"Religious fundamentalism" a negative factor to literacy

I just read an article in the news about the U.S. having more science smarts, "sort of".  The entire article is so biased toward religion that it is nauseating.

Here's my favorite quote:

"Miller said a second major negative factor to scientific literacy was religious fundamentalism and aging."

You can read the entire article for yourself and see what you think:

http://my.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20070218/45d7dd50_3ca6_1552620070218-1559785794

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We are raising a nation of idiots.

Stupid people are easier to control. 

That article sounds to me as tho Mr. Jon Miller believes in evolution  which is a  "Scientific  THEORY" that never has and never could be proved - - it has too many 'missing links'.  Science is moving forward, especially in medicine.  That would move faster if the majority of the funding were not from drug manufacturers AND there were more study into herbs and nutrition.  But - - bit by bit we are learning more of what God set up in creating us, our bodies and this earth we live on.  I believe that the learning would go faster if we recognized that nature, the earth, the ecological balance and everything else started a downward spiral of decay when 'man' sinned and God kicked him out of the Garden of Eden.  That's absolutely logical when you consider the increased occurrance of natural disasters, deseases, etc. 

 We do need to study and learn to ease our survival.  God has opened wonderful knowledge to us.  In the 1700's could we have operated on a brain tumor successfully?  Could we have realized the difference between a bacterial infection and a virus?  We have gained much but we still have only discovered a drop in the bucket.  Don't worry though - God knows the number of our days and that of our earth.  I totally trust Him.

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I am not a Christian so I certainly do not believe what you are saying Patriot Pixcie, which is why creationism should not be taught in schools because it is only a religious belief and not a scientific fact.

Finally, the term "Theory" is getting some bad press and is not being used properly outside the scientific community.  Remember, even Gravity is still "Scientific  THEORY."

Inside the Scientific community Theory has a different meaning...
Outside the Scientific Community Theory, Hypothesis are used in non-technical contexts to mean an untested idea or opinion.

Inside the Scientific community a theory is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena.

Bex,

 If you think creationism is not science fact and evolution is, then you have been fooled by the preists of evolution (as evolution takes more faith than creationism).  

 

  If you want to explore origins from a truly scientific basis, please see Dr. Walt Brown's book "In the Beginning".    In it he also challenges evolutionists to an honest debate : a 20-year challenge that they refuse to engage in. 

 

Sorry, but  the facts so favor creation that it is overwhelming.  You should see the math proving that the moon cannot have been in earth orbit more than 1.2 million years, and it could not have been captured gravitationally and have such a circular orbit.   

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BTW,

 

You are incorrect about gravity being theory. It is established physical law that all matter has the property gravity.  What is theory is what causes it on a sub-atomic level. 

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John Spin said: BTW, You are incorrect about gravity being theory. It is established physical law that all matter has the property gravity. What is theory is what causes it on a sub-atomic level.

 

 

 

I'm glad your strong in your spiritual beliefs.  I am too.  They are just different.

Sorry for my Generalizing with the use of the word "Gravity."  Gravity, as a Law, refers to Newton's findings in 1665.  However, it's Einsteins Theory of Gravitation that is currently used in calculations.  While, his theory produces exact results, it is still a Theory.  Fortunately it does not contridict Newton's Law but expands upon it.  Trust me,this is a subject I am well versed in from schooling and working.

Finally, this forum should stay focused on what is important to all of us here.  Stopping Illegal Immigration and other Political Issues. 

I agree with this assesment of 'theory' and 'law'. But remember that the usage of 'theory' that we are concerned with as far as what is being taught in public schools is the def of theory as an unproven description of how things happen or came about. The general public uses this def of theory in this context, and I believe that is correct in the situation. 

