A majority of the Pinellas County, Florida, School Board supports the inclusion of Intelligent Design in the science curriculum, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
Four members of the school board, including the chairperson and vice-chairperson, have made statements in support of Intelligent Design.
“The entire theory of evolution is not scientific fact. Intelligent design balances it out.” — Nancy Bostock, Chairperson
“I’d probably ideally like to keep it all [evolution and Intelligent Design] out of the classroom. If it’s going to create this much controversy, how important is it?” — Peggy O’Shea, Vice Chairperson
“I think that students should be given the opportunity to view all theories on how man evolved and let their science background and their religious background take over as to which one they believe in.” — Jane Gallucci, Member
“To teach one [evolution] as if nothing else existed, I think we’re doing our students a disservice.” — Carol Cook, Member
You can read the news article here.
The PCSB website states: “The public is encouraged to contact the School Board members on any issue.”
I suggest we contact the school board and let them know there are more than two theories of our origins. Pastafarianism is built on similar tenets as Intelligent Design, and has much greater support from the academic community. If you decide to write, please be respectful.
Contact Info:
Office: (727) 588-6300
E-mail: Board@pcsb.org
Individual E-mail addresses:
Nancy Bostock: bostockn@pcsb.org
Peggy O’Shea: osheap@pcsb.org
Jane Gallucci: galluccij@pcsb.org
Carol Cook: cookc@pcsb.org
Here’s my letter. Also, note that I’m from Pinellas County, and in fact helped campaign for Peggy O’Shea when she ran in the late 90’s. (I was dating her daughter, but that’s a story for another place and time).
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My name is Alexander ********, and I am a former student of the Pinellas County school system. I attended Bauder Elementary, Seminole Middle School, and Largo High School. I just wanted to send you a letter telling you how disappointed I am in the PCSB’s opposition to the new standards of teaching evolution in the classroom.
As a non-Christian student being educated in Pinellas County, I put up with the multitude of “holiday” events being passed my way. I was told that the decorated trees and wreaths in the classrooms and hallways were not religious symbols and that the lone menorah in the administration office counter-balanced it and made it okay. I wasn’t offended by the X-mas music being played on school grounds, or the seeming one-sided greetings of “Merry X-mas” I heard from countless teachers or administrators for 3 months every year. I was able to deal with the disbelieving stares and phone-calls to my parents to verify that I wasn’t skipping school but instead observing Jewish holidays throughout the year. I put up with all of this because I knew that, while I was subjected to religious material, it was not taught to me or delivered to me as fact.
Now I understand that a majority of the governing body of the entire school district believes that a religious theory, Intelligent Design, should be delivered to our children in textbooks and lectures under the guise of education. I realize that many people have strong beliefs on this issue one way or another. I also understand your concern with teaching an unproven theory in the classrooms without a counter-point. I’d like to point out a few other theories taught in the classrooms of Pinellas County have do not have counter-points taught along with them:
General Relativity
Plate Tectonics
Universal Theory of Gravity
As you can see, this short list shows ideas that are taught as fact in our schools, based on overwhelming evidence. I’m not saying I disagree with these facts, just the opposite is true. My Pinellas education has shown me to believe my eyes, and to believe the facts. While I am a religious person, I can not in my mind believe that gravity is just G-d pushing down on me. I refuse to believe that the continents of our planet have moved over thousands of years because a higher being is rearranging his living room.
The thought of omitting BOTH the Intelligent Design and Evolutions theories from our science rooms is even worse. If we omitted material from our classrooms due to controversy, we would still believe the world was flat, blood-letting via leaches was healthy, and thunder was the hammer of Thor when he was angry.
This is not the Pinellas County schools I grew up in. I feel ashamed in my home town and my upbringing now. I have since moved away from the Tampa Bay area, and am serving my country in the US Army, stationed at Fort Benning, GA. At this point, I am glad my children will not have to attend public school in Pinellas, as I cannot see any reason to move back there now.
