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01/30/2004 Archived Entry: "Georgia considers banning 'evolution'"

Posted by steve @ 02:09 PM EST [Link]

OH COME ON...: I realize that not everyone believes in evolution. Frankly, I don't understand that but I can accept it. After all, my faith in the Toronto Maple Leafs has been unrewarded during my lifetime and yet I continue to to soldier on while Colorado, New Jersey and Detroit -- not to mention Montreal -- fans taunt me.

A lack of belief in evolution doesn't explain a proposal in Georgia. The state's school superintendent, Kathy Cox, has proposed dropping the word 'evolution' from the curriculum and replacing it with 'biological changes over time.'

Superintendent Kathy Cox said the concept of evolution would still be taught under the proposal, but the word would not be used. The proposal would not require schools to buy new textbooks omitting the word evolution and would not prevent teachers from using it.

Cox repeatedly referred to evolution as a "buzzword" Thursday and said the ban was proposed, in part, to alleviate pressure on teachers in socially conservative areas where parents object to its teaching.

"If teachers across this state, parents across this state say, 'This is not what we want,' then we'll change it," said Cox, a Republican elected in 2002.

With all due respect to Ms. Cox, her teachers and the socially conservative parents who object, it's time to take that step into the 19th century. It won't hurt.