Intelligent
Design Should be Taught in Public Schools (From a Debate Speech)
By Brenda Miller
I. Definitions
II. What is being taught today
III. Harms
IV. Plan
V. Advantages
VI. Conclusion
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Introduction:
Do you honestly know what is being taught in today's public school's text books? I don't think so. Their 'main' thing to teach is that there is no "intelligent design" and no "super-natural powers" to anything that has happened here on earth. The text book authors say that everything happened by chance. It all was silent and then one day BANG!!! it all happened-known as the Big Bang Theory.
This theory is, however, not valid. It supports evolution. What is evolution anyway?
I. Definitions:
Evolution-any
process of formation or growth; development, a product of such development; something
evolved (Dictionary.com)
Intelligent Design-the theory that matter, the various forms of life,
and the world were created by a designing intelligence (Webster-Merriman online
dictionary)
Creationism-a doctrine or theory holding that matter, the various forms
of life, and the world, were created by God out of nothing, and usually in the
way described in Genesis (Webster-Merriam online dictionary)
Darwinism-a theory of the origin and perpetuation of new species of
animals and plants that offspring of a given organism vary, that natural
selection favors the survival of some of these variations over others, that new
species have arisen and may continue to arise by these processes, and that
widely divergent groups of plants and animals have arisen from the same
ancestors (Webster-Merriam online dictionary)
Micro evolution- is adaptation within a species. (Look at dogs, there is
the tiny Chihuahua and the Great Dane; they’re very different but they’re both
dogs.)
II. What is Being Taught Today
The Constitution of the United States guarantees the religious freedom of all Americans in two ways 1) by protecting our individual right to worship and 2) by ensuring separation between church and state. Interpreted by the Supreme Court-the Constitution says that the government cannot promote or oppose religious views or doctrines.
QUOTE: "Creationism,
creation science, and intelligent design theory are all unquestionably
religious doctrines. Therefore, the government cannot promote them as science
without violating the First Amendment."
But I have a question: why must it be taught
as science? It doesn't have to be. Can't it just be a "Bible"
class???
The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of Americans to believe the religious theories of creation (as well as other theories) but it does not permit religious theories to be taught in public school science classes. But does it honestly have to be? No it doesn't.
QUOTE:
"With the president endorsing it, at the very least it makes Americans who
have that position more respectable, for lack of a better phrase," said
Gary L. Bauer, a Christian conservative leader who ran for president against
Bush in the 2000 Republican primaries. "It's not some backwater view. It's
a view held by the majority of Americans."
What, so we're just supposed to "follow the
crowd"? Didn't your parents say not to give into peer pressure???
However, if you look at Creationism, what happened? An Intelligent Being worked through the plans and created everything. There is even science to prove it.
A few different things to look at are (note: these are lies):
ONE - RELIGION HAS NO PLACE IN PUBLIC
Is it not strange how people will talk so freely about the possibility of little green men living on distant planets and yet deny the existence of any sort of spirit beings?
There is an apparent nature in man that figures out that there is something about man that is different than animals. The TV series, Star Trek, identifies this as "self awareness". Everyone has seemed to have figured this out except those who are educating our children.
Our founding fathers felt so strongly about it that they put it in the First Amendment. The obvious inference for the protection of the freedom of religion is an acknowledgment that religion does in fact exist. And how can there be the possibility of the existence of religion without the existence of spirit beings?
2 - A COUNTRY IS NOT DEFINED BY ITS RELIGION
We seem to be the only people in the world that does not know that we are a Christian nation.
All the Moslem nations know they are Moslem nations. Whether they are a Moslem monarchy, a Moslem theocracy, or a Moslem democracy. They all have some things in common. They hate Jews and they hate Israel.
Everyone knows that the nations of the world are identified by and line up with their religion.
Everyone, of course, except those who are teaching our children.
3 - SCIENCE IS FACT AND RELIGION IS OPINION
Evolution is taught to explain the origin of all life. It is taught as absolute truth. It is no longer theory being taught but fact.
But how can a fact that cannot be proven nor even tested be a fact?
Now it is fact you can selectively breed roses to get various colors. But you cannot get a rose to grow a corn stalk.
The Christian says God created every living thing "after its kind". There is NO Christian that can say how he did it. Yet an unprovable theory is being taught as fact in our public schools.
Everyone knows that is the wrong thing to do.
Everyone, of course, except those teaching our children.
III. Harms
By teaching evolution you are harming our future generation(s) by not providing what was meant originally to be taught.
To deny students an adequate education in biology for fear of insulting their religious sensibilities underestimates the ability of believers to distinguish between science and faith.
Micro evolution is adaptation within a species. Look at dogs, there is the tiny Chihuahua and the Great Dane; they’re very different but they’re both dogs. Adaptation within a species is totally different than man evolving from an entirely different species. Science has never found a genuine transitional form that is one kind of animal crossing over into another kind, either living or in the fossil record and there is supposed to be billions of them. Evolutionists have been searching for hundreds of years for an animal created by two different species. Nature is observable proof that every animal brings forth after its own kind. Even the famous fossil archeoptrics said to be a reptile transitioning into a bird, if you do the research you’ll find out it’s shown to be fully bird. (according to schoolawareness.org....U.S. Dept. of Edu.)
