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Evolution Trips Up School Board

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 29, 2007

Afraid Of The Truth?

Regarding "Polk Needled, Noodled In Evolution Flap" (front page, Dec. 22):

Actually, intelligent design is not a "religiously based explanation." Its framework is based on the cause-and-effect structure that we observe everywhere in the world around us.

When we see specified complexity, from a sand castle to a space shuttle, we rightly understand that it was purposefully made. And when we come across beaver dams or BMWs, we know instinctively that they were intentionally produced.

It's this same ability to recognize and categorize objects which allows a paleontologist to pick up and analyze only the arrowheads or pottery shards and not the rocks. It's the same process which forensic scientists use to distinguish between accidental death and homicide or suicide.

Maybe we're just a little bit too afraid to admit that evolution might not have made frogs into princes after all.

GARY RIPPLE

St. Petersburg

A Case Of Cyberbullying
It was telling in the reading of the paragraph that followed the sub-headline, "E-Mail Mocks Board's Stance," that there was no board stance at all, just a collection of responses to a Lakeland Ledger reporter's question by five of the seven Polk County School Board members. One of whom, it is clear, did not say it was desirable to see an alternative to Darwinian evolution taught.

But, that is not the real story!

What followed was a discussion of the response columns in the Ledger and the involvement of a group called Pastafarians, so called for their adherence to the line of thought put forth by the operators of the Spaghetti Monster Web site. The loosely affiliated group immediately pummeled the board in general and the individual members with e-mails. The only reason was to ridicule, demean and denigrate the poor souls who, in a moment of absolute naivete', answered an honest question, well, honestly. The result was to insult and ridicule the whole of Polk County.

Folks, when we sit and discuss the loss of our civil rights - freedom of speech among them - we have more to fear from the Pastafarians and their ilk than all the government agencies put together. Whether it is the pro-life, abortion rights, gay rights or immigration rights groups, their single-minded pursuit of "their" issue often results in the kind of "cyberbullying" seen here. Disagree with the party-line of any of these or a myriad of other groups (or Lou Dobbs, for that matter) and you will likely end up on the spot, with considerable energy focused on you and anyone unfortunate enough to be close to you.

BOB CARNOT

Riverview

The Test Of Time

As someone schooled in the sciences, I'm always a bit confused by the intense opposition from scientists to the teaching of modern scientific evidence that calls into question a century-and-a-half-old theory.

As to the satirical religious Web site the Church of the Giant Spaghetti Monster, their implied assertion that belief in a creator God is equivalent to belief in a fairy tale where an enormous, airborne entree created all things just doesn't hold marinara sauce. Archeology, secular history, even modern science and medicine continue to confirm truths in the timeless volume that chronicles God's creation of the Earth and His work among men. More than that, the greatest testimonies of the Bible's truths and God's existence are the transformed lives that bear witness to both each day. No such empirical or life-changing evidence has been found for Darwinism or, for that matter, fairy-tale food fiends.

JOE BURNS

Brandon

Web Site Makes Sense

When Polk County School Board member Margaret Lofton said, "They've made us the laughingstock of the world," I doubt she knew how correct she was. Ironically, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a logically solid argument.

Of course, neither FSMism nor creationism are true, but the joke is evident when one realizes that despite its utter absurdity, the evidence and reality coincide more with the FSM than with creationism. Thus, while many roll their eyes at the absurdity of the FSM, it has more of a place in the classrooms than creationism, since FSM explains the evidence better.

The school board deserved their public flogging for allowing their ignorance to overrule their intellect. There is a reason there are 17 times more historians rejecting the holocaust than there are scientists rejecting evolution.

How does Polk County expect to be taken seriously when they consider letting pseudoscience into classrooms?

W. ALAN GRAY

Tampa

Afraid Of Competition

This was a very biased article against intelligent design versus evolution - an ever-changing, unproven theory that is constantly manipulated to try to fit the historical and archeological evidence that has never supported it.

Evolutionists are afraid of competition. They say ID is not science when in fact it's more scientific than evolution. Evolutionists pick and choose the data to fit their foregone conclusions. Their examples of evolution are nothing more than adaptation, not evolution. There's no fossil record of animals changing from one species to another. The fossil records show immediate, fully intact creatures from the beginning. Read the books "Bone of Contention" and "Darwin's Black Box" for examples.

The world is much too complex not to have an intelligent designer. It takes more faith to believe in "nothing creating something" than for "something to create something."

GARY WORLEY

Lakeland

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