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Antievolution.org Discussion Board > From the Panda's Thumb > After the Bar Closes... > Creationist constitutional amendment in Nevada

Jason Spaceman Posts: 163 Joined: Nov. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Feb. 28 2006,23:20    Quote Amendment could lead to students learning intelligent design, critics say Updated: 9:17 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2006 CARSON CITY, Nev. - A proposed constitutional amendment would require Nevada teachers to instruct students that there are many questions about evolution — a method viewed by critics as an opening to teach intelligent design. Las Vegas masonry contractor Steve Brown filed his initiative petition with the secretary of state's office, and must collect 83,184 signatures by June 20 to get the plan on the November ballot. To amend the Nevada Constitution, he'd have to win voter approval this year and again in the 2008 elections. Brown said Tuesday that he hopes that volunteers will help him collect the signatures, but at this point has no name-gathering organization set up. A Democrat and member of a nondenominational church, he said he hoped for broad support from people who share his views. "I just want them to start telling the truth about evolution," Brown said. "Evolution has occurred, but parts of it are flat-out unproven theories. They're not telling students that in school." Brown, who has three school-age children, said he's been interested in evolution for years. He added that if people take time to read his proposal "how can this not pass?" The petition says students must be informed before the end of the 10th grade that "although most scientists agree that Darwin's theory of evolution is well supported, a small minority of scientists do not agree." The plan says several "areas of disagreement" would have to be covered by teachers, including the view by some scientists that "it is mathematically impossible for the first cell to have evolved by itself." Students also would have to be told some scientists argue "that nowhere in the fossil record is there an indisputable skeleton of a transitional species, or a 'missing link,'" the proposal says. Also, the proposal says students "must be informed that the origin of sex, or sex drive, is one of biology's mysteries" and that some scientists contend that sexual reproduction "would require an unbelievable series of chance events that would have had to occur in the evolutionary theory." Read it here.

guthrie Posts: 696 Joined: Jan. 2006 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 01 2006,00:29    How about a counter petition about teaching the controveries within evolutionary biology?

MidnightVoice Posts: 380 Joined: Aug. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 02 2006,07:31    Where is the spaghetti monster when you need him? -------------- If I fly the coop some time And take nothing but a grip With the few good books that really count It's a necessary trip I'll be gone with the girl in the gold silk jacket The girl with the pearl-driller's hands

Henry J Posts: 5786 Joined: Mar. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 02 2006,15:11    Re "Where is the spaghetti monster when you need him?" Well, if'n he got too close to an Italian restaurant, he might've got mixed up with the menu. Henry

stevestory Posts: 13407 Joined: Oct. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 02 2006,15:41    "This is his body, this is his blood...uh...this is his complementary garlic bread..."

Jason Spaceman Posts: 163 Joined: Nov. 2005 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 03 2006,00:24    Evolution a theory, father says:   Files Truth in Science initiative petition to change teaching ways Quote By SEAN WHALEY REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- Longtime Las Vegan Steve Brown does not oppose the teaching of evolutionary theory in the public schools. Nor does he support teaching alternative views such as intelligent design or creationism. But Brown, a masonry contractor who has lived in Las Vegas for more than 30 years, does want the schools to teach the theory of evolution in what he calls the right way, which means acknowledging that much of the theory is just that -- theory. To get the attention of public schoolteachers, textbook writers and adherents of Darwinian theory, Brown has filed the Truth in Science initiative petition with the secretary of state's office to amend the constitution to require a broader approach to teaching evolution in public schools. The petition was filed Friday. Brown must collect 83,184 signatures by June 20 to get the proposal on the November ballot. "I just don't like the way they are teaching it," Brown said in a telephone interview Monday. "I've looked at a middle school textbook that says that all elements of evolutionary theory are proven science. That's not so. "Evolution has occurred, there's no way to argue that," he said. "Some parts have been proven, but some is just theory." Brown has three school-age children. His petition would require that students be informed that there are scientists who are skeptical that natural selection or chemistry alone can explain the origins of life. Students would be taught about the complexity of DNA and that some scientists insist that evolution can only speculate how DNA came into existence. Students also would be taught that some scientists argue that evolution cannot explain the existence of some complex biological systems. And students would be taught that the fossil record contains no indisputable evidence of a transitional species, or so-called "missing link." Brown said his intent is not to open the door to advocates of intelligent design, even if at a later date some group might build on his proposal to try to make a case for the argument. "Does intelligent design have some validity?" he said. "Sure. But it's not going to be taught in the classroom. Until the folks promoting intelligent design get more evidence, they are not going to win."

thurdl01 Posts: 99 Joined: Mar. 2006 (Permalink) Posted: Mar. 03 2006,06:59    Long time reader, first time responder... This is horribly cynical of me, but I thought it was just a matter of time until someone proposed a state (or even federal) constitutional amendment along these lines.  I've spent too much time watching the fight to keep homosexuals from marrying, and recognized the same patterns.  People argue a secular solution to a religious problem they're having in society.  Laws get passed.  Courts shoot down those laws.  Thus, amendments are needed.  I just hope to #### that antievolution amendments don't meet with the same success rate that the anti-gay marriage ones are having.

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