South Korea: Darwin banned from school text books

[markomalley]

From La Stampa:

In the never-ending war between evolutionists and creationists, the latter have just scored big time, though not in the U.S. which is their main fighting ground, but in Asia. In South Korea, a petition has been accepted to remove certain evolutionist elements and references from high school text books. This is probably the first time in two centuries this has happened in a country with a scientific/western culture. That is, ever since evolutionist doctrine started prevailing, often for anti-religious purposes.

The campaign was headed by the Society for Textbooks Revise (STR) whose task it is to remove evolutionist “errors” froim text books, in order to “correct” students’ vision of the world. The Society’s members and experts include biology professors and high-calibre teachers. The petition did not ask for the theory to be removed in its entirety from text books, but specific examples instead; for example, the theories about the horse and the archaeopteryx as the ancestor of all birds.

[revert_jen]

What a misleading title to the article.

Note in the quoted portion above that, "The petition did not ask for the theory to be removed in its entirety from text books..."

And note the propagandist quotation marks around words like "errors."

Look at the following from later in the article:
"To give further impetus to its campaign the group has drawn attention to some recent discoveries. For example, that the archaeopteryx is one of the many winged dinosaurs and is therefore not necessarily the ancestor of all birds."

Oooo, nasty creationists want to ban Darwin from school text books! You can tell because they asked for the removal of some scientifically outdated theories.

Sheesh.

--Jen

[RACJ]

Originally Posted by revert_jen

What a misleading title to the article.

Note in the quoted portion above that, "The petition did not ask for the theory to be removed in its entirety from text books..."

And note the propagandist quotation marks around words like "errors."

Look at the following from later in the article:
"To give further impetus to its campaign the group has drawn attention to some recent discoveries. For example, that the archaeopteryx is one of the many winged dinosaurs and is therefore not necessarily the ancestor of all birds."

Oooo, nasty creationists want to ban Darwin from school text books! You can tell because they asked for the removal of some scientifically outdated theories.

Sheesh.

--Jen

Right on, Jen! What *I* want is false assertions removed, and instead have hard questions inserted into classrooms for which Darwinists have either no answer, or must resort to silly conjecture which HS students can see through. You've got to wonder about people so desperate to prove linkage that they trot out preposterous possible ancestors such as Ida, Ardi and now the shark-head guy. Frankly, if the theory of evolution wasn't duping good Christian kids, I'd be sitting back amused by it all. Rob

[Dale_M]

Originally Posted by revert_jen

What a misleading title to the article.

Its a Vatican Insider article. They seem to enjoy a bit of sensationalism

I am not sure what was deleted from the textbooks. Is there no mention at all made of horses or of archaeopteryx ? What other "specific examples" were removed?

I don't see anything wrong with correcting a textbook to indicate current scientific theories. But if the goal of the Society for Textbooks Revise is to dismiss evolution, then South Korea has a serious problem. It would be a shame for such an advanced, technological country to adopt an anti-science theories for political reasons. The Soviet Union's rejection of the theory of genetics during the mid 20th century should be a cautionary lesson.

[didymus]

Originally Posted by Dale_M

Its a Vatican Insider article. They seem to enjoy a bit of sensationalism

Just to be clear, the article is from La Stampa "Vatican Insider" section. Why they put and article about the ROK there I have no idea. There's no indication that this initiative comes from the Church.

[Holly3278]

Originally Posted by Dale_M

Its a Vatican Insider article. They seem to enjoy a bit of sensationalism

I am not sure what was deleted from the textbooks. Is there no mention at all made of horses or of archaeopteryx ? What other "specific examples" were removed?

I don't see anything wrong with correcting a textbook to indicate current scientific theories. But if the goal of the Society for Textbooks Revise is to dismiss evolution, then South Korea has a serious problem. It would be a shame for such an advanced, technological country to adopt an anti-science theories for political reasons. The Soviet Union's rejection of the theory of genetics during the mid 20th century should be a cautionary lesson.

I agree and I think it should be noted that one can easily be a Catholic and still believe in evolution. I am one of those types of people. I simply believe that God guided the process of evolution.