Perry Claims Texas Teaches Creationism in Public Schools
Gov. Rick Perry told a child questioner in New Hampshire today that Texas public schools teach creationism alongside evolution — a statement that state education experts are refuting in varying degrees.
“No, it is not true," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an interest group that has lobbied the State Board of Education to keep religion out of public schools. "Texas science standards do not call for teaching creationism in the classroom."
David Bradley, a social conservative member of the State Board of Education, said he hadn't heard the governor's comments. But when asked if Texas ...
Comments (40)
Mary Sue James Sipes via Texas Tribune on Facebook
if you dont learn both sides of an issue,how well will you be equipped to defend your personal decision??
Richard Stewart via Texas Tribune on Facebook
YAWNS !
Richard Stewart via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Look at the education problems in Texas right now !!!
Tracy Griffith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Perry doesn't know what goes on in public school classrooms or he wouldn't cut funding.
Richard Stewart via Texas Tribune on Facebook
In several areas in Texas if you have to ride the Bus to school you have to pay 180.00 a semester. Better hope financing isnt an issue in your family !
Richard Stewart via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bull SHIT !!!
Marcus Aguilar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I've always thought that it's the responsibility of the parents to teach their kids about religion (along with creationism). At least I've never been comfortable with my children being taught religion at school, unless I chose to send them to a religious institution.
Is there insufficient coverage of this issue at church or by the parents at home, that it has to be subcontracted out to our public schools to cover as well?
Or is there a fear that what's being taught at home and at church is not solid enough to withstand the onslaught of the theory of evolution once that's covered at school?
Blu Roze via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Uh.....Rick......better check the lesson plans and, uh, the law, bud.
Jessica Naya via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@ Mary, creationism/ID is not science, so its not the other side of the issue.
Martin Hyman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Gov Perry is a total sellout to the teabaggers! Last time I checked the 1st amenement to our constitution called for the seperation of Church and state. He is trying to be more batshit crazy than that goofy eyes liar from Miinn. If it is okay with you that the public schools teach religious beliefs then you must be okay with public schools teaching your kids about sexual issues as well. Both are either the role of public schools re both should be taught by parents in the home.
Kathy Kilmer Moak via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Rick doesn't have a clue what goes on in schools. Not a single, sliver of a clue.
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Evolution is science. Creationism is religion. Science is taught in public schools and religion is taught in church. If you want your children to be educated regarding religion in school, send them to a religious private school.
Robin Roberts Herskowitz via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Socratic dialogue in a social studies classroom, but never as part of the science curriculum (and that has fortunately been our kids' experiences in Austin & mine growing up in Houston).
Zach Johnson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I was taught both evolution and creationalism in school and our teacher told us that it is our decision to pick what we believe. And thats how it should be. So maybe some of you should find out what is really going on in schools, because the Governor is right.
Martin Hyman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Robin, the earth was not created in one week. Get it!
Martin Hyman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If the Gov is right then the school systems that teach that humans exisited at the same time as dinasours should be sued for the failure to teach real actual science. This is the reason that we are becoming a second rate country behind countries that actually understand science.
Leigh Williams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Zach Johnson, where were you when you were taught "creationalism" in school?
Martin Hyman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Lets look at the book of genisis. It says there that Cain went to the land of Nod and there he took himself a wife. Where did she come from? Did someone pull off a creation in the next county?
Nita Davidson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Funny! If you go to the Paluxi River there are footprints of man in the dino footprints. Scientists believe they were there at the same time. Also during the Clovis period their were tools found with mammoth bones. Seems some public schools are not teaching Science but theory. And I don't believe I came from an ape either or that the world was created from a "big bang". Last time I saw an explosion-chaos was created not order.
Marcus Aguilar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
So, Zach, say you or one of your loved ones come down with some pretty serious ailment, let's just say it's life threatening. Then say you take them to a doctor. Would you take medicine developed using the principles of evolutionary biology, or would you pass? Are you willing to put your life (or someone else's) where your mouth is?
T D
Apparently, Nita, it's all about what you believe . . . this whole "descended from apes" thing.
Antibiotics--who needs 'em!? "Devil Pills" is what I call 'em.
Marcus Aguilar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Is it possible that evolution is part of the plan anyway, or does everything have to be perfect from the get go? How can we presume what's in G-d's mind when he set things in motion? Or are we trying to make Him fit into our pre-conceived notions of what He should be?
Leigh Williams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
" If you go to the Paluxi River there are footprints of man in the dino footprints. Scientists believe they were there at the same time." No, scientists don't believe that. That's ridiculous.
Marcus Aguilar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Why is it that when I ask those two questions, the one regarding medicine develoed using evolutionary biology, and the one about the possibility of evolution being part of the Designer's plan, that all of the sudden the conversation stops? I mean I really want people's feedback. But this happens time and again. It's almost as if they're not part of the script or the talking points, so let's move on.
