Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:05 am

I've read through the documents posted by Brian and my view is that the individuals pushing this are at best simply ignorant of the issues involved and at worse sympathetic towards creationism, or influenced by creationist propaganda and misinformation.

Whenever the term, “children thinking for themselves” is mentioned, my creationist bullshit detector starts screaming like mad. It is a phrase (or a variation on it, such as, “let them make their own minds up) that almost inevitably finds itself flung out from the middle of a creationist Gish Gallop.

If you want to get get children to think for themselves, for example by trying to work things out from first principles rather than rote learning then that is a worthy thing.

Where it is not so worthy, is where it is used as an excuse to push a backward religious belief that is not only hostile to modern science, but also just as importantly, hostile to much of modern society, onto other people's children on the basis that it is only fair that they get to hear both sides of the story.

If these people want to teach children about creationism then they should start by teaching them the truth about it rather than some wishy washy version of the truth largely written or doctored by creationists or their useful idiot lapdogs.

Teach them about the Enlightenment and Humanities struggle against ignorance & superstition.

Teach them about the medieval Church and its sheer unadulterated authoritarianism and brutality.

Teach them about creationist family planning; i.e. ban contraception and let the population starve back to a sustainable level.

Teach them about creationist love of humanity with its worrying fixation on homosexuals, transvestites, single mums, atheists and all manner of other groups that don't float too well (end times).

Teach them about the creationist denigration of evolution and how they dishonestly blame the theory and its supporters for the Holocaust during WWII – even though the evidence clearly points incontrovertibly towards a religious motivated bias against the Jews that in Europe stretched back centuries.

Teach them about about creationist AIDS control measures – withhold a very cheap means of preventing it then sit back and let the victim die a long, painful and miserable death.

Teach them about creationist respect for science and how the American government under GWB, heavily influenced by conservative Christians (i.e. creationists) constantly ignored scientific advice about global warming. Ask them how they feel about the thought that one day as a result, their homes in the UK may well end up under water.

Teach them about creationist medical research, which consists mainly on doing everything within their power to prevent or subvert stem-cell research at each and every opportunity. Explain how the wise and virtuous, loving creationists have deep hand-wringing thoughts about the fate of a bunch of cells left over from IVF treatment but somehow seem utterly and totally incapable of extending that same concern to real people in the real world who continue to suffer grievously (in their millions) from a range of degenerative neurological conditions and who could possibly have been helped more if this research hadn't been obstructed. Ask them to debate whether or not America could have defeated say Parkinson's Disease by now if their government hadn't spent the best part of a decade blocking one of the most promising cures. Ask them to debate whether people who behave in such reprehensible ways are heroes or monsters.

Teach them about the bias in the press towards creationism. Explain to them that there are thousands and thousands of professional scientists who are working in Universities the length and breath of the country that are trained in areas relevant to evolution and who overwhelmingly support evolution and reject creationism and who could IF asked give a lucid explanation as to why; yet this state of affairs is hard to discern in the press, which inevitably gives far to much weight to the creationist viewpoint. Ask them to debate whether or not they would like to fly in a jet airliner being piloted by say a famous, highly qualified surgeon. Surely even a child can work out that it doesn't matter how famous the surgeon is or how highly qualified he is in surgery that that counts not one iota in his favour as a pilot. So why is it that when it comes to evolution we continuously have to put with some boring pompous Christian fundamentalist such as the combustion scientist working at Leeds University who knows absolutely bugger all about evolution being presented as if he was some sort of authority on it, when he clearly isn't? Get them to debate the merits of a system where information is delivered by very rich but otherwise stupid individuals, coloured by their specific biases. Why should these halfwits from The Daily Mail and The Telegraph deliver a constant stream of biased and distorted news reports to the nations readers? Why should only rich people have a voice in this country?

Teach the about the creationists antics in American schools – you could spend a whole term on this one subject alone.

Teach them about the wedge strategy.

Teach them about creationist morality which involves breathtaking deception and dishonesty at every level.

Teach them about religious bias within the educational system that for instance forces the vast bulk of children in the country to daily sing and pray to a God that many don't even believe in. What's the point in being able to think for yourself if all you have to look forward to is being forced to act like sheep.

We could discuss all of these issues in our schools but everyone knows that is never going to happen. This is because the people running the system have their own agendas, ones that have very little to do with impartial appraisal or fairness and more to do with propping up a belief system that is well past its sell by date.

Rant over – Gets off soap box.