Our history has been largely free of the kind of sectarian discord that has plagued other countries because we have kept government out of religion and religion free from government control.
LOOK WHAT IT HAS COME TO!
So there's a law out now that if
people start teaching things other than evolution they have the threat of
lawsuit on them-but isn't evolution a theory as well?
QUOTE: "Usually the threat is delivered by an attorney from an
advocacy group. The attorney notifies hapless school officials, teachers, and
parents that they will face legal action if they permit discussion of evidence
that challenges Darwinian orthodoxy. The attorney assures them that even if
they escape near certain conviction, they will nevertheless incur great legal
expense in defending themselves. Not surprisingly, teachers and school boards
so threatened nearly always give way. Educators, who are frequently under siege
anyway, don't want more hassles."
Kids
aren't allowed to discuss, express, or ask the questions/comments that they
have about the topic they are told:
QUOTE: Indeed, the influential California Science Framework
(adopted January 13, 1989) advises teachers to tell such students to
"discuss the question further with his or her family and clergy."
"Both sides ought to be properly taught . . . so people can understand what the debate is about," he said, according to an official transcript of the session. Bush added: "Part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. . . . You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes."
Opponents of intelligent design, which a Kansas professor once called "creationism in a cheap tuxedo," say there is no legitimate debate. They see the case increasingly as a political battle that threatens to weaken science teaching in a nation whose students already are lagging.-they wouldn't be lagging if they were taught what is supposed to be taught and not used the "no child left behind" act and actually teach children to read and understand what is going on than just half of it.
IV. Plan
We propose that we teach, not only evolution, but also, other 'religions'. Afterall, evolution is a religion, right???
Evolution is, in fact, a
religion.
QUOTE: "evolutionist" is used to mean those who believe that
evolution -- in the sense of time, chance and struggle for survival--rather
than the God of the Bible is responsible for life. (Ken Ham)
I thought no religion was supposed to be taught in
schools? If so, then why is evolution allowed? It shouldn't be. If this is the
case, and it is, then Creationism, ID, and others should also be allowed to be
taught.
Our founding fathers set up a system of justice and fairness for our
country to be run on. It was even signed and is commonly known as the Constitution
of the United States. It was based on God and that is what our country was
meant to be run on-God's Word and rules.
V. Advantages
By teaching ID in schools, and not just evolution, our children would gain a greater understanding of what was originally set into place and what our country was originally supposed to be run on. Why should we deprive them of that?
In the 1800s do you know what they taught in the schools? They taught religion based on the Word of God. Why has the system changed?
To deny students an adequate education in biology for fear of insulting their religious sensibilities underestimates the ability of believers to distinguish between science and faith.
The students have a fair ability and opportunity to be taught what is real and truthful.
Our history has been largely free of the kind of sectarian discord that has plagued other countries precisely because we have kept government out of religion and religion free from government control.
Some
scientists go further. No longer content merely to critique contemporary
Darwinism and other similarly materialistic evolutionary theories, they have
begun to advance an alternative theory known as intelligent design or design
theory. Mathematician William Dembski has, for instance, published an important
work on the theoretical underpinnings for detecting design. In The Design
Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities (Cambridge
University Press, 1998) he shows how design is empirically detectable and therefore
properly a part of science.
Bush Remarks On 'Intelligent Design' Theory Fuel Debate
By Peter
Baker and Peter Slevin Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 3, 2005; Page A01
President Bush invigorated proponents of teaching alternatives to evolution in public schools with remarks saying that schoolchildren should be taught about "intelligent design," a view of creation that challenges established scientific thinking and promotes the idea that an unseen force is behind the development of humanity.
Although he said that curriculum decisions should be made by school districts rather than the federal government, Bush told Texas newspaper reporters in a group interview at the White House on Monday that he believes that intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution as competing theories.
President Bush said students "ought to be exposed to different ideas." (Gerald Herbert - AP)
Much of the scientific establishment says that intelligent design is not a tested scientific theory but a cleverly marketed effort to introduce religion -- especially Christian -- thinking to students. (why is this bad? it's not and people are making it sound as though it's a horrible thing to have religion. most of everyone in the US have at least one religion in their life-whether it be christian, catholicism, intelligent design, or evolution for that matter) Opponents say that church groups and other interest groups are pursuing political channels instead of first building support through traditional scientific review.
The White House said yesterday that Bush's comments were in keeping with positions dating to his Texas governorship, but aides say they could not recall him addressing the issue before as president. His remarks heartened conservatives who have been asking school boards and legislatures to teach students that there are gaps in evolutionary theory and explain that life's complexity is evidence of a guiding hand.
According to (Charles) Darwin there would have to be 'links' found within the next 100 yrs...it's been over that and they're still missing!
Nature is observable proof that God made us to produce after our own kind. Man did not evolve from amebas.
Happily, the law is not on the side of an enforced Darwinian orthodoxy. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Edwards v. Aguillard that "teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to school children might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction." As this guidebook will show, teachers and school boards who choose to tell students about the evidence and arguments for intelligent design actually fulfill this Supreme Court mandate.
And thus, would allow kids to make better decisions. It would also allow them to be taught what is good instead of false, evolution.
VI. Conclusion
We need to keep what the founding fathers set into place and teach our future generation what is truth and what is truthful instead of what is false and full of......