cover up the same Bible thumping) was left behind by almost all of the states soon thereafter.<\/p>\n
Should we further deteriorate our educational system by allowing a failed “theory” to confuse and victimize our students? I think not.<\/p>\n
Should we allow Florida to become a laughing stock of the national educational community? I suggest not.<\/p>\n
ROBERT M. NIED, Jacksonville<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Good job, folks. Keep them coming!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Letters to the editor are starting to pop up in response to the news that Senator Wise is planning on introducing legislation promoting intelligent design. In the St. Petersburg Times: No alternative So Republican state Sen. Stephen Wise wants schools … 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":[27],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-ev","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":909,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=909","url_meta":{"origin":899,"position":0},"title":"Dueling letters","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A letter in the Sun-Sentinel rehashes that tired old claim that evolution is \"just a theory.\" In re: to a Feb. 10 forum article: To examine all the facts to prove the origin of the species is going to be impossible because they are infinite in numbers. It is wrong\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"ID Creationism\" bills '09"","block_context":{"text":"\"ID Creationism\" bills '09","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1267,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1267","url_meta":{"origin":899,"position":1},"title":"Press Release: 2011 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Critical Analysis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bill","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science Press Release: \"Critical Analysis\" bill harmful to Florida science education. Florida Citizens for Science opposes Senator Stephen Wise's recently filed bill -- SB 1854, Required Instruction in the Public Schools -- as it is clearly unnecessary, harmful to science education, and sends a negative message to\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":1261,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1261","url_meta":{"origin":899,"position":2},"title":"The return of the Florida antievolution bill","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's baaaaack! State Senator Stephen Wise is taking another stab at challenging the teaching of evolution in Florida schools with Senate Bill 1854 \"Required Instruction in the Public Schools\". There are other non-science-related items in the bill, but the part that targets evolution reads: 1003.42 Required instruction.\u00e2\u20ac\u201d (2) Members of\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":906,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=906","url_meta":{"origin":899,"position":3},"title":"Wise finally gets some love","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the first letter to the editor I've seen so far in support of Senator Wise's possible intelligent design creationism bill. IN REPLY: INTELLIGENT DESIGN Give children facts This is in response to letters regarding Sen. Steve Wise's proposed bill to require teachers who teach evolution to also be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"ID Creationism\" bills '09"","block_context":{"text":"\"ID Creationism\" bills '09","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1266,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1266","url_meta":{"origin":899,"position":4},"title":"Senator Wise and the “non-evolution” “theory of whatever”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Tampa Tribune reporter Elaine Silvestrini finally got someone to speak on behalf of the new antievolution bill filed in the state senate (SB 1854): Senator Stephen Wise himself (Story: Legislator's challenge to evolution has some alarmed). Senator Wise doesn't say much of substance other than to sing the same old\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":895,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=895","url_meta":{"origin":899,"position":5},"title":"You’ve got to be kidding me …","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"State Sen. Stephen Wise of Jacksonville announced through an article in the Florida Times Union that he plans to file a bill this legislative session to require evolution to be balanced with a discussion of intelligent design. Yes, require. Not just allow, but to require. Of course, we have to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"ID Creationism\" bills '09"","block_context":{"text":"\"ID Creationism\" bills '09","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899"}],"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=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}