Shamelessly stolen from denverdannydee:

Should schools teach the theory that lightning bolts come from Zeus, alongside the atmospheric discharge theory? How about that lightning is Thor working on his legendary hammer? Or that God is moving his furniture? Or that Shango, the Sky/Thunder God in the Yourba religion is causing it?

Which should we teach our kids?

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"You are, of course, free to make your own calls on how much rationality you want to impose upon yourself." - Kronus

Should a man be allowed to practise his golf swing in a public park? How about a game of soccer, or tag? Can he ride his horse there if it wears a diaper? Can he have a picnic on the cricket pitch on a wednesday afternoon? How do we answer such questions? Arbitrarily.

The problem isn't science vs creationism (as stupid as it is), it's that public property raises inherently unreconcilable disputes, since there is no legitimate property owner with the right to make decisions.

There's a reason we don't have debates about whether pizza parlours should put anchovies on their Supreme or not.

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He or she who supports a State organized in a military way – whether directly or indirectly – participates in sin. Each man takes part in the sin by contributing to the maintenance of the State by paying taