Da Hawg Frog Blog

With all of the important problems facing Florida and its economy what are we debating? Why evolution of course!

Americans are having problems competing in the global economy today. Many say it is because foreigners are better educated and work harder for less. There just might be something to this.

Nearly a hundred years ago, 1925 to be exact in Dayton. Tennessee, we fought this same battle in the court room. It was called the Scopes Monkey Trial. Then it was the state of Tennessee trying to equate their religious beliefs with scientific facts. “We’re not descended from apes!” they declared. Then they all acted like a bunch of monkeys trying to defend their stand.

Religion has its place. It belongs in the family and home, not in the classrooms we fund at taxpayer expense. Now we are facing the same ignorance driven campaign again today to introduce Intelligent Design into our school curriculum as a legitimate approach to science. It isn’t. It is based on mythology and ancient world view. A world view developed to explain those things unexplained to the people living post stone age. What have we learned since then?

Seventy-five years ago, a Tennessee high school teacher named John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in violation of state law.

His trial, which began this week in 1925, became one of the most celebrated courtroom proceedings in U.S. legal history — a “trial of the century” — because of the high-profile players involved, the media attention it received and the issues it raised. It was also called the “monkey trial” because evolutionists maintain that humans and monkeys share a common ancestor.

Today, the trial is noteworthy for the legal, scientific, religious, philosophical and political questions it raised — questions that will remain for a long time to come, experts say. (Source: CNN)

Today, people are losing their homes in Florida due to high taxes and out of control insurance companies. And while “No Show, Empty Chair” Charlie is out campaigning for John McCain, our legislature has dug up John Scopes and put it all on trial again.

Fortunately we have educators who are resisting this return to the dark ages and the proliferation of ignorance. David Campbell is a good example.

David Campbell, a science teacher at Ridgeview High in Clay County, near Jacksonville, heads off conflict by telling students what may seem obvious: There’s a big difference between science and faith.

“The student needs to know, ‘I’m not asking you to believe this. I’m just asking you to understand it,’” said Campbell, a 14-year veteran. (Source: St Petersburg Times)

Many of our competent Florida educators find themselves under the gun when it comes to teaching evolution. Darwin’s theory is accepted by virtually the entire civilized world. It has been tried and tested and found to contain great truth and is based on fact, not fiction.

The freshman in Dan McFarland’s Advanced Placement biology class at Durant High had a thoughtful question.He had read about a rock formation where radiometric dating found the layers on top appeared to be older than the layers on the bottom. How could that be, he wanted to know? And didn’t that put a dent in evolutionary theory?

McFarland, a 24-year veteran, knew the student was a young-earth creationist — somebody who believes God created the Earth a few thousand years ago — and hardly a lone wolf at Durant in Plant City.

So, McFarland did what he always does in these situations. He told the student he didn’t know the answer. But he suggested there may be scientific explanations. Perhaps the type of dating mechanism used wasn’t appropriate, or maybe the formation had been affected by a geologic event that resulted in layers being switched topsy-turvy.

The student wasn’t buying it. But he appreciated how McFarland handled his questions.

“He explained everything to the very best of his ability, but he didn’t convince me,” said Dan Barousse, now a senior who plans to study mechanical engineering in college next year. “It’s three years later and I’m still a young-earth creationist.”

Convincing the student, though, wasn’t McFarland’s goal.

“I’m not trying to disavow anyone of their religious beliefs,” he said. “I’m trying to offer scientific explanations for natural phenomena. That’s my job.”

Many of the science teachers interviewed by the Times echoed that sentiment.

In 20 years of teaching science, Rena White, a teacher at Challenger Middle School in Cape Coral, said she has never dealt with a parent upset about evolution. (But frog dissection? That’s a different story.) She tells them that their beliefs and values are important, and that they should hold on to them.

But if she asks them how old the Earth is on a test, she says, “the answer is 4.65-billion years.”

We are fortunate to have this test. After all the smoke and mirrors the creationist throw at us the answer remains the same, 4.65 billion years old.
Now what we really need to tackle is the barbaric practice of frog dissection. Frogs are people too!

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