I am proud to announce that organizations are now coming forward in support of the new draft of the state science standards.
The first is a complete surprise. Our very first county school board has approved a resolution in support of the standards. Thank you, Monroe County!
The members of the framing and writing committees who created these great science standards sent their own letter to the Board of Education defending the inclusion of evolution.
The American Institute of Biological Sciences released a letter in support of the science standards.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State also released a letter in support of the standards.
The Florida Academy of Sciences presented a supporting resolution at Monday’s public forum meeting in Orlando. I called their office today to confirm they had a resolution, and I was told they would send me a copy tomorrow. I’ll post it as soon as I can. [edited to add: the resolution is now available.]
YAY!!
I think the antievolution doofus who held up the oranges was the last straw. Here comes the cavalry! Chaaaaaarge!!!!
Happy Darwin Day! 😀
I’ve always wondered about the rhetorical value of insulting the people that you are trying to convince to see things your way. Mr. Orange certainly didn’t want to sit down without accomplishing that, and went well over his three minutes to do so.
Let us remember that good honest citizens of Florida like the gentleman with the oranges are our friends and neighbors and are far superior to their professional misleaders.
Meanwhile, are there any more counties that might join us in support of the new standards?
WRE,
It is not easy to win someone over by insulting them. On the other hand not replying in kind when they ridicule science and scientists, caricature science,
build up a strawman version of evolution to be used as a punching bag, is not
fair either.
Academic scientists and PhDs can engage them at cerebral level. We non scientists will engage them at their sophomoronic level. We play the bad cop and you guys play the good cop.
Hope someone educates the Orange Guy. Orange is well known for its vitamin C. And humans are one of the very few animals who can not
make their own Vitamin C. We depend on oranges and other fruits and
veggies to get them. Almost all other animals can. And surprisingly,
we have the vitamin C factory in every cell of our body. But it has been
turned off, locked and shut. And when we lack vitamin C we get the
disease of scurvy.
And who were the most famous and well known
victims of scurvy? The sailors! Those sailors who were bringing the
message of Christ to the New World, civilizing the heathens and
providing salvation to them, those sailors on the Mission of God!
Why would a Designer who is Intelligent build Vitamin C factories in the
bodies of these sailors, and then shut it off? May be God did not want
the New World to be Christianized. May be that is why he took away
our ability to make Vitamin C. But those pesky scientists, no doubt in
cahoots with Satan discovered an artificial way to get Vitamin C by
eating lemons! May be that is why there is so much suffering in the world.
The reason is because we defied the explicit Will and Design of
the Great God Xoxotocal and allowed the scientists in the employ of an
evil God to get vitamin C by artificial means to bring a brutal bloodthirsty cruel God to the New World. Sinners! Repent!! Give up your bloody cruel God and obey Xoxotocal!
The Oranges in your hands tell you the real story of who the Real God is.
http://www.exit109.com/~gosta/vitaminc.sht
Point taken. I withdraw my characterization of Mr. Orange as a “doofus.” I maintain, however, that his speech betrayed great ignorance of science, and demonstrates why we need better science education in this country.
I thought the orange guy was in favor of the new standards? Maybe I didn’t read the article in the paper completely but don’t we share a common ancestor with not only oranges but every living organism on the planet? That’s the beauty of evolution- it seems counter intuitive at first but when you start to explore it makes perfect sense.
JB,
It may not have been clear in the newspaper what “Orange Guy’s” stand was, but in his testimony, he finished with a loopy story in which a truck full of chickens crashed into a truck load of excrement and he stated that the collision created members of the FDOE. At least, that’s what I heard.
Which brings to mind the question of whether or not the meeting video is archived on the FDOE site somewhere. I would like to hear some of the testimony I missed.
Ok- Then I would say he was not for the affirmative… pretty funny. Not a very good way to argue a point- however.
Here is the video … http://www.fldoe.org/meetings/2008_02_11/meetingArchive.asp
Thanks, SScott.
The “Orange”guy can be found in Part 1 at 53 minutes.
From the United Church of Christ
Pastoral Letter on Faith
Engaging Science and
Technology
http://ucc.org/not-mutually-exclusive/pdfs/pastoral-letter.pdf
Evolution helps us see our faithful God in a new
way. Our creator works patiently, calling forth
life through complex processes spanning billions
of years and waiting for us to awaken and respond in conscious participation in God’s own overarching dream
for all living things. Evolution
also helps us see ourselves anew,
as creatures who share a common
origin with other species. Today
we know that human bodies and
brains share the same genetic
and biochemical processes with
other creatures, not just mammals
but insects, plants, and bacteria.
How then should we understand
ourselves as evolved creatures,
sharing much of our DNA with other species, and at the same time as distinct creatures in the image of God?
We have an “apple” guy on part 1 at 1 hour 42 minutes too!
(No fair Pete … I was googling ‘percentage of DNA that humans share with ‘oranges’ … – same thought, different path-I think!) 🙂
1 hour 52 minutes we see a guy saying that he has found scientific evidence for ‘Creation†– liberal media disregarded him.
Orange guy was arguing for the proposed standard- he just didn’t realize it. Apple guy is funny- paraphrasing- “we can’t go back and observe so it can’t be true science” yet we can teach creationism…..why?
Oops! I use the fact that 25% of our DNA is identical to that of a banana and always thought it would be a great response to that good old inanity “Did humans descend from monkeys?” – much more humbling in my mind. But the kids do get what I am saying when we study genetics and I use this fact about how all like forms on Earth are connected. Don’t know where I got that fact. Maybe we should show up at our next meeting with bananas! 😉
I just checked the petition – 1825! Cool! 🙂
C’mon Volusia County! Lets support the proposed changes!
Orange guy must have seen this video 🙂