In closing, I applaud the members of the school board who oppose this position. I think we can all agree to keep religious ideals and discussions out of the science room, and in world religious and socials studies realm where they belong.
Sincerely,
@Tim
I wish I could agree with you, as you bring a great point, but alas I have to disagree. While Evolution merely speculates the beginning of species, most ID people are concerned with the beginning of species. Evolution doesn’t explain the beginning at all, but it was Darwin himself who speculated that evolution causes new species to be born, regardless of size. THIS is EXACTLY what ID debates: sure, evolution can affect a proportion of a population of animals, but it it cannot create new species of larger sizes (such as humans), only God can. If anything, ID terribly distorts Evolution.
Furthermore, I heard about an experiment that physically simulated the beginning of earth in a vacuum as best as possible. While my current knowledge of this experiment says they didn’t manage to make a new life out of it, they DID make organic molecular compounds from it. The finding implies that the speculated beginning of earth can create life, as large amounts of organic molecules often leads to new cells. It may not be solid proof, but it’s getting very close.
Letter Sent!
Members of the Pinellas County School Board,
It has come to my attention that you intend to include Intelligent Design in your science curriculum along with the theory of evolution. The following statements are included among your rationale for this decision:
“The entire theory of evolution is not scientific fact. Intelligent design balances it out.” — Nancy Bostock, Chairperson
“I’d probably ideally like to keep it all [evolution and Intelligent Design] out of the classroom. If it’s going to create this much controversy, how important is it?” — Peggy O’Shea, Vice Chairperson
“I think that students should be given the opportunity to view all theories on how man evolved and let their science background and their religious background take over as to which one they believe in. ” — Jane Gallucci, Member
“To teach one [evolution] as if nothing else existed, I think we’re doing our students a disservice.” — Carol Cook, Member
I wholeheartedly agree with these statements. Neither side can be proven, and evolution is offensive to a lot of people. We must teach alternate theories so that our children can be informed. However, given that you are obviously informed about the danger of teaching only evolution in the classroom, I’m surprised that you have chosen to omit other plausible explanations for the origin of species. For instance, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster believes that all species including humans were deposited on Earth by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. This is a perfectly legitimate theory, which has garnered great support from the scientific community. Despite the best efforts of evolutionists everywhere, it has yet to be disproven. Certainly there is a great amount of evidence to support evolution, but since none of were around to witness this fictional process, we are forced to accept that this evidence was placed there by HIS noodly appendage in order to test our faith. (He’s a tricky fellow.)
Since we, as pastafarians are your brothers in your fight to ensure fairness in the classroom, I trust I can count on your support. I hope that if it comes to a vote of the Pinellas County school board, you will vote to have both Intelligent Design and Pastarific Deposition included in the school curriculum alongside evolution.
Regards,
Brian *****
@Alex,
Great letter. However, blood-letting via leaches is an approved F.D.A. treatment used by plastic surgeons among others. Of course not to let out demons.
Sholom, Fellow Member Of The Tribe,
Fizzmick PaChee
@ Tar,
I am not familiar with your posts so forgive me if I read your post wrong but it sounds like you are debating the beginning of a species with tim. Although I don’t agree with you on your religious beliefs, you are free to believe what you want. The debate here though is just that, beliefs. Until I.D. can bring something to the table other than belief or faith to support their idea, it has no place in realm of scientific theories founded on years and years of research and testing challenging their validity, or the classrooms they are taught in. Thank you.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the ID guys are heading to Texas!!!!!!!!!!!! We have Bush’s choice as governor and he’s already fired the director of science education in the state for speaking out against ID. Please, Mighty creator of all and all creators and creations, Flying Spaghetti Monster, come to Texas and thump Perry with your noodly appendage!!!
Members of the Pinellas County School Board,
Thank you for trying to teach theories other than evolution in our schools. You are right to stand by your decision. Evolution is not yet an absolute statement, but a theory. I would especially like to thank the following members for their statements:
“The entire theory of evolution is not scientific fact. Intelligent design balances it out.” — Nancy Bostock, Chairperson
“I’d probably ideally like to keep it all [evolution and Intelligent Design] out of the classroom. If it’s going to create this much controversy, how important is it?” — Peggy O’Shea, Vice Chairperson
“I think that students should be given the opportunity to view all theories on how man evolved and let their science background and their religious background take over as to which one they believe in. ” — Jane Gallucci, Member
“To teach one [evolution] as if nothing else existed, I think we’re doing our students a disservice.” — Carol Cook, Member
I can’t agree with you more. Evolution has offended many people, especially when it has not been proven yet. We must teach our children all theories on how men come into being so that they can make a rational decision themselves. If there is anything I object to, however, it is the fact that Intelligent Design seem to be the other “alternative” you are offering, particularly since there is another theory that is currently growing in popularity. Before you decide to change our school’s curriculum, please take some time to read over the materials available at the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The church not only provides a theory that is becoming increasingly popular, it also provides many scientific evidence to back up its plans. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that all of us originated from an omnipotent being known as the Flying Spaghetti MonsterI, who created the universe out of his image, and deposited human beings on Earth. Furthermore, despite the best efforst of evolutionists everywhere, it has yet been disproven. On the contrary, there is so much evidence supporting the theory, we can almost say for certain that we are, in fact, created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
As a pastafarian, I would very much like to see my religion introduced in our classroom, and I trust that, since the Pinellas County school board would like to give students the opportunity to view all theories on how men come into being, you will also introduce our almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster to our student. Once again, thank you for your efforts to expand our students’ minds, and rest assured that my fellow pastafarians and I will continue to fight for your cause by introducing our supreme being to the world.
Sincerely,
William
HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cic is right. Bobby please post the texas situation on the board to alert everyone. I just googled Texas school board and sure enough, another weed of I.D. is attempting to pop up in Texas (State Board, TEA). I say it’s time to employ the FSM brand of weed control in that area before to many others pop up.
RAmen to all!!!
Came across this from Florida…County and State situation..
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Florida Citizens for Science: Defending and promoting sound science in Florida
“This list is a reference for any and all pro-science activists out there so you can see where you need to concentrate your efforts when it comes to supporting evolution against anti-scientific “other theories.
These are people who have stated they have a problem with teaching evolution without some type of so-called balance…..”
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http://www.flascience.org/wp/
Also…not sure if this has already been posted..
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“ACLU to Florida Board of Education: Don’t Allow Religious Groups to Force Their Beliefs Into Science Classes..Disguising Creationism as Science Would Be Unconstitutional” (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, December 18, 2007)
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http://www.aclufl.org/news_events/index.cfm?action=viewRelease&emailAlertID=3194&src=rss
Wow..good to know being that I’m a mother of two children in Pinellas schools.. not too surprising though considering my son comes home from school talking about Jesus. I ask where do you hear this and he responds with “my teacher told me”.
Was sitting in a hospital (!) waiting room yesterday and discovered a great magazine called “Skeptical Inquirer” - many Pastafarians may well have found it already. Anyway, a mid-year issue contained a nice article by a guy who actually debates creationists more or less on-stage; he had many important observations, amongst which were that you’re kind of in a double bind: debating creationisti lends them a sort of legitimacy they really don’t deserve, but NOT debating them proves you’re chicken. He also remarked that they generate more scientific nonsense in a few hours than you can refute in a week. So - be alert and crafty; Pastafarians, smite them with your cutlass hip and thigh - and ass!
@Apprentice Frederic Dec 31st, 2007 at 7:45 am
“debating creationist lends them a sort of legitimacy they really don’t deserve,”
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Yep! I’m convinced of paid IDiots whose only job is to keep up the appearances of a *big debate*
They bring up the same fallacies over and over again on the same blog no many how many times their BS is adequately refuted with solid evidence. They change the subject after a solid thrashing, only to bring it up further down the line when they need to change the subject once again! Nothing but an endless circle. PB on the BBC Will & Crawley religion blog and Phillip on the “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” are just two that come immediately to mind as dedicated salesmen of *the Big debate*.
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“but NOT debating them proves you’re chicken.”
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I don’t think any of them have any serious intentions of convincing rational educated or simple aware objective people. I think they aim at preaching to the choir, (keep the sheep in the flock….lots of reputable easily accessible free info on net), and maybe convincing any ill informed fence-sitters. They basically try to run a popularity contest and it’s all *schoolyard* level at that!
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Their intention is to vote God in! Why they always exaggerate how many support them. A favourite of mine is when they pull out all the theistic scientists name but neglect to mention how many of them (not affiliated with DI or AiG) adamantly support evolution……kinda pisses them off when you remind them of that :)
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“He also remarked that they generate more scientific nonsense in a few hours than you can refute in a week.”
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Yep…in one post even :(
After over a year of dealing with them…they still leave me speechless at the crap they spout. Unfortunately their intended targets have no idea it’s absolute crap! :(
I think the thing is not to let them have the offensive of just trying to pick holes in everything and putting the other side on the defensive. His Noodlyness is a great help there :)
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They are the ones challenging so they need to present an argument in support of their IDiocy, rather than just trying to attack those they challenge. Just today I read a post trying to argue that evolutionists were only out to put God out of business, so it was therefore them who were the challengers. Fundi logic :p
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Hail His Noodly Appendages
RAmen
@Wench Nikkiee:
I appreciate your note! It sounds like you’ve been in enough serious boarding parties to qualify as a Lady Pirate Captain-ess (you pick the rank). I would be honored as an apprentice to carry your cutlass….
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And may you be carried into the New Year safe in His Noodly Appendages
This is my entry. It pretty much the same as the one I sent to the Polk County school Board with a few tweaks and a paragraph about the CoFSM
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Dear Members of the Pinellas County School Board
Please forgive me if you receive two copies of this letter, but I felt this issue is important enough that I should send it to the school board email address as well as each of you individually to ensure that you have the opportunity to read it.
I am delighted that you are considering ignoring Judge Jones’ ruling in Kitzmiller v Dover School District on the question of whether teaching Intelligent Design is in violation of the First amendment of our Constitution. As you probably know in that case Judge Jones ruled that :
“The proper application of both the endorsement and Lemon tests to the facts of this case makes it abundantly clear that the Board’s ID Policy violates the Establishment Clause. In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents.”
In short, the judge ruled that Intelligent Design is not science and is so bound in religion that it is the same as teaching religion and therefore violates the first amendment.
But I digress, as I said I am delighted that you have taken up the question of teaching alternative theories to the origin of the universe and couldn’t agree more with Ms. Gallucci when she said “I think that students should be given the opportunity to view all (italics mine) theories on how man evolved and let their science background and their religious background take over as to which one they believe in.” . The operative word here being ‘ALL’.
I believe the reason Judge Jones was able to rule against the Dover District using the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is because they were only presenting a single alternative faith based theory to evolution. If you do in fact choose to add Intelligent Design to your science curriculum, I would respectfully suggest that you include other theories to avoid conflict with the Establishment Clause of the Constitution of the United States.
While it would be ideal to teach every single theory of the origin of the universe as Ms. Gallucci suggests, we all know how impractical that would be because, well, there are just so darn many. To that end, along with intelligent design, I would suggest that you add these competing theories to your science curriculum : Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Native American, Zoroastrian and Wiccan. In addition you should probably include at least some traditional African theories for balance, and please, don’t forget the Dreamtime theories of the Australian Aborigines (one of my favorites). The ‘classic theories’ such as the Greek, Roman and Old Norse can probably be safely ignored as they have so few adherents today that you are not very likely to receive many complaints about their exclusion, but you should check with your legal advisers to be sure.
