The Ledger reports that the majority of Polk County, Florida, School Board members support teaching Intelligent Design in addition to evolution in public schools.
It’s unclear if they’re prepared to change the definition of science. Some people are concerned that a supernatural theory will not mesh with the study of the natural world.
Board member Kay Fields said last week she wants intelligent design, which is promoted by some Christian groups, taught in science classes in addition to evolution.
“If it ever comes to the board for a vote, I will vote against the teaching of evolution as part of the science curriculum,” Lofton said. “If (evolution) is taught, I would want to balance it with the fact that we may live in a universe created by a supreme being as well.”
The board’s majority opinion is at odds with many in Florida’s scientific community who strongly support the new, more rigorous science standards, and say intelligent design lacks scientific credibility.
Perhaps Florida’s scientific community has not realized the type of genius arguments they’re up against:
“My tendency would be to have both sides shared with students since neither side can be proven,” [School Board Member] Tim Harris said.
“I don’t have a conflict with intelligent design versus evolution,” [School Board Member] Sellers said. “The two go together.”
“It crosses the line with people who are Christians,” [School Board Member] Lofton said. “Evolution is offensive to a lot of people.”
Pastafarians are concerned that the Polk County School Board is endorsing Intelligent Design, but ignoring our theory, even though it is widely endorsed by the scientific community.
I will wager that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can produce more academic endorsements for our theory than Intelligent Design proponents can for theirs.
My guess is that the Polk County School Board is just unaware of Pastafarianism. As a public service, I propose that we contact them, and let them know that there are other supernatural theories just as valid as Intelligent Design, primarily ours.
Contact info:
Those in favor of Intelligent Design:
Kay Fields (District 5)
Kay.Fields@polk-fl.net
863-802-5483
Tim Harris (District 7)
Tim.Harris@polk-fl.net
863-808-0005
Margaret Lofton (District 6, Chairman)
Margaret.Lofton@polk-fl.net
863-294-9076
Hazel Sellers (District 3)
Hazel.Sellers@polk-fl.net
863-533-7714
Lori Cunningham (District 2, Vice-Chairman) - undecided
Lori.Cunningham@polk-fl.net
863-512-1656
Those not in favor of Intelligent Design:
Frank O’Reilly (District 1)
Frank.Oreilly@polk-fl.net
863-647-1390
Brenda Reddout (District 4)
Brenda.Reddout@polk-fl.net
863-324-0127
You can use this link to email all 7 School board members.
Please be respectful - remember we are not criticizing their beliefs, merely pointing out that there is another, just as legitimate, theory that should be included into the curriculum. Please leave a comment and tell us about your conversations with the School Board. Thank you!
The Ledger article can be found here.
*update* 12/11/07 - Their local newspaper published a story about our campaign here.
I have sent a letter through this site to all the school board members in Polk county. Thanx 4 making it e z. -Adapted from St. John the Blasphemer
Dear Polk County School Board,
This is an excellent read regardless of your leanings on the origin of humanity,
Darwin’s discovery of evolution completely rules out the possibility that man came from some dirt that God used to make an image of Himself out of, and that woman came from a rib of this dirt-man.
Compare the amount of interlocking data from every applicable scientific field including geology, physics, and even molecular biology, all having observational experiments done, that test and prove the hypotheses of evolution occurring, with the DISCREDITED FAIRY TALE - A BIG INVISIBLE MONSTER THAT NOBODY HAS EVER SEEN OR HEARD DID IT.
Reverently,
Marc Romain A.K.A. F.S.M.C. P.C.S.I. (Fizz Mick Pa Chee)
Flying Spaghetti Monster Church Promoting Common Sense Ideas
Adapted from St. John of F.S.M.
I suggest in the bizarre case that this kind of initiative passes on the Polk county or any other place in the world that the people who don´t agree with the idea of teaching religion in the science class to tell their children to get out of the class room when the Inteligent Design Lesson begins, this surely will leave half empty school rooms, meanwhile a sensitive teacher could give scientific talks or perform experiments in the playgrond for the students who leave the classroom…
CG - that could be interesting. I think it would be more effective if the kids were prepared at home for the ID lectures and had lots of interesting questions to ask the teacher, challenges to the ID theory obviously, asking why is ID science, and so on, but also wanting to know more about FSM, IPU, and other’s creating myths.
What is this junk about “both” sides? I mean, if we’re going to open the gates to “alternatives” to evolution, why are we arbitrarily saying there are only these “two” sides to it? Even if we try to come at it from a religion standpoint, I think trying to pass off the concept of a creator deity as applying to all religions is dishonest. Not ever religion or creation myth in the world involves a creator deity.
Here’s my letter that I sent to all of the above people with the little Jesus above his/her head. (Only the first three paragraphs are true.)
As a child I was always interested in history. This interest history led me to pursue a career in education. I currently teach HS social studies.
Throughout learning and teaching about history, I’ve learned that it is next to impossible to separate history and religion. The two are intertwined.
Sometimes in history class, one discussion leads to another, and that topic leads to another and next thing you know, you are talking about something you intended to talk about.
