I was invited to do an internet TV (what's that?) debate hosted by the Salvation Army. I was apparently invited because I am on the Center for Inquiry speakers list.
Regarding the 'other side,' I made the following remark, "Personally, if I were to just sit down for a chat it would be with Sean McDowell. Ray Comfort knows his arguments are lame, and his "facts" are false. He doesn't care. Consequently, all he does is repeat the same things he has repeated for over a decade. With Ray, it is just a job."
I'll keep you updated.
The paper debunking Joe "the surgeon" Kuhn is evolving. A ten page draft text mostly about origin of life research had 121 references. This was too much science. So, the new idea is to have a short article on all three of Kuhn's screw-ups (OOL, Irreducible Complexity, and No Transitional Species), with all the hard science parts in a separate text(s) to be hosted on-line.
Edited 12 noon, 7 April;
The debate is on with Sean McDowell. The video taping will be 23 April, and the discussion posted sometime in June. You can see Sean McDowell in action debating Jim Corbett on this link. My opinion of Jim Corbett was not improved watching his performance versus Sean McDowell.
Showing posts with label James Corbett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Corbett. Show all posts
Saturday, April 07, 2012
Sunday, August 21, 2011
A qualified, partial victory in Capistrano
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just published their decision that Capistrano Unified School District’s high school teacher, James Corbett, was not vulnerable to the claim that his classroom statements violated the First Amendment rights of a former student, Chad Farnan. The suit was filed by his parents in 2009 while Chad was still a minor. The case has attracted considerable press attention, locally and nationally. It is also the topic of a number of online discussions, for example, "Lost Opportunity in San Juan Capistrano." In the original, and amended plaintiff complaints (all court documents are available on-line through the National Center for Science Education), there were a dozen or so statements Farnan claimed to have secretly recorded during Corbett’s classes. During the trial, several were found to have been so severely edited, and redacted by Farnan that their meaning had been totally altered.
Following the trial Judge’s decision, only a single statement made by Corbett, as alleged by Farnan, was found to be questionable.
Corbett,
The original law suit made a common error of equating creationism with Christianity. This is nonsense. Unfortunately, Corbett's legal team never challenged this error, and instead argued he had a First Amendment right that allowed him to be critical of creationism/religion. If Crobett, acting as a public employee, were to say as part of his public job that "Christianity is rubbish," or "Islam is rubbish," he would have been in violation of the Constitution, and his contract. To state that young earth creationism is rubbish is merely stating a fact that in no way attacks Christianity, or Islam, or any other religious sect. Where is the Church of Creationism? What are their sacraments? How do I know who is a member of the Church of Creationism?
There are Jewish, and Muslim creationists who maintain the same absurd, and false claims opposing the sciences of biology, geology, and astronomy directly, and even chemistry and physics indirectly, as do the garden variety Christian creationists. There are Neo-pagan, and Animist creationists. There are Native American creationists who insist that all sciences, especially archaeology, were invented merely to suppress Native Americans. There are Hindu creationists who insist that the Earth is infinitely old. So, Corbett's remarks regarding CTREATIONISM cannot be said to be "anti-Christian," and in fact there are thousands of Christian Clergy who reject creationist foolishness as well. Google "Clergy Letter Project."
Non-the-less, Corbett's remarks re: creationism were not directed against any religion in particular. In fact, Intelligent Design creationists try to pretend (unsuccessfully) they are free of any religious motivations.
To say that fear of black cats, or Friday the Thirteenth is superstitious nonsense is merely the truth. So to is saying that creationism is superstitious nonsense merely the truth. Creationism is not a religion. Creationism is not protected any more than fear of black cats, or Friday the Thirteenth, or fear of vaccinations.
At the same time, there is no creationist dogma that is not ultimately reducible to a religious doctrine held by the proponent of creationism. For this reason, creationism is not eligible to be taught in government sponsored, public schools. Creationism is used as a tool by the proponent to advance their personal religion through the coercive power of the State.
Following the trial Judge’s decision, only a single statement made by Corbett, as alleged by Farnan, was found to be questionable.
Corbett,
“At that point, I stood up and said, “I’ll tell you what. I will sign a statement giving you — you do not have to defend me, but I will not leave John [Peloza] alone to propagandize kids with this religious, superstitious nonsense... John wanted to talk about creation as a science and all that stuff, but you get involved in that argument, you just lose because it’s just nonsense. . . .”
The original law suit made a common error of equating creationism with Christianity. This is nonsense. Unfortunately, Corbett's legal team never challenged this error, and instead argued he had a First Amendment right that allowed him to be critical of creationism/religion. If Crobett, acting as a public employee, were to say as part of his public job that "Christianity is rubbish," or "Islam is rubbish," he would have been in violation of the Constitution, and his contract. To state that young earth creationism is rubbish is merely stating a fact that in no way attacks Christianity, or Islam, or any other religious sect. Where is the Church of Creationism? What are their sacraments? How do I know who is a member of the Church of Creationism?
There are Jewish, and Muslim creationists who maintain the same absurd, and false claims opposing the sciences of biology, geology, and astronomy directly, and even chemistry and physics indirectly, as do the garden variety Christian creationists. There are Neo-pagan, and Animist creationists. There are Native American creationists who insist that all sciences, especially archaeology, were invented merely to suppress Native Americans. There are Hindu creationists who insist that the Earth is infinitely old. So, Corbett's remarks regarding CTREATIONISM cannot be said to be "anti-Christian," and in fact there are thousands of Christian Clergy who reject creationist foolishness as well. Google "Clergy Letter Project."
Non-the-less, Corbett's remarks re: creationism were not directed against any religion in particular. In fact, Intelligent Design creationists try to pretend (unsuccessfully) they are free of any religious motivations.
To say that fear of black cats, or Friday the Thirteenth is superstitious nonsense is merely the truth. So to is saying that creationism is superstitious nonsense merely the truth. Creationism is not a religion. Creationism is not protected any more than fear of black cats, or Friday the Thirteenth, or fear of vaccinations.
At the same time, there is no creationist dogma that is not ultimately reducible to a religious doctrine held by the proponent of creationism. For this reason, creationism is not eligible to be taught in government sponsored, public schools. Creationism is used as a tool by the proponent to advance their personal religion through the coercive power of the State.
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