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Evolution: Vestigial Genes & Organs, Extinctions and Inefficiency all hint at Unintelligent DesignA small page at the moment, but I'll be adding more. Especially, some quotes from The Selfish Gene, which is my in-the-car reading book. We've been having dramas getting our washing machine and dishwasher working... the former is fixed now. Tags: appendix, biology, creationism, evolution, humanity, life, richard dawkins
Current Location: Monchengladbach, Germany
Current Mood:  happy
Listening To: "Hell" by Project Pitchfork
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Page has a new conclusion and has been lightly edited: In 2001 there were 7000 state faith schools in the UK (of 25000). The worst teach creationism (that the world is only 6000 years old, against all scientific evidence) and some, although they excel at religious education and Koranic studies, fail on everything else from science to fitness. Reports on the race riots of 2001 criticized faith schools for creating the segregation that increases racial and religious sectarian tensions. Over 800 studies by social psychologists have found that cooperating and extended contact between racial groups is a very good way of producing positive race relations. Faith schools sometimes produce better-than-average results, but they also select students based on ability (despite attempts to stop them), whereas state schools accept poorer students in the first place. The Home Office, National Union of Teachers, Chief Schools Inspector, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers have all spoken out against faith schools and the United Nations Human Rights Commission recommends non-sectarian education, especially of children. The National Secular Society has long campaigned for the government to reverse the creation of faith schools (100 new ones since 1997), and instead convert faith schools back into all-inclusive secular schools where religion and race do not define the children. Abolishing faith schools will decrease social tension between ethnic and religious groups, increase the fairness of the schools system (as religious schools accept fewer poor and disadvantaged students), and reduce the scope for religious extremism and indoctrination. Tags: children, creationism, education, faith schools, fundamentalism, indoctrination, intolerance, prejudice, racism, religion, schooling, sectarianism, segregation, tolerance, vardy foundation
Current Location: Germany
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Sign this petition (you have to be a UK citizen): petitions.pm.gov.uk : We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish all faith schools and prohibit the teaching of creationism...and "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish all faith schools and prohibit the teaching of creationism and other religious mythology in all UK schools"It's worth signing both. This is in the wake of the Vardy Foundation's slowly increasing chain of fundamentalist Christian schools (IN THE UK!!), whose science teachers' teach creationism rather than science, that is, they think the world is 6000 years old, and that most of science is wrong because it contradicts the Bible. Sign these petition and get everyone else to, too! My page on Faith Schools explains many of the issues, the contents of the page are: - Sectarian Schooling
- Sectarian schools breed cultural conflict
- Indoctrination versus Parental discretion
- Do faith schools provide better education?
- Fundamentalist Schools
- The Benefits of Abolishing Sectarian Schools
Tags: children, christianity, creationism, education, fundamentalism, indoctrination, petitions, schooling, science, secularisation, segregation, vardy foundation
Current Location: Germany
Current Mood:  annoyed
Listening To: "Krolok" by Wumpscut
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1. The famous paleontologist, Richard Leakey is the author of " Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human", and was for years was director of Kenya's museums. He has been fighting a battle against creationists in Kenya, in particular Pentecostal evangelicals, who are determined to use "religious toleration" to force Kenya's museums to hide science in order to avoid challenging their faith. The museum's collections include the most complete skeleton yet found of homo erectus, a 1.7 million year-old skeleton, and skeletons of the species that first evolved to walk upright, 4 million years ago. Bishop Adoyo, head of the six-million strong Pentecostal congregation "Christ is the Answer Ministries", seemingly without a sense of irony, says, "Leakey and his group want their theories presented as fact". 2. The creationist Kent Hovind, who pleaded guilty to (three times) constructing a building without permission (he wants to build another creationist humans-and-dinosaurs-existing-at-the-sam e-time themed park). He has now been "arrested and indicted in federal court on fifty-eight charges, including"... tax fraud, tax evasion, evading banking requirements and making threats against IRS investigators. "The grand-jury indictment alleges that Hovind and his wife, Jo, withdrew $430,500 from AmSouth bank between July 20, 2001, and August 9,2002. The withdrawals, most made only days apart, were consistently for amounts just below the $10,000 starting point for federally required cash-transaction reporting.". He has been stripped of his passport and guns. Both of these are reported in Skeptical Inquirer, volume 30, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 2006). The Skeptical Inquirer is my new 'thing', it is an absolutely awesome resource for discussions on all things anti-science, and has connections to many atheist, humanist and pro-science groups, including Prof. Dawkins (Oxford Uni), Richard Wiseman (Herts Uni), Daniel Dennett, Robert Sheaffer, Elizabeth Loftus (famous psychologist), etc. Just reading it's "Fellows" list made me excited! :-) Tags: atheism, creationism, fundamentalism, kent hovind, kenya, religion, richard dawkins, richard leakey
Current Location: Germany
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