  I believe that the erosion of teaching truth and reason in our schools is where we got started on the path that has led us to the point that we are at now, including the loss of National integrity (nationalism).  But, yes, I we need to stay focused on the immigration problem here.  Glad you admit yours is a belief system also.  :)

 

I  am trying to remember where I saw that 3 or 4 militant Mexican organisations have declared that they are going to 'take back' 7 states from CA to TX.   Maybe someone out there can also find where the President of Mexico once said that they would take Texas back.

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We are NEVER going to stop illegal immigration because the global business community has decided FOR US that we are going to consolidate into a North American Union.  I just heard a live radio interview with Tom Gilchrist of the Minuteman organization and his web site was hyjacked and all of his funding was stolen from his bank account.  Also, the stationary letterhead was stolen so if you receive an unsolicitated appeal to give to the organization you might want to check into it first.

Concerned mom said "I just read an article in the news about the U.S. having more science smarts, "sort of".  The entire article is so biased toward religion that it is nauseating."

Why do you think American manufacturing, including aerospace manufacturing has moved overseas to China?  Global businesses, American international businesses have stopped fighting this fight and have moved on - to other nations where they don't have to fight this fight.  Think about it!  What is Bill Gates take on the state of U.S. education "we don't have enough engineers and scientists", the other thing we are constantly told is "American students are not well versed in higher mathematics, science and physics". 

Continue to believe whatever you wish to believe and teach whatever you want to teach.  Just don't expect your child to ever be a scientist, a physicist, or an engineer unless he or she learns to compartmentalize.  That isn't to say there are no creationist believing scientists, physicists or engineers.  It's that they have separated the two, just as Bex appears to have done. 

By the way, my son is in college for nuclear engineering and he tells me almost all of the assistant professors and research assistants are foreign.  That is because of 1.  the money they bring in and 2.  their foundation of skills.  I was able to pass calculus with an A because of tutoring I received from a Romanian.  He and his father, who was a professor, would spend spare time and weekends doing math.  Here in the states, our young people are too worried about the newest video game.

Marijam, compartmentalization is not necessary for one to be well educated in science and math.  I did very well in my college classes, including nuclear physics and nuclear pharmacy, and I never felt the need to put my religious beliefs on the back burner. 

The reason so many kids in this country do not do well in math and science, or English  for that matter, is that the parents do not take on the responsibility to help educate their children.  On top of that, our public schools do not reward the good teachers and let the bad ones keep their jobs.

The myth that having faith or being religious makes a person stupid or ignorant is insulting.  Sometimes, the more a person learns about the intricacies and detailed plans of nature and the universe, the more one understands that this isn't all a big accident.

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One effect of the displacement of a Christian ethic in favor of Darwinian faith is the loss of an underlying value system which requires man to value and respect others. If indeed we are all just high-stepping pond scum, then we should similarly adopt the philosophy that survival of the fittest is pivotal in historical change.

If only the strong survive, then the Naturalists who are intent on preventing admission of a Christian worldview in public discourse have taken an important first step in eliminating a "weaker" group. Suppression of the First Amendment right would set the precedent for subsequent abrogation of Constitutional Rights. Indeed, if they can make the transition to establishing a criminal label for adherents to Christian principles, they will have successfully taken a major step. This applies, of course, to other groups besides Christian. The strategy is to de-legitimate a group by any and all means possible.

Words have meaning. The Naturalist ideology favored by Liberals tolerates no discussion of the many gaps inherent in Darwinian theory and highlights the political nature of the suppression of the debate. In their worldview, power is what matters, no matter how it is achieved or what its cost.  

The point is that the same methodology applies to any group that finds itself out of favor with the political elite, such as gun owners. We should agree to disagree. While many areas of belief are critical to the individual who hold them, they should be subsumed to the more imminent threat to liberty exemplified by the continuing and expanding attempts to disarm law-abiding citizens. To comply is to willingly sacrifice a basic natural right that has been hard fought by our ancestors and valued above others.

WE lose scientist, scholars and theologians in grade school  & on when the schools, society and even the govt thinks a jock is 100 time smore valuable than an Einstien.

actually what does football have to do with education? for every one of those in college, there is a serious student denied a seat.

What was the last football score between the U of Bombay  & Pekeing Tech college?

We have aborted the answer to society's ills. The answers to a lot of problems, diseases, and solutions to our energy woes have more than likey been muffled in their mother's wombs through the grasp  of an abortion doctor's  rubber gloved hand.

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"We have aborted the answer to society's ills. The answers to a lot of problems, diseases, and solutions to our energy woes have more than likey been muffled in their mother's wombs through the grasp  of an abortion doctor's  rubber gloved hand."

I don't believe that, not for an instant.  Babies souls' do not go nowhere.  Man has free will and a brain to think with.

 We have killed in our wars the answer to society's ills.  The answers to a lot of problems, diseases and solutions to our energy woes have more than likely been muffled by bombs and bullets by troops who were protecting the freedoms of others.

 I don't believe that either.  You can't prove a negative.

ConcernedMom, my main point is that it is a moot point what you think or what anybody else thinks about religion and education and the workplace.  The corporations have already made their decision and there isn't a blasted thing any of us can do about it unless we force our representatives to repeal NAFTA and get them to stop the NAU.  We can't get together and force them to do that when we are all arguing about abortion and religion all the time.

marijam said:
ConcernedMom, my main point is that it is a moot point what you think or what anybody else thinks about religion and education and the workplace.  The corporations have already made their decision and there isn't a blasted thing any of us can do about it unless we force our representatives to repeal NAFTA and get them to stop the NAU.  We can't get together and force them to do that when we are all arguing about abortion and religion all the time.

 

A point I have tried to make in this forum many times. If we can't all get together on the issue of our national sovereignty all of these other issues will not matter

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marijam....

Babies souls enter Heaven. Tell a grief stricken mother her child's soul went "nowhere". Your point about abortion and religion is well made. Not coming to terms with the truth found between the cover of God's Word has brought on our nation's problems. When this country bowed to the will of 2 or 3% of the population and kicked God out of our schools in the early sixties we invited trouble into the camp and it is till with us.

We have allowed satan to divide and conqure, ie, you, myself, and others arguing over trivial things when we should be concerned with where the "man has free will to and brain to think with" will spend eternity. May God help us all and me most of all.

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96harley, I was born in the 50s and I don't remember religion and prayer ever being in school.  Religion was why you went to church on Sunday , or Wednesday night, and Bible school in the summer.  In my family, religion was always a personal thing, not something we wore on our sleeves for all to see.  The first church I ever went to was the Church of the Nazarene.  We lived by the New Testament and Jesus's words, not by the Old Testament.  I don't understand religion today, it has become too organized, too commercial.  Any religious leader today, find out how they live, personally.  Do they drive a Mercedes?  Have a chaffeur?  Live in a multi-room mansion?  Fly on a private jet?  Build extravagant churches?  God has blessed them my left foot!  Power always corrupts and money always have and always will bring power with it.

My main point is that religion should not be viewed as a negative factor to literacy. If you replace the word "religion" with any other word for a group of people, like "being black", or "being Native American", or any other race, you would immediately hear a public outcry. And, rightly so. I only posted the article to make the point that it is O.K. to pick on people's religious beliefs but everything else is off limits. And, why should we have to focus just on one issue here? Yes, our sovreignty is very important and talking about this current issue here doesn't mean I haven't signed petitions and written to reps about other issues. And, Marijam, I bet you were allowed to say the Pledge of Allegiance when you were in school. You can't anymore because it mentions God. If we all believe that power always corrupts, then what are we even trying to do? No matter to whom we give the power, won't they just let us down, too? As far as religious leaders, some of them do seem to have let success take over. However, for every one person you see either on T.V. or in a limo, there are dozens that don't do that. Religion has become somewhat commercialized, but the good churches and people are still there.

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