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The young journalists at The Southerner, the student newspaper at Grady High School in Atlanta, Georgia, recently broke the news that creationism and other Christian religious views are incorporated into the Biology curriculum used by the City of Atlanta Public Schools.
A PowerPoint shown to a freshman biology class featured a cartoon depicting dueling castles, one labeled "Creation (Christ)" and the other labeled "Evolution (Satan)." Balloons attached to the evolution castle were labeled euthanasia, homosexuality, pornography, divorce, racism and abortion
The PowerPoint, which has more than 50 slides largely consisting of material about evolution, was downloaded from SharePoint, an APS file-sharing database for teachers. It was uploaded by Mary E. King, a project manager at APS who has also uploaded more than 2,000 other documents. Phone calls and emails to King have not been returned. Tommy Molden, science coordinator for APS, also did not respond to requests for comment.
Students were offended by the cartoon:
"[I] have gay parents, and [the cartoon] said that evolution caused homosexuality and it implied that to be negative, so I was pretty offended by it," [freshman Seraphina Cooley] said.
Cooley said that another student emailed the administration complaining about the PowerPoint.
Freshman Griffin Ricker, who is also in Jones' class, said [Biology class teacher Anquinette Jones] got angry with the class when she found out students had notified the administration.
"She had a 10-minute rant," Ricker said. "She yelled and said, 'This is on the APS website, and it was certified.'"
In case of soylentnewsing, the student reporting is also posted on a local Atlanta newspaper blog.
(Score: 1) by freetown on Friday July 04 2014, @03:08PM
Actually, the Bible has plenty to say but about the Earth's preparation for life. It firstly states that the earth was formless initially (Gen 1:2). Then it states that things started settling down and diffused light could be seen on the surface of Earth, whatever that surface may have been at that stage (Gen 1:3). Next was the formation of an atmosphere which it appears to say was sandwiched between an ocean above the atmosphere and the earth. (Gen 1:6) Then it was time for some land to appear (Gen 1:9) which provided the stage for land plants (Gen 1:11), which appears to have started with plants that can handle diffused light in the beginning before progressing to seed-bearing plants and trees. With the plants helping to clear the atmosphere, the 'sources' of light such as the sun, the moon and stars start to become distinct (Gen 1:14). Next up, fish and flying creatures (Gen 1:20) and then land based creatures (Gen 1:24). Feel free to find other ways to describe what man has learnt about the earth's history to a people that were slaves to the then world power and were generally limited to what they know about animal husbandry and mud-straw bricks besides some low tech specialist knowledge that some among them might have had.
The Bible does not in any way lend credence to creationism, the idea that the earth was created in six literal 24-hour periods, for it puts all the six periods together in Gen 2:4. Even today in English, the word day can have multiple meanings beyond that of a 24-hour period.
You are right that the most fundamental gift to man is the freedom of choice. Humans are not robots. However, just us our choices in everyday life have consequences, so too do our choices to believe truth or the lie have ramifications (Deuteronomy 30:19). The Bible is scientifically accurate and therefore certain theories entertained by those who do not want to believe in the existence of God despite evidence to the contrary cannot be accepted as truth or fact. Evolution and natural selection are contrary to the Bible. God put in place room for variety so you can be plenty of different types of dogs but dogs will always produce dogs. No future generation of dog is going to become some new and totally different type of animal. Evolution puts forth the idea the man can improve or become better which is contrary to what the Bible says about man being initially perfect and then becoming degenerate later. Natural selection or survival of the fittest puts forth the idea that we must compete with one another whereas the Bible says that we are actually all one human family and should learn to love one another and share things with one another regardless of racial background. (Mark 12:31, Acts 10:34,35, Galatians 6:10)
But yes, please do choose what you want to believe. It appears that scientists have to reduce everything to theories but that fact is that the universe is governed by physical laws (Job 38:33) which is why we can entertain and pull off the idea of sending men to the moon and bringing them back. So do choose whether you want to discount a book that clearly stated that the earth is suspended upon nothing (Job 26:7), accurately describes the earth as being round (Isaiah 40:22 - only an oblong shape will look like a circle from all angles; this is not promoting the idea of a flat disk as asserted on wikipedia) and describes the water cycle in poetic terms (ecclesiates 1:7) among other things.
