Friday, June 08, 2007
The Philosopher's Revenge
Back in April, we reported that creationist chemistry teacher Jim Garretson planned to teach a "Physics 2990: Creation Science" course at McCook Community College in Nebraska.
A few days after that announcement we learned that the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education decided to "change the prefix of the course to philosophy to better reflect the nature of the subject matter."
Naturally the shouts of joy from the McCook Science Dept. were nearly drowned out by the agonized screams coming from the philosophy faculty.
Whatever department ended up taking one for the team, the course was to have included:
That's too bad. I was looking forward to driving up to Nebraska, perhaps with Les Lane riding shotgun, to hear about dinosaurs in the present.
A few days after that announcement we learned that the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education decided to "change the prefix of the course to philosophy to better reflect the nature of the subject matter."
Naturally the shouts of joy from the McCook Science Dept. were nearly drowned out by the agonized screams coming from the philosophy faculty.
Whatever department ended up taking one for the team, the course was to have included:
- The age of the earth, the earth's beginning, and where the earth is heading
- The Garden of Eden and life on earth before the flood and the major changes which have taken place since that time
- Dinosaurs in the past as well as in the present
- The flood, ice ages, mountain formation, coal and oil formation, and the Grand Canyon
- History of evolution through the ages and the effect it has had on the world as well as many very influential people
That's too bad. I was looking forward to driving up to Nebraska, perhaps with Les Lane riding shotgun, to hear about dinosaurs in the present.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Nebraska Creationism Class Removed From Science Dept.
Longtime reader, DR, sends along the information, that the planned "Physics 2990: Creation Science" course to be taught by Jim Garretson at McCook Community College in Nebraska will be relabeled.
The Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education has decided to "change the prefix of the course to philosophy to better reflect the nature of the subject matter," according to academic programs officer Dr. Kathleen L. Fimple.
According to the McCook Daily Gazette, the course was to have included:
The Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education has decided to "change the prefix of the course to philosophy to better reflect the nature of the subject matter," according to academic programs officer Dr. Kathleen L. Fimple.
According to the McCook Daily Gazette, the course was to have included:
- The age of the earth, the earth's beginning, and where the earth is heading
- The Garden of Eden and life on earth before the flood and the major changes which have taken place since that time
- Dinosaurs in the past as well as in the present
- The flood, ice ages, mountain formation, coal and oil formation, and the Grand Canyon
- History of evolution through the ages and the effect it has had on the world as well as many very influential people
- What is taught in school textbooks, without factual supportive evidence?
What is taught without factual supportive evidence? All of the above.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
The Consolation of Philosophy
The other day, we reported that the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education has decided to change the prefix of Jim Garretson's creationism course at McCook Community College from science to philosophy "to better reflect the nature of the subject matter."
Naturally, there was some grousing from the philosophers among RSR's readership who don't believe proselytizing is quite the same as philosophizing, but for the most part they kept a stiff upper lip as they took one for the team.
That's why we wanted to link to this story, "Science, a Creation of God," by Gailon Totheroh on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. Togheroh turns the usual Christian right rant against science and scientists as the spawn of Satan on its head by writing about scientists who were devout Christians.
Togheroh cites sociologist Rodney Stark as calculating "about 96 percent of innovators from the mid-1500s to 1700 were Christian believers. And the great majority of those-- 61 percent -- were devout Christians." (To achieve these figures, current fundamentalist opinion about who qualifies, and who does not, as a Christian, had to be broadened to include deists such as Isaac Newton.)
Amusingly, in Togheroh's revisionist view of the Christian origins of science -- the early Greeks and Muslims get short shrift here -- scientists aren't the god haters, it's those damn philosophers:
"The views of leading intellectuals like Hobbes, Voltaire, and Rousseau show that fields like philosophy were often the province of unbelievers ... "
He goes on to quote Henry Schaefer as saying, "You can give basically a library list of all the great contributors to philosophy, and they're all skeptics - skeptics, agnostics or atheists -- so it is clear that science has been a particularly Christian activity."
We don't know if that's a consolation for philosophers, or the consolation of philosophy, but there it is.
Naturally, there was some grousing from the philosophers among RSR's readership who don't believe proselytizing is quite the same as philosophizing, but for the most part they kept a stiff upper lip as they took one for the team.
That's why we wanted to link to this story, "Science, a Creation of God," by Gailon Totheroh on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. Togheroh turns the usual Christian right rant against science and scientists as the spawn of Satan on its head by writing about scientists who were devout Christians.
Togheroh cites sociologist Rodney Stark as calculating "about 96 percent of innovators from the mid-1500s to 1700 were Christian believers. And the great majority of those-- 61 percent -- were devout Christians." (To achieve these figures, current fundamentalist opinion about who qualifies, and who does not, as a Christian, had to be broadened to include deists such as Isaac Newton.)
