Random Designer - A Solution To The Evolution/Creation Debate?

[TRANSPONDER]

Originally Posted by Stubblejumper

While there's certainly that possibility, Science class needs to stick solely to the facts and mechanics. If there was a seperate religion or philosophy class that attempted to interpret those facts in a particular light, I see no problem with that.

Yes, outside of the science class, yes, perhaps. But they also ought to look (in the philosophy class) at all the options, and see that they are logically based and not founded on unsupported givens and in the religion class, look at all the 'lights' that interpret the matter in different ways.

If they were hi-jacked in order to argue one unsupported belief rather than any others, I would certainly have a problem with it, just as I would if it were done in the science class. This is why I believe that the religion class should teach comparitive religion and the atheist viewpoint as well. And philosophy should not be used as a vehicle to push one line of theist apologetics.

I looked a bit more at this Olivet Nazarene University.
"In 2007, President John C. Bowling prohibited ONU alumnus and faculty member Richard G. Colling from teaching general biology and banned Colling's 2004 book: Random Designer: Created from Chaos to Connect with Creator (Browning Press: ISBN 0975390406).[21] In 2009, the conclusion of an American Association of University Professors (AAUP) investigation[22] found problems with shared governance at ONU and that Colling's rights had been violated[23] when Bowling placed the concerns of two fundamentalist District Superintendents in the Church of the Nazarene above ONU's principles of academic freedom." (Wiki)

I'm not sure whether the problem is that Colling was teaching Creationism or whether he was only teaching ID and not teaching Bible literalist - creationism.

I don't care for banning books. I consider that anyone should be able to argue a case and anyone should be able to argue against it. I don't believe in shutting people up. However, if they expect to have credibility (and continue teaching) they should take on board the criticism made in reply.

[Melvin.George]

One thing appears to be true:

America Is Becoming Less Christian, Less Religious - ABC News

" according to the poll, which came out today, the percentage of Americans who define themselves as Christian has dropped from 86 percent in 1990 to 76 percent in 2008.
In one of the most dramatic shifts, 15 percent of Americans now say they have no religion -- a figure that's almost doubled in 18 years. Americans with no religious preference are now larger than all other major religious groups except Catholics and Baptists."

[Stubblejumper]

Originally Posted by rifleman

Agreed, SJ, but in fact that academic solution's been suggested many times. The rigorous fundamentalist Christians, bound and determined to get into the kids' heads as young as possible, also completely reject the dangerous role that instruction and practice in critical thinking would have.

incidentally, if one applies such Critical Thinking skills to the linked audio session, it's easy to detect the "Appeal to an Assumed Higher Intellect" scam. You know; where "lesser" scientists and thinkers just haven't yet connected all the relevant dots? As evidence of an Intelligent Designer, this presentation is simultaneously immature and vacuous.

Evolution has logically "created" order out of apparent chaos by a simple accumulated building block approach that is a natural outcome and byproduct of some basic biochemicals. That's all! It only requires the logic of DNA and intermolecular interaction. Those may be mostly inexplicable for now, but those who cherish Intelligent Design don't credit those factors; they say that God designed each and every individual organism, not the relatively simple process that led to those organisms' eventual arrival. In other words, the ID crowd doesn't understand the focal point at all. They have it entirely wrong!

So such teachers wish to subvert and inject illogical thinking and a rote-chant approach into those otherwise dangerous science classes.

You're absolutely right.