Those who do not believe in creation/God but believe in evolution entertain ideas such as humans having useless parts in the body e.g. the tonsils, the appendix only to later learn that these are rather vital. Nevermind that they believe that somehow a cell complete with DNA programming and functions similarly to that of a complex city can just come about without any hand behind its formation. Funny how they don't think that ruins found in jungles or other places just came about but had to have had human hands behind their original formation. (Hebrews 3:4)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 04 2014, @04:07PM
Like what ?
So why did God design us so poorly?
Why no mention of all the fossils, clearly there were massive amounts of other things created first, whats up with that? What about bacteria, no mention of them, but they are vital for our survival, did God really think we would never find them?
So why so many holy wars, what about the genocides in the bible?
What about Neanderthals and other almost humans, did God really create them just for us to slaughter and compete against. Sounds like natural selection, survival of the fittest to most people. Or basically genocide again if your God created them just for us to kill. Was he training us for something?
Here is where I think I've just been massively trolled, How retarded do you have to be to think the Bible is scientifically accurate?
(Score: 1) by freetown on Saturday July 05 2014, @12:26PM
How about "in Abraham Lincoln's day" where day would cover his entire lifetime. Or if you want to be picky then we can go back to the original language's era where that riddle where the question is: "What walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening?" appears to come from. Again not a 24-hour period and besides the Bible's own internal use of the word translated day quite clearly indicates that the six periods were all lumped together into one 'day' at Genesis 2:4 so you cannot say that the Bible at all teaches that the earth was created in six literal days. Besides, Genesis 1:1 indicates that the earth was already created before the events where the earth was prepared to support life.
Funny that. Lots of people think otherwise. We have a thumb for one that makes us very versatile. We can even outrun a horse in a long distance race due to the way our body is designed. We have the finesse necessary to carry out our creativity in many ways.
Like that starter of this thread said, the Bible's primary raison d'etre is for our spirituality. These things that you just mentioned are for us to discover, to make use of that big lump of mush in our craniums. If you accept it, the Bible's commands on washing oneself after touching a dead body demonstrate knowledge of bacteria. It was only within the last century that doctors started washing their hands after being in the morgue and prior to seeing patients.
Most of the nations that were to be wiped out in the Bible under God's direction were either 1) peoples that chose to make themselves enemies of God or 2) peoples that engage in debased practices such as burning infants alive and religious sex orgies that would endanger the morals of God's then chosen stewards of divine knowledge. It must be noted that allowances were made for those who gave up their enmity or debased practices with peoples from condemned nations even serving in Israel's army. God's people back then had land to protect so they would have soldiers but when God's rejection of the nation of Israel, the Christian congregation in the first century received different direction. They were no longer to take up the sword since they no longer have any particular piece of land to protect and first century Christians did not take part in politics or military service. God, as the Giver of Life and Owner of the earth, has the right to rescind the gift of life and determine who gets to live on his property notwithstanding his ability to restore life as he sees fit. As for Neanderthals, there is no evidence that they are not human. As for slaughtering and killing each other, that particular sort of thing was started by Satan as the Bible states that Cain's murderous attitude originates with the Devil. The world today is ruled by Satan (1 John 5:19) and the root cause for all its problems can be laid at his feet. (Revelatin 12:9) Jesus was sent for the purpose of ridding the earth of Satan's system and his supporters whether knowing or unknowing. (1 John 3:8) In the future, there will be only one government and none of today's problems. (Daniel 2:44, Revelation 21:4)
You, Anonymous Coward, have not provided a single example of scientific inaccuracy but I have supplied multiple examples of the Bible's scientific accuracy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 05 2014, @03:10PM
Ok I'll give you 1/2 a point for that.But why not be consistent.So day can mean time, was the earth created in 6 times? 6 eras? If it's important enough for god to want it written down he should have been a little clearer.
Lots of people think lots of stupid things, doesn't make them true. i.e. bible thumpers.
Human eyes are prety shitty compared to others and could be trivially upgraded if god so desired. Why the easy risk of choking, should have separate tubes for food and air. Why can't we regenerate, or see UV or infra-red, why get cancer, he could have designed a better immune system.Why have a curved spine introducing problems, and only useful for 4 legged animals.Why did the larynx nerve get lost on the way down?
Seems pretty idiotic for a God to populate his creation with so many enemies, unless he was training them up to be genocidal maniacs like himself.