I would also like to encourage you to examine a new and and exciting theory for your science curriculum: Pastafarianism . In brief this theory states that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster in such a way that mimics the scientific data we have collected to support the theories of the big bang and evolution. Pastafarianism is quickly being accepted by many people around the world and I am sure will be considered a mainstream religion in short time. I would like to add that along with offering an alternative explanation for life, the universe and everything, Pastafarianism also offers an alternative theory to the thorny problem of global warming. Followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster have amassed data that shows a direct correlation between the rise in global temperatures and the decrease in the number of pirates in the world. By teaching Pastafarianism, you can teach alternatives to two established scientific theories at the same time. I am sure you can see the economy of adding Pastafarianism to your curriculum. You can find detailed information about this theory at http://www.venganza.org/. I do hope you will take a moment to learn more about Pastafarianism.
In closing let me once again applaud your courage in ignoring Judge Jones’ ruling and encourage you to continue your quest to teach our children ALL competing theories of the origin of the universe.
Respectfully yours
Nicole XXXXXXX
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly
what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There
is another theory which states that this has already happened.” -
Douglas Adams
Ug, it just shows their ignorance of things scientific. It always boils down to their lack of understanding of the word theory in the scientific sense.
These people are right on, but they need to go farther. As a wiccan, I think universal gravitation is only a theory and the Wiccan theory of Intelligent Gravitation ought to be taught. Teach the controversy I say.
Specifically, we could dress physics teachers in wide brimmed floppy conical hats with long flowing black robes. They could put on silly putty noses with several warts (complete with hairs growing out of the warts). And teach that well designed broomsticks and unwavering belief in Wiccanism converys the power of flight to all.
For a final exam, the treachers could find two ten story buildings each with flat roofs, and have the children prove that Einstein and Newton were espousing unproven theory by having the entire class, brooms in hand, step off the roof of one of the buildings and fly to the neighboring roof several hundred feet away.
Imagine the triumph over secular humanistic materialistic science we would have on that day, the day on which gravity was proven to be “only a theory”. There would not be a dry eye in the nation when they heard of the triumph over rationalistic science that the school board had given them.
Teach the controversy!
@ Daren Niklerog - yes, I got the same, but can reassure whoever it was a few pages back that it isn’t just a canned response - I wrote back after, feeling slightly guilty that the poor innocent admin person was being swamped in what should have been a quiet few days, and received a nice reply stating “Yes, we were hoping for that winding down time after the assignment plan issue – but, I do what needs to be done! Merry Christmas to you and yours.”
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Has anybody heard any more substantial follow up yet?
This morning (in Australia) is the first time I have visited your site.
Have you thought about extending your parody to include an attack on the teaching of Intelligent Weather alongside Meteorology?
In the UK last year when storms caused flodding in Yorkshire, a Bishop publicly lamented that god’s wrath in sending the floods had to do with the diminution of religious belief in the UK and that country’s acceptance of gays.
I emailed a letter to the good Bish. of Carlisle detailing about 12 or so biblical quotes that indicate the different forms of weather attributed to god.
It may behoove you guys to include weather patterns that can be attributed to FSM as a foil against the christians who hold the same view as the good Bish.Is it worth a thought?
HaHaHa,
here in Europe we are laughing at those crazy ideas some American people have. HaHaHa, it must be a joke to include ID in the school teaching.
It can’t be true, noway.
We teach Science 100% separated from Religion. In the future we are planning to REPLACE “Religion” in school with “Human Relation Knowledge”.
To the Schoolboard: All people of your great country (USA) is only 5% of the world-population. Still 95% think ID is a joke and a repacked creationist stupidity.
Take care, I love your contry and plan to spend 3 weeks in it for vacation, but NOT in Florida.