Amusingly, in Togheroh's revisionist view of the Christian origins of science -- the early Greeks and Muslims get short shrift here -- scientists aren't the god haters, it's those damn philosophers:
"The views of leading intellectuals like Hobbes, Voltaire, and Rousseau show that fields like philosophy were often the province of unbelievers ... "
He goes on to quote Henry Schaefer as saying, "You can give basically a library list of all the great contributors to philosophy, and they're all skeptics - skeptics, agnostics or atheists -- so it is clear that science has been a particularly Christian activity."
We don't know if that's a consolation for philosophers, or the consolation of philosophy, but there it is.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Just for the Fun of It!
The Ashfall Fossil Beds in Northeastern Nebraska. Some 20 million years ago, rhinos, a carnivorous bear-dog, and giant pig-like animal called Dinohyus roamed the Nebraska grassland. Many of their remains are preserved today in the Agate Fossil Beds, often described as one of the most complete Miocene mammal sites in the world.
The Cornhusker state is also home to the Ashfall Fossil Beds where an abundance of well-preserved fossils, including several species of three-toed horses, barrel-bodied rhinos, and Aepycamelus, an odd cross between a camel and a giraffe, bear evidence to a catastrophic volcanic eruption that covered the ancient grassland in what is now Antelope County in Northeastern Nebraska with a two-foot thick layer of powdered glass some 12 million years ago.
Today, Nebraska is home to Jim Garretson, too. He's a creationist who plans to ignore the state's rich natural history into order to teach a more fanciful version. Garretson proposes to teach “Physics 2990: Creation Science” at McCook Community College in Southwest Nebraska.
Garretson's creation science class has already drawn a protest from Dr. Robert I. Price, an associate professor of Physics at the University of Nebraska in Kearney. Garretson's proposal, says Price, exhibits either "a profound lack of an understanding of science" or "an exceptional academic dishonesty." Either way, it's representative of a movement to expand the teaching of biblical creationism from its traditional base in Christian academies and bible colleges into public school classrooms.
According to the Southwest Nebraska News, Garretson's creation science class will explore the age of the earth, the earth’s beginning, and where the earth is heading (see, creation science does make predictions after all), the Garden of Eden, as well as life on earth before the flood and the major changes which have taken place since that time.
Apparently, the class is designed to be comprehensive. It will also examine dinosaurs "in the past as well as in the present" (someone let Michael Crichton know), the flood, ice ages, mountain formation, coal and oil formation, and the Grand Canyon.
"College should be a fun experience for students,” Garretson tells the Southwest Nebraska News. “Yes, there are always courses that are challenging and courses that may not be of interest, but are still required. But, once in a while, why not take a course just for the fun of it!”
Well, at least that's a selling point they haven't thought of out in Seattle yet.
The Cornhusker state is also home to the Ashfall Fossil Beds where an abundance of well-preserved fossils, including several species of three-toed horses, barrel-bodied rhinos, and Aepycamelus, an odd cross between a camel and a giraffe, bear evidence to a catastrophic volcanic eruption that covered the ancient grassland in what is now Antelope County in Northeastern Nebraska with a two-foot thick layer of powdered glass some 12 million years ago.
Today, Nebraska is home to Jim Garretson, too. He's a creationist who plans to ignore the state's rich natural history into order to teach a more fanciful version. Garretson proposes to teach “Physics 2990: Creation Science” at McCook Community College in Southwest Nebraska.
Garretson's creation science class has already drawn a protest from Dr. Robert I. Price, an associate professor of Physics at the University of Nebraska in Kearney. Garretson's proposal, says Price, exhibits either "a profound lack of an understanding of science" or "an exceptional academic dishonesty." Either way, it's representative of a movement to expand the teaching of biblical creationism from its traditional base in Christian academies and bible colleges into public school classrooms.
According to the Southwest Nebraska News, Garretson's creation science class will explore the age of the earth, the earth’s beginning, and where the earth is heading (see, creation science does make predictions after all), the Garden of Eden, as well as life on earth before the flood and the major changes which have taken place since that time.
Apparently, the class is designed to be comprehensive. It will also examine dinosaurs "in the past as well as in the present" (someone let Michael Crichton know), the flood, ice ages, mountain formation, coal and oil formation, and the Grand Canyon.
"College should be a fun experience for students,” Garretson tells the Southwest Nebraska News. “Yes, there are always courses that are challenging and courses that may not be of interest, but are still required. But, once in a while, why not take a course just for the fun of it!”
Well, at least that's a selling point they haven't thought of out in Seattle yet.