So Maybe it was Satan that created everything after all, he made all the enemies to god, created more people than god did apparently. God had a bit of a strong showing for a while as his genocidal henchmen killed off all of Satans creations, but Satan made a comeback and now rules the world again.
Tell me again did god create all the 'spare' people for his 'chosen' people to mass slaughter, or did he just create his 'chosen' people to genocide Satans people. Seems pretty bad for God either way...
It's too obviously a fairy-tale to tell little kids I didn't think it necessary to give examples but here goes anyway. The stars aren't painted on, there is no cover over the earth and the stars are quite large, not small sources of light. God also claimed to have named all the stars and told their names, unfortunately people don't live long enough to listen to such a lengthy list.Did God not realise he would be boring his creations to death in such an attempt?
You most certainly have not supplied any examples of the bible's scientific accuracy.The closest you did was a bunch of random quotes from genesis, themselves scientifically wrong, the stars being younger than the earth (being created afterwards on 'day' 4) is complete nonsense.
(Score: 1) by freetown on Sunday July 06 2014, @11:38PM
I am not going to bother with the rest of your assertions since you obviously just want to make them out of spite for the idea of a loving Creator despite the fact that humans are in fact created with the ability to enjoy life even in our current imperfect state. Some of your assertions have already been clearly dealt with when the Bible quite clearly states that humans were meant to live forever in perfect health and that the first human couple messed that up for us but God has put in place his provision of a solution to rectify that for deserving members of humankind
The opening verse states that God created the heavens and the earth. The physical universe including all those stars were already in place but would not be distinctly visible by the fourth period when the earth's atmosphere would have sufficiently cleared. The Bible links the existence of the universe with a source of vast energy (Isaiah 40:26), the very verse that speaks of God naming all the stars but you had to try to find some unreasonable viewpoint to spout. That God can name each and every star is an assurance of not only his vast memory but also its performance. Why would this be important? It is assurance that he can make a record of everyone that has ever lived and keep a copy of each individual's memory, characteristics and personality without which the Bible's hope of a resurrection would be impossible.
One of the flood legends from around the world speaks of a sky that you could 'touch' which probably refers to the previous 'cover' the earth had but came down in the flood. God has the right to mass slaughter but it is not what he wants (Ezekiel 18:32). However, he will do it if forced. For the record, God has revealed through the Bible that he will do so again and even better for you, he is going to start with religion. Revelation 17-18 shows that God will make the political elements of Satan's world to destroy the false religious elements of Satan's world and the United Nations will spearheading that. Why? For all the unauthorized bloodshed that false religion has done. That includes so-called Christian religions. Look forward to the take over of church property and other assets. The next stage of mass slaughter will not involve any humans like the flood in Noah's day and will be done to protect the last remaining religion, true religion, God's people, who will go on to enjoy the prospect of everlasting life and to welcome back the billions that have died prior to Armageddon with the same prospect.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 07 2014, @12:49AM
Sorry, not even one word of all that nonsense was in any way scientific.
It's clear by now that your god didn't see fit to give you the required intelligence to even understand what science is, let alone how it works.
(Score: 1) by freetown on Monday July 07 2014, @03:48PM
You hear that doctors? It's unscientific to contemplate everlasting life. Stop trying to make Job 33:25 come true, it will show that evolution and natural selection are nonsense. We don't need organic solutions, we need man-made solutions, cyborg parts, keep working on those. How else can we prove evolution and natural selection to be the right thing? We need to see in infrared directly, never mind we were given the intelligence to discover that and make tools to see in infrared, and we need to be able to disintegrate the competition with the blast of a laser. We will have evolved!
Someone tell Antarctica to quit squirming just because a bit of ice fell off. We cannot have the fluidity mentioned in Psalm 104:8 where mountains got taller and valleys got lower - after the Flood (Psalm 104:6) covered the then rather flattish landscape. No we can't have this proven true. No, there was never a time when there was so much water on the earth that everything was blanketed and some big box built according to a length beam seaworthy ratio of 6:1 floating around. Funny how powered ocean going vessels have a ratio of 7:1 though. Why was the dimensions given for that big box so close. Coincidence?
Speaking of coincidence: Isaiah 13:20 says that Babylon will never be inhabited. While the Bible speaks of two destructions of Jerusalem, it only singles out Babylon for an additional no more inhabitant. Jerusalem has people living there today but ancient Babylon continues to be just ruins. Quick, better revive the place instead of keeping it a tourist spot and prove the Bible wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 08 2014, @01:48AM
Again.