Martin Hyman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Marcus the blind cannot see. The idiots who want to impose their religion on all Americans think that the Talaban are evil for trying to impose their religious beliefs on the people in their country, stupid is as stupid does!
John Carhart via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Its like this; science requires proof and religion requires faith. It is potentially dangerous--maybe even catastrophic--to get the two confused!
Marcus Aguilar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I understand that you can't logically convince somebody out of a position or a belief that they didn't use logic to arrive at it. That's fine, that's faith.
What I wonder about though, is that if they truly don't believe in evolution, then what do they think of when they derive benefits from the study of the same? Do they just cop out and wish that they had the courage of their convictions, and that they'll get there someday, but in the meantime, they just won't believe in the aspects of evolution that make them uncomfortable, and look the other way as they buy into everything else about it? Exactly what journey do they take to get there?
Or is it just, shoot, Dancing with the Stars is on, I don't want to bother this anymore.
J J Baskin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
"In Texas, we teach both creationism and evolution in our public schools. Because I figure you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right.”
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If the Governor believes children are smart enough to figure out which is right, then why only advocate for abstinence education when you could teach comprehensive sex ed and then let them figure out which one is right?
WUSRPH
Isn't it about time to SEND THE TEXAS RANGERS to drag Governor Perry back to Austin before he makes all of us Texans look like fools?
Isn't it enough that he has already gone about:
Accusing people of treason (when he clearly does not not know what legally constitutes treason);
Questioning the President's (and virtually every leader of the Republican party, except McCain) courage because they did not serve in the military;
Accusing the majority of America's and the world's scientists of some sort of a giant conspiracy to rob the taxpayers of billions by pushing climate change; and
Now falsely telling a little girl in New Hampshire that we teach "creationism" in the public schools in Texas
How much more do we have to suffer from his loose mouth before BASTA! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?
GET HIM HOME WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME TO PRESERVE A LITTLE OF TEXAS' REPUTATION IN THE WORLD.
Marcus Aguilar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Going back to that "strength of your convictions" issue, I've always been amazed at individuals whose faith is rock solid. Anytime, I hear of parents refusing medical treatment for their kids for religious reasons, it still stops me in my tracks.
Is the faith of the "creationists" that strong? Are they willing to put it to the test on a personal level, as I've posed previously? Because if they aren't, then it's not really a belief, or an article of faith anymore, right? It becomes more of an opinion. An opinion that can be tested empirically.
Also, if one's faith isn't strong enough to withstand being put to the test, how can one justify putting that article of faith (e.g. creationism) in the public educational curriculum?
Martin Hyman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Rick Perry talking to the kid in the vedio about teaching creationism is KIDDE PORN!
Bert Chadwick
Perry is a dangerous ignorant. The worst part is that..."he ignores that he ignores."
Top 10 Things Texas Gov. Rick Perry Doesn’t Want You To Know About Him...
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/10/241830/top-10-thing-texas-gov-rick-perry/
Bill Robinson
Zach, both my daughters graduated from the public high schools just a few years ago and neither were taught creationism as science. It is wrong.
Do you try to teach Russian as Spanish? Do you try to teach the historians who deny the holocaust on an equal basis with those who explain the holocaust?
No!
The same holds true here. These classes are science classes. Creationism is not science.
MT DEWY
MTDEWY4U@YAHOO.COM I am calling for a RON PAUL SUNDAY VIGIL AT OUR HOMES OR ON THE COURT HOUSE STEPS OF OUR HOMES WITH RON PAUL SIGNS, CAPS AND BANNERS AND CANDLES FROM 8 PM TO 9 PM. ANY AND ALL SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED. LETS MAKE IT A NATIONAL VIGIL AND HAVE AN OPENING PRAYER AND MUSIC! EVERY CITY EVERY STATE EVERY MONTH TILL ELECTION WEEKEND… AT LEAST RP BELIEVES IN GODS POWER CONTROL AND TRUTHS
MT DEWY
CREATIONISM IS NOT SCIENCE? SO WHAT IS SCIENCE? The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. .............So the intelligent way to perform practical activity through experiments and observation of the natural (<-includes spiritual) /physical world. There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His MindOn the other hand, the deist or theist says that God designed the universe with just the right laws of physics. Note that neither the multiverse nor the "God hypothesis" is testable. However, the "God hypothesis" is much simpler. The naturalistic explanation requires the presence of a complicated, UNPROVED super universe that has the capacity to randomly spew out an infinite number of universes with different laws of physics. How does this hypothetical super universe know how to do this? Why would it even want to do this? Ultimately, why should there be any universe at all? None of these questions are logically explained by naturalism. Only an intelligent Being would be motivated and expected to produce any kind of universe such as what we see. If we use Occam's razor, which states that one should use the simplest logical explanation for any phenomenon, we would eliminate the super universe/multi-universe explanation in favor of the simpler God-designed universe model. The evidence for design in the universe and biology is so strong that Antony Flew, a long-time proponent of atheism, renounced his atheism in 2004 and now believes that the existence of a Creator is required to explain the universe and life in it. Likewise, Frank Tipler, Professor of the Department of Mathematics at Tulane University, and a former atheist, not only became a theist, but is now a born-again Christian because of the laws of physics.11
Who created God?