The result of one of the conversations has prompted me to write to you.
I was talking about how Christianity has the 10 Commandments, how I am a big proponent for hanging them in schools, and how most other religions don’t have such rules. Then a student corrected me. “The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has 8 ‘I Rather You Didn’ts’.”
I laughed this off. She then informed me that she has as much proof as I do; there is as much proof that a flying monster made of spaghetti created everything as there is as much proof that Jesus’ dad created everything.
“It all came out of a book. No one was around to see what was described in Genesis. For all we know, The Flying Spaghetti Monster created everything with his noodly appendages.”
I then asked her what she knew of these 8 “I Rather You Didn’ts.”
“I don’t remember all of them. But the main ideas are;
-Just play nice with each other, don’t go killing or beheading people in my name.
-Don’t do anything that might hurt other people’s feelings
-Don’t spend millions making churches and what-not to worship me. Use that money more effectively; such as feeding the homeless, finding a cure for some disease. “
She then added that, to the best of the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster’s knowledge, no one has ever been killed in the name of his Noodly Deity. “Can you say that about any other religion? Can we say, The Crusades and the Inquisition?”
These simple ideas appealed to me and I told the class I’d “Google” the Flying Spaghetti Monster when I get home.
I read up on this Noodly Deity. I must say that I am convinced that there is as much of a chance that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe as did Jesus’ dad.
If you insist in teaching Jedau-Christian belief of creation, I implore to you please consider teaching the idea of Carbo-Hyrdate-Creationism. I also encourage you to teach the main beliefs of the 8 I Rather You Didn’ts. These simple tenets encourage all men and women to do their best to get along, respect each other, and to try to help each other.
As we say,
Peace and Ramen
(A nice and simple contraction of Amen and Ramen [As in Ramen Noodles.])
Hi. Here’s what I sent ‘em (I didn’t invoke FSM, sorry, but His devoted acolytes will let His will be known):
To the members of the Polk County Board of Education:
As a Florida citizen I have deep concerns for the integrity of science education when I hear that people in decision-making positions like yourselves want to insert non-science, i.e. Intelligent Design, into science curriculums.
The real problem with evolution in schools is that it has never been taught properly in the first place, just quickly summarized at best, leaving generations of supposedly educated people with no real grasp of its logic or the literal mountains of supporting evidence.
Reality check. Geologists started seriously comparing notes about the structure of the earth around 1800. In a few decades, a consensus existed:
1. The Earth is very old. Millions of years old, almost certainly, and perhaps far older.
2. Life has existed, and is recorded as fossils, over much of the Earth’s history, and has developed in a traceable way–evolved–over that time.
Darwin only showed up after this consensus was established and came up with the how and why of evolution–”natural selection.”
Intelligent Design is kind of like the books I read when I was a teenager, by Erich von Daniken, about Ancient Astronauts who supposedly erected Easter Island heads, built the pyramids etc. The evidence? People couldn’t have figured out how to do it themselves, so the default explanation must be aliens. Von Daniken claimed the Nazca Lines, huge scratched-out pictures of animals and enigmatic line patterns, couldn’t have been drawn without the aid of a flying saucer pilot to direct the work from the air. My conclusion was that (a) von Daniken wasn’t too smart, since at 16, I already knew how to grid up a drawing, and (b) people would rather invoke a deus ex machina than simply accept that a phenomenon is unexplained. I.D. is not science, being neither tested nor testable (you can’t disprove magic).
Please stick with science. Thank you for your attention.
Messages sent…
Subject: Thank you, and keep up the fight!
Just wanted to let you know that we at The Very Young Earth Society are grateful that your school board is considering teaching intelligent design along side that foul, unfounded ‘evolution’. There’s just as much proof that we were created here!
I mean, just look at The Book of The Subgenius. I want all your kids to be aware that our faith believes that the universe was created by J.R. “BoB” Dobbs some 54 years ago. It’s just plain truth! And why shouldn’t young, malleable minds be completely muddled in religious dogma! I was, and I turned out great. Thanks for helping the cause.
Father Time :ordained minister, Church of the Subgenius
founder : The Very Young Earth Society
http://groups.myspace.com/veryyoungearthsociety
I just sent this to the 7 school board members and the reporter of the Ledger:
Dear Sirs,
As a School Board I find it imperative to communicate our earnest desire to be included in your “Science” curriculum. If you are now willing to discuss the teaching of Intelligent Design as Science then I see no reason not to include FSM. If you are capable of relaxing the definition of Science to include religious beliefs then we are in (we won’t tell anyone that this is not Science, our little secret).
How dare the scientific community require us to apply science to our beliefs? Well if they want to apply scientific principles then why shouldn’t we apply religious principles to their classes?
I applaud your logic.
For those of you not in favor of ID in the classroom I have a message. Repent your evil ways, ignore your education and reasoning. Follow your Noodly Master before it is too late. RAmen!