Sorry, not even one word of all that nonsense was in any way scientific.
It's clear by now that your god didn't see fit to give you the required intelligence to even understand what science is, let alone how it works.
It's idiotic to take a story, then try to match it to what might be possible one day with science, and then claim that story was a scientific prediction.It just doesn't work that way.
(Score: 1) by freetown on Tuesday July 08 2014, @02:25PM
Scientific prediction? Sorry but no, I was not implying that the thing about Babylon was at all a scientific prediction. Science does not have a monopoly on truth. Especially the sciences that cannot conduct experiments or tests and those branches are rather susceptible to biases when interpreting whatever data they have.
All you have done is label everything in the Bible nonsense and I am sure that is a very scientific method. You have likewise done your best to insult my intelligence or lack of but then having high intelligence does not mean a thing. What matters is what is done with it. As you appear to deny your Creator's existence and if He does exist, His intelligence or if not deny then challenge it, well, you know what, you are on. (1 Corinthians 1:19-21)
So what have a good portion of humans been busy doing, or supporting, with their intelligence and their brand of scientific knowledge? Weapons. You can blame false religion all you want for bloodshed and yes God does lay the lion's share there too but you have a share in responsibility if you learn how to use weapons for killing other humans. As for God, he is going to get rid of weapons and wars once and for all. (Psalms 46:8-10, Daniel 2:44) For that to happen, you need people to support that, people who will no longer learn war. (Isaiah 2:2-4) You can find such people today who refuse to serve in the army even under pain of death. Not only that, they are gathered together and have surpassed the divisions brought about by politics and false religion.
Mankind is so intelligent and can come up with all sorts of technology and perform incredible feats with this technology but mankind's management skills are sorely wanting. Some people have called for the wiping out of mankind to solve the problem of pollution. Don't worry, God has that a solution long ready to go but even better; not all of mankind needs wiping out. Just those greedy ones that are responsible and their supporters. (Revelation 11:18)
While we are on management, what is mankind's scorecard in the self-rule department? All manner of political and economic systems and yet nothing satisfactory and in fact sometimes even part of the problem. Whether republics, some form of democracy, monarchies, communism, you name it, nothing addresses and solves man's social problems.
Well, the time will come soon for God to say, "Get off my lawn" to those who don't want to follow house rules. God is up for a challenge any time (Job 40:9-14) but he is pretty sure that he is not going to lose and suggests some other course of action. (Psalm 2)
I'm going to be offline for two weeks or so. Enjoy your reprieve from foolishness that nonetheless will lead to everlasting life and all the learning and projects possible with eternal youth and perfect health.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @03:02PM
Little pig little pig let me in. Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin. So the wolf huffed and he puffed and blew the house down.
So we must all stop making houses out of wood, or else they will be destroyed. It said so in my book.
A tornado destroyed a house once so it must be true.
Stories don't have a monopoly on truth either, they are just stories, just like your bible. In fact lots of them aren't true at all, also like your bible.
I label everything in the bible a story, you believing it to be true with no evidence other than 'god said so' is the nonsense part. The fact it contradicts itself and doesn't fit known facts makes it false. Having intelligence and an education is very relevant here, education level correlates with lack of belief in gods. It most definitely matters what one does with ones intelligence. In general scientific people learn and think and question and develop new ideas and things. Religious people don't need to question and learn and develop, god already gave them all the answers they need to know. It's not surprising that science is responsible for all the advances we have made, and that the religious are dragged along kicking and screaming, or often oblivious to where all the nice things came from. You could use your intelligence to question your beliefs. Or close your mind and fall back to faith, just like the faith I may have that a wolf will come and blow down my house if I make it from wood(despite all evidence to the contrary).
So he can and he will... But just not yet, lets kill some more people first. Does he have a quota, is he having too much fun with all the killing, or is he just a dick?
Are you sure you haven't been raptured :)
Don't worry, there are plenty more foolish people.
With infinite time and learning, someone in heaven should work out how to come back here to Earth and show us how wrong we are. Maybe you can be the first. But you'd better learn time travel too because I wont be around forever.
(Score: 2) by unitron on Saturday July 05 2014, @05:27PM
" Even today in English, the word day can have multiple meanings beyond that of a 24-hour period.
Like what ?"
Back in my day we'd have known the answer to that without having to ask.
Now get off my lawn.
: - )
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