A common objection to the "God hypothesis" is the problem of how God came to be. If everything has a cause, why does God get an exception? The problem with such reasoning is that it assumes that time has always existed. In reality, time is a construct of this universe and began at the initiation of the Big Bang.12 A God who exists outside the time constraints of the universe is not subject to cause and effect. So, the idea that God has always existed and is not caused follows logically from the fact that the universe and time itself was created at the Big Bang. The Bible makes these exact claims - that God has always existed13 and that God created time,14 along with the entire universe,15 being described as an expanding universe.16 Why can't the universe be uncaused? Of course, it is possible that the universe is uncaused. However, there is a tremendous amount of evidence that contradicts that idea (see part 1). So, an atheist who claims to live by logic and evidence cannot arbitrarily assign eternity to a universe that is clearly temporal.
Conclusion Top of page
God was hereNo, God has not left His name etched onto the surface of planets. However, there is abundant evidence that the universe was designed by super intelligent Agent, who purposed that the universe should exist and be capable of supporting advanced life. The design of the universe is just one line of evidence that tells us that God is real and created the universe. The design of the earth and solar system is also quite impressive. Likewise, chemistry and physics preclude the possibility that life evolved on earth. In addition, human beings are remarkably different from every other animal on earth, suggesting a departure from naturalistic processes.
gjuro kladaric
this lovely cartoon about noah's ark tells everything what anti-evolutionists should know about evolution
gjuro kladaric
noah's ark cartoon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BzWUuZN5w
Bill Robinson
Mt Dewy, you seem to be making a common mistake. You are confusing atheism and evolution. They are not the same. In fact there are thousands of evolutionary scientists who are also Christians, many of them evangelical Christians. Further, most people who acknowledge the evidence for evolution are also Christian, not atheists. Finally should you look at different Christian denominations you will find that many of them have published statements of support for the scientific validity of evolution. This includes the Methodist Church, Catholic Church, Episcopalian Church, Lutheran Church and many others.
As for some of the other statements that you made:
No, evolution does not depend on the idea of multi-universes. It just depends on natural laws no matter their origin whether by God or through a natural process. In fact most Christians believe that evolution is the natural process that God chose to create life and its incredible diversity – just as gravity and the other natural laws are his means of ordering the universe.
Anthony Flew is not a biologist. Further the very vast majority of biologists strongly disagree with him – and that includes those who are Christian such as Mary Schweitzer, Francis Collins, Kenneth Miller, and Stephen Godfrey.
In fact the last name I mentioned, Stephen Godfrey started out a young earth creationist and started becoming a paleontologist with the intent to prove evolution wrong. Instead, during his graduate studies, he realized that he could no longer ignore the evidence; evolution was true. He is still a Christian but now, along with millions of other Christians, acknowledges that evolution is true.
Finally let me state that your arguments against a natural cause for the universe and for God’s eternal existence are very flawed. But that is another argument and really not relevant to whether evolution is true or not.
Wilkins Micawber
As a parent, I object to the mother's use of her child as a pawn in her set-up to try to "get" Perry in a controversial topic.
Please consider this: someone was standing off to her left with a camera, ready to film this exchange. The woman engaged Perry by saying the boy had a question for him. Perry bent over to be at the same height as the child and to look him in the eyes. Perry answered the boy's question about the age of the Earth. As Perry was finishing his answer, the woman stepped forward and told the boy to ask Perry about evolution. Perry acknowledges her question by saying to the boy, "Your mom was asking about evolution," and then continues with his answer. The woman again steps forward and twice tells the boy to ask Perry why he doesn't believe in science, and at this point, Perry begins to walk away.
This was a set-up to try to embarrass Perry.
His remark that evolution and "creationism" are taught in Texas schools is obviously incorrect. Nonetheless, I thought that Perry evinced greater respect for the child by his answers than the woman did through her actions. Even if part of Perry's answer is factually incorrect, I don't think it was meant to be misleading (to what end?) and it showed respect for the intelligence of the child (We give you choices because we think you are smart enough to decide for yourself).
There are many reasons that I will not vote for Rick Perry for President of the United States. However, the way people and the media have jumped all over this exchange is more of a symptom of our poisonous political environment and the utter absence of discourse than yet another reason Rick Perry is unqualified for the presidency.
Perhaps someone with access to Presidential candidate Perry could ask him why, if he is willing to acknowledge that a child is intelligent enough to be entrusted with the awesome responsibility of deciding for himself what his philosophical worldview is, vis-a-vis the creation of life on earth, he cannot extend the same respect for individual choice to others, including women, and the awesome responsibilities and difficult choices that they must sometimes make.
patricia bird
I hope New Hampshire can forgive our own Gov Perry...he has not completed the evolutionary process and thus is incapable of entering this discussion