{"id":920,"date":"2009-02-26T20:54:23","date_gmt":"2009-02-27T01:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=920"},"modified":"2009-03-28T18:07:31","modified_gmt":"2009-03-28T22:07:31","slug":"proposal-misses-the-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=920","title":{"rendered":"Proposal Misses the Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our friend Paul Cottle had a piece published in the Florida Times-Union a while ago<\/a>, but the paper had sliced and diced his work quite a bit. So, I’m posting here Paul’s original submission for your reading pleasure.<\/p>\n

—————————-<\/p>\n

Senator Wise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Proposal on Intelligent Design Misses the Mark<\/strong>
\nPaul Cottle, Florida State University Professor of Physics
\nand Member, Florida Science Standards Committee
\nFebruary 11, 2009<\/p>\n

The legislation on Intelligent Design that Senator Wise described in Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Times Union will provide the strongest challenge yet to the treatment of evolution education in Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new science standards.<\/p>\n

But Senator Wise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal does not represent the viewpoints of all Christians.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, the Catholic Church to which my family belongs strongly supports the science of evolution.\u00c2\u00a0 Last year, Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando published an op-ed piece in The Orlando Sentinel endorsing the teaching of evolution while at the same time rejecting the notion that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evolution requires a materialistic or an atheistic understanding of the human person or of the entire universe.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, Intelligent Design is being excluded from a Vatican-sponsored congress on the evolution debate being held this spring.<\/p>\n

Senator Wise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal does not use the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153science\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the same way that the vast majority of scientists do.\u00c2\u00a0 Most scientists regard science as a way of explaining phenomena we observe in our laboratories and elsewhere in the universe using the laws of nature.\u00c2\u00a0 As Matt Soergel reported in his article, Intelligent Design advocates assume that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153life is so complex that it couldn’t occur naturally but must have had an intelligent force working to make it happen.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Finally, Senator Wise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal does not address the issue that concerns Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents most:\u00c2\u00a0 the possibility that a science teacher (or any teacher) could use their privileged place in a child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world to change that child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beliefs regarding religion.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the primary concern of parents on both sides of the evolution education debate.\u00c2\u00a0 Evolution is a flashpoint for this concern, but there are certainly other opportunities in the public school curriculum for a teacher determined to change students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 beliefs to try to do so.<\/p>\n

Hence, Senator Wise and the legislature should leave the evolution standards alone and instead send Governor Crist a bill that simply says that Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s public schools should be tolerant of students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 religious backgrounds and that no teacher may denigrate a student\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s religious beliefs, regardless of the curriculum subject being addressed.\u00c2\u00a0 It need not mention the topic of evolution at all.\u00c2\u00a0 Fine science teachers already take care to respect students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 religious beliefs while providing instruction in evolution, and such legislation would acknowledge their efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our friend Paul Cottle had a piece published in the Florida Times-Union a while ago, but the paper had sliced and diced his work quite a bit. So, I’m posting here Paul’s original submission for your reading pleasure. —————————- Senator … 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-eQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":914,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=914","url_meta":{"origin":920,"position":0},"title":"More opinions on Wise","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science supporter Paul Cottle, who is a professor of physics at Florida State University, wrote a nice piece for the Florida Times-Union about state Senator Wise's possible intelligent design creationism bill. Wise's proposal does not represent the viewpoints of all Christians. Last year, Bishop Thomas Wenski of\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":506,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=506","url_meta":{"origin":920,"position":1},"title":"1st hearing later this week?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This Tampa Bay 10 story says that one of the \"academic freedom\" bills is supposed to be considered later this week. On Monday, the math and science writers submitted their opposition to Storm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal. In it they say, \"the 'Academic Freedom Act' is a subterfuge for injecting the religious beliefs\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 17 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 17 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=506#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":944,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=944","url_meta":{"origin":920,"position":2},"title":"Leave the evolution education controversy behind","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida State University physics professor Paul Cottle has a guest post over at The Gradebook blog about Senator Wise's antievolution bill. Most importantly, Senator Wise's proposal does not address the concerns that most of Florida's parents have concerning evolution education: the possibility that a science teacher (or any teacher) could\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=944#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":926,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=926","url_meta":{"origin":920,"position":3},"title":"Press Release: “Critical Analysis” bill","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science Press Release: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Critical Analysis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bill Undermines Florida Science Education Florida Citizens for Science is disappointed that Senator Stephen Wise has chosen to waste the valuable time of his fellow legislators and possibly deepen a school district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s financial difficulties by filing a bill challenging the teaching of\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":1728,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1728","url_meta":{"origin":920,"position":4},"title":"Scott’s Open Door To Creationism?","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"November 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Governor Rick Scott's newest ideas on how to streamline Florida's education system may well have inadvertently open the door for creationist material. Scott's proposal\u00c2\u00a0would eliminate the textbook adoption requirement and \u00c2\u00a0allow local school district superintendents to choose their own material. This position would surely open the door to those who\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 12 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 12 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1728#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1299,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1299","url_meta":{"origin":920,"position":5},"title":"Another paper opposes “theory of whatever” bill","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Today has published an editorial opposing Sen. Wise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153non-evolution\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153theory of whatever\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bill: There he goes again. Sen. Wise used identical language in a previous bill that failed to become law. It's almost pitiful, that this is what the deniers of evolution are reduced to. In this country, lawmakers\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920"}],"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=920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}