Christopher Bauer’s Weblog

Greetings,

I have just read RJ’s comment on a personal reading comment made by Amy Bastarache.  Even though I have made my own comments on this particular blog made by Amy, I feel the need to respond to RJ’s comments.

First, I would like to agree with RJ’s comment that it seems to me that Amy put a great deal of bias into her work, and it would seem to me that Amy did overlook several points that were brought out by RJ and myself.  However, I would also like to point out that her comment was a post in which she made no claim to be unbiased, as well as pointing out that I could see the same sort of bias creeping into RJ’s comments.  One primary example of this bias, RJ, is the claim that since you have not heard of any information that contradicts evolution, that there was none.  You completely dismiss Amy’s claim that evolution has been disproved.  I have heard, from family members, of scientific studies done that do seem to repudiate evolution as something that could not have happened in the manner that is described by scientists.  Since I have not actually seen the reports of this with my own eyes, I do not feel comfortable describing them here.

Secondly, you state that the logical outcome of Amy’s comments is the end of separation of Church and State.  I would like to direct your attention to the end of her comment where she acknowledges that separation and implies that she has no intention of assaulting it.  I would have to agree with her statement.  The first amendment declares that the state will make no law favoring one religion over another.  To this extent, I do not think that the inclusion of Intelligent Design in public education would be violating this.  I would agree with statements of the both of you that this would only enrich the education and encourage debate among the students, so they can form their own beliefs.  However, I still do not think (and I have stated this three or four times within this blog), that a science class is not the place to initiate that debate, but rather a social science or liberal art class would be that place, as it is not a scientific theory, but rather a derivative of a creation theory.

Websites:

“Amy Bastarache Comment.” RJ’s blog. Feb 19, 2006. http://vellarya.edublogs.org/2006/02/19/amy-bastarache-comment-2/>

“’Evolution vs. “Intellegent Design’ in Ohio Schools.”  Amy Bastarache. Feb. 16, 2006.  http://ajb6185.edublogs.org/2006/02/16/evolution-vs-intelligent-design/>

“Response to Amy Bastarache” Christopher Bauer’s Weblog.  Feb 22, 2006. http://cbauer.edublogs.org/2006/02/22/response-to-amy-bastarache/>

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 at 9:27 pm and is filed under Personal Comments and You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.