I bid you farewell,
Pirate Saul of Tarsus
I sent this to themlast night ; I await a responce…
If you decide to treat Intelligent Design as a scientific theory; will you in return have Rational Positivism treated as a valid religion. I think not. Your decision to treat religion as science is a mockery of science and scientific principal. Just as treating science as religion mocks religion. You are stewards of the education process. Please note that other school districts, confronted with the Intelligent Design issue have replaced their school boards with members willing to not compromise the integrity of education. Sincerely, Steven Zyla
My letter to the school board:
Respected Board Members,
Why couldn’t the Creator {who might be a carbon (or carbohydrate) based life form} have designed the universe WITH Evolution?
Teaching ID in a science class is like teaching Grimm’s Fairy Tales in Trigonometry and excluding Evolution from Science is like asking Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein to cease their mumblings about Black Holes, Dark Matter, and Tachyons.
JC
As a new member of FSM, it fills me with pride to know that something is being done to stop the ridiculousness of Intelligent Design in the public school system. If parents want their children to learn about a theory that cannot be proven, they should pay extra money to send them to private school. Personally I think pastafarianism has just as much credibility as anything else. Who’s to say Bobby Henderson didn’t really have some kind of vision of the truth? Maybe he really is a prophet, who’s actions are being manipulated by a higher power. It makes about as much sense as Jesus. Thank you FSM for giving me hope that humanity still has a chance! Evolution revolution!
I wrote something similar in my letter, that ID wasn’t science, and the proposal was actually bad for religion. But I also noted that this probably had nothing to do with either science or religion, but a quest for political power by some fascist group that is distorting Christianity to serve its own purposes.
My email to them:
All,
I want to thank you for proudly supporting the rights of us minority. For too long, people have been teaching evolution as fact. I congratulate you on your decision to include Intelligent Design, which of course will be accompanied by the truth about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, pasta be upon him. As we all know, The Flying Spaghetti Monster (PBUH) is the one true creator of the universe, as scientific evidence clearly shows. For too long he has been relegated to myth instead of being taught as fact along-side this so-called theory of evolution. It is imperative to include both Intelligent Design and The Flying Spaghetti Monster (PBUH) in your classes in Polk County.
To those of you on the CC list of this email, shame on you for trying to keep our Lord out of the minds of children.
Good Work amd RAmen,
Dear members of the Polk County School Board:
By now you have received several communications from my fellow Pastafarians. We are encouraging you, if you are going to include other forms of Intelligent Design (ID) in the Polk science curriculum, to also include the tenets of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. After all, our beliefs are every bit as valid and well-supported as traditional ID.
You may be having second thoughts about the wisdom of introducing ID into your science classes, given that a similar effort in Dover, PA cost that school district $1 million, and resulted in the ID supporters on that school board being promptly booted out of office in the next election. We Pastafarians are encouraging you to disregard such concerns. As the Polk County School Board, you have more pressing concerns than the financial well being of your school district. As General George Armstrong Custer so famously said: “Don’t worry about what our scouts are saying. Charge!!”
I think General Custer’s wisdom should be an inspiration to you, as you pursue your course of introducing both traditional ID as well as Pastafarianism into Polk County Schools. As our Prophet Bobby Henderson so memorably put it:
I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given
equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world;
One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism,
and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.
May you all be Touched by his Noodly Appendage!
RAmen.
my message to the folks at polk read as follows:
3 words,
“kansas school board”.
sautations from Canada.
Dear Board Members,
It has come to my attention that you are considering allowing Intelligent Design to be taught in the Polk County science classrooms and I am writing to protest this discrimination. If ID is taught in science classrooms as a competing theory to evolution, then all competing theories should be taught including ours; the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Our beliefs are fully expressed on our website: http://www.venganza.org/
If Pastafarianism is belittled as a joke the same can be said of Intelligent Design. We are a spiritual group. The word spiritual comes from the Greek root “spiritus” meaning “that which can not be defined” and since our views, as well as the views of the Catholics, the Muslims, and the Wiccans bind us together but cannot be proven through observable science then I would argue that all major religious ideologies that bind people together under a single belief system fall under the same heading. That being said, if the Board decides to advocate one theology which can not be scientifically proven to further an agenda of expanding its own spiritual group, it is guilty of discrimination if our beliefs are not explained as well.
Note that although some of them (polk County Board) have little “Darwins” above their heads, all should have had little Jesus’. They are all creationists. Some of them don’t support the teaching of ID only because it is now illegal.
What is it about running for school board that attracts the illiterate?
They have stated that they are immediately “trashing” any emails from our little group without reading them - The same attitude toward reading that resulted in their profound ignorance.
It’s not so much who *runs* for the office, but who gets *elected* to the office. The illiterate know their own.
And there is at least some resistance to ID in the county; one of the people there has “Touched By His Noodly Appendage” and this site’s URL on his office door. (That’s how I heard about this site… very amusing, by the way.)
Congratulations, Pastafarians
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/dec/22/na-polk-needled-noodled-in-evolution-flap/
http://austringer.net/wp/index.php/2007/12/22/polk-county-school-board-backs-off-intelligent-design/