Teacher fired for "Veering from Evolution"

[Miss Anthrope]

Sounds like a bit more than "veering". link

During his eight days as a part-time biology teacher at Sisters High School, Kris Helphinstine included Biblical references in material he provided to students and gave a PowerPoint presentation that made links between evolution, Nazi Germany and Planned Parenthood.

Helphinstine, 27, said in a phone interview with The Bulletin newspaper of Bend that he included the supplemental material to teach students about bias in sources, and his only agenda was to teach critical thinking.
"Critical thinking is vital to scientific inquiry," said Helphinstine, who has a master's degree in science from Oregon State. "My whole purpose was to give accurate information and to get them thinking."

Quoting the bible is now critical thinking, eh?

 

[drkitten]

Sounds like a bit more than "veering". link

Quoting the bible is now critical thinking, eh?

It could be. I'd need to see more of the lesson in order to make a determination.

It certainly can be pedagogically appropriate to present examples of biased and unreliable sources in order to teach people that not everything published is true. Merely quoting doesn't necessarily imply content approval -- look at how much quotation Randi typically does in his commentary in order to reveal the frauds and cons for what they are.

For that matter, look at the Dover transcripts, where quotations from the book under discussion were entered into evidence specifically to prove that the book itself was a biased and unreliable source.

 

[Davidjayjordan]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

 

[The_Fire]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

Unlike evolution, I have yet to see evidence of:

A: The big christian boogeyman in the sky existing
B: The bible as anything else than a fairytale
C: ID/Creationism as anything more than a flight of fancy.

Got any? Post them. And then start answering the questions in the other threads you seem to "forget".

 

[Miss Anthrope]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

DJJ-Have you addressed questions of lying and false prophecy yet?

 

[J. Arthur Hastur]

It wasn't so much veering, as he apparently took a hard right into the cornfield.

 

[Katana]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

Thank you for saying this.

I desperately needed a laugh.

 

[Meadmaker]

Critical thinking is vital to scientific inquiry," said Helphinstine, who has a master's degree in science from Oregon State.

They fired Doctor Science!




(FWIW: The article doesn't give enough information to figure out what he was teaching. Was he teaching ID? Or was he saying ID was a bunch of hooey? Or was he saying, "Here's what the ID people have to say." Of course, he had only been teaching eight days, and decided that he could make up his own lesson plans on controversial subjects. That seems like he might be a weirdo, regardless of what his specific message was.)

 

[Ichneumonwasp]

All I can say is, "Wow".

 

[prewitt81]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

Nope.

 

[Fordama]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

Stop that, it's silly.

Fordama

 

[thaiboxerken]

Good riddance. Keep the quacks out of teaching positions.

 

[fuelair]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

Well, someone here is desperate. It isn't me! (I don't get paid to believe - based on firm scientific evidence - in evolution!)(but someone here seems to get paid to believe in a pitiful myth - your loss).

 

[Gargoyle]

Finally some good news!
Nice to see that some people react against religious bigotry.

 

[Miss Anthrope]

While the article does not give much information, I have a difficult time believing that using Bible verses in a biology class is appropriate. I think that even if the teacher was using the verses to show the bible WRONG specifically, it's just not appropriate curriculum. Stick to the facts of biology. Nazis, planned parenthood and scripture? C'mon!

 

[J. Arthur Hastur]

Nazis invented psychiatry AND biology! C'mon, everyone knows that!

 

[billydkid]

False science has always demanded that its undergraduates be forced into accepting their false theories. This because their theory can NOT stand the logical questions that stem from its luck and chance philosophy that uis not scientific. therefore they must, fire teachers that show biological facts and biological history.

The Bible isn;t needed to do this as creation gives more than enough facts to show design, whereas the evolutionists have absolutely no facts just fiction and FAITH.

Poor evolutionists they are so desperate to spread their religion.

You know, there is a point at which dogged stupidity is not charming anymore. You want to believe fairy tales, that is certainly your perogative, but to insist on their truth to others and to dismiss with contempt all the works of truly brilliant people who have actually bothered to put in the time and effort and sacrifice required to begin to achieve some genuine understanding of the world as "religion", truly marks you as a fool. I'll be frank with you. I believe you don't care about the truth of anything. I believe your only interest is in validating your baseless belief system, the truth be damned. You don't care about the truth, fine, but don't come in here acting all noble and heroic about it. It's sickening.

 

[lupus_in_fabula]

I’m not sure if it’s strategically smart for religious fundamentalists to be drawn towards ID. ID isn’t a theory, so the only thing it can provide is loose examples yet unanswered by science – that’s already a weakness by itself. Science is however progressively providing real answers for many of those examples, which of course makes the whole package more vulnerable the more we know and understand. It’s very likely that it turns out to be a package deal the fundies maybe shouldn’t have bought in the first place.

Thus, fundies and ID proponents are like buffalos packing together into one single herd just waiting to be drawn off the cliff by blindly following each other. It’s not about religion against science; it’s about reluctance for some to expand their own belief. I call that fragile belief.

 

[pgwenthold]

I’m not sure if it’s strategically smart for religious fundamentalists to be drawn towards ID. ID isn’t a theory, so the only thing it can provide is loose examples yet unanswered by science – that’s already a weakness by itself. Science is however progressively providing real answers for many of those examples, which of course makes the whole package more vulnerable the more we know and understand. It’s very likely that it turns out to be a package deal the fundies maybe shouldn’t have bought in the first place.

This is a really interesting aspect. ID tries to rely on this supposed "irreducible complexity." Oddly enough, there are plenty of examples of things that were postulated to be "irreducibly complex" (throughout history, and even since the ID movement started) that have been reduced and/or explained through naturalist mechanisms.

Irreducible complexity is just another example of a God of the Gaps, and like all the other Gods of the Gaps in history, it is shrinking all the time.

 

[lupus_in_fabula]

This is a really interesting aspect. ID tries to rely on this supposed "irreducible complexity." Oddly enough, there are plenty of examples of things that were postulated to be "irreducibly complex" (throughout history, and even since the ID movement started) that have been reduced and/or explained through naturalist mechanisms.

Irreducible complexity is just another example of a God of the Gaps, and like all the other Gods of the Gaps in history, it is shrinking all the time.

I think you’re right! I'm probably paraphrasing someone (can't remember who)... but it’s very ironical that ID proponents have chosen ‘complexity’ as their modus operandi when proving their sui generis. The very least science teaches us is that ‘complexity’ can indeed start from very simple elements and move a long way towards infinity.

It would make more sense to look at the extremely delicate balance at the beginning of the universe; how can this extremely small probability have happened? But you probably know what Caesar said: Jacta alea est! Or my personal favourite from Babylon 5 (Kosh): “The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote!”