Fundamentalist Schools Using "Nessie" To Disprove Evolution 936
The debate between creationists and proponents of evolution isn't ending any time soon, but now some creationists have a secret weapon, "Nessie!"
Certain fundamentalist schools in Louisiana plan to teach children that the Loch Ness monster is real in a bid to disprove Darwin's theory of evolution. From the article: "One ACE textbook – Biology 1099, Accelerated Christian Education Inc – reads: 'Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence. Have you heard of the "Loch Ness Monster" in Scotland? "Nessie" for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.' Another claim taught is that a Japanese whaling boat once caught a dinosaur. It's unclear if the movie Godzilla was the inspiration for this lesson."
Re:They are even dumber than they seem. (Score:5, Informative)
Funny thing is, when you use proper genetic classification of species, it turns out there are still living dinosaurs even today: birds! Every time you eat chicken, you eat a dinosaur.
Re:Supposedly, birds are dinosaurs (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They are even dumber than they seem. (Score:5, Informative)
These Christians really need to take a class in evolution.
Actually, "these Christians" are Fundamentalists. Being religious does not automatically make you dangerous until you cross the line and require people to believe what you believe.
Re:They are even dumber than they seem. (Score:5, Informative)
Evolution is something observed, and tested *every day*.
God is a concept made up by humanity. The core theology Christians believe in was fabricated by man, and the evidence of that is FAR stronger than for evolution. Its trivial to trace back the morphing and origin of key theological cornerstones through history, via primary sources.
So, yes, its okay to lump in all Christians with that lot. Ignorance is ignorance -- it doesn't matter if a larger number of people share it.
I was more-or-less with you until the last paragraph. No, it is not okay to lump all Christians together on the subject of evolution. A significant number of mainstream Christian denominations [wikipedia.org] accept evolution as fact.
Re:They are even dumber than they seem. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Was Jesus riding Nessie? (Score:5, Informative)
For the record, we didn't evolve from monkeys. We share a common ancestor.
But the fact that monkeys already have more intelligence, more communication, and have some bipedal locomotion (thus freeing their hands) means they are more likely to progress down this path than cats.
For monkeys to develop more intelligence from evolution, there'd have to be some advantage of slightly greater intelligence that offets the costs (e.g bigger head). Evolution doesn't just say "let's make animals more like humans", it just is. If humans died out, monkeys could very well stay like monkeys until the world ends - if there's no selection pressure on them.
Evolution is self-evident. Obvious if something reproduces more and stays alive than something else, there'll be more of them. I can't see why fundies can't grasp this simple application of logic - but I guess if you lack the smarts/logical think to realise god doesn't exist, then you'll lack the smarts to understand other basic fundamentals.
Re:Was Jesus riding Nessie? (Score:2, Informative)
The reasoning only looks circular because you made it up.
Correction:
Student: "how do you know how old that fossil is?"
Scientist: "because I found it in a particular geologic layer"
Student: "how did you know how old the geologic layer was?"
Scientist: "because the amount of radioactive material in that layer and in some cases the fossil itself"
Student: "what does that have to do anything?"
Scientist: "physics 101 is a prerequisite for this class, you don't belong here"
Re:Was Jesus riding Nessie? (Score:4, Informative)
since every major religion has made it apparent that their gods are very concerned with human affairs
I can't speak for all religions, but I'd say the average christian, jew, or muslim person thinks God is more concerned with humanity than individual humans, and is unlikely to intervene in any of there day to day trials and tribulations.
Its really mostly the wingnuts that see the hand of god directing every sunbeam their way, who get into a car accident and then praise god for being alive, before wondering what lesson he was trying to teach them... seriously... your average religious person is just glad they were wearing their seatbelt, and thinks the dipshit who hit them should have been paying more attention.
Re:Was Jesus riding Nessie? (Score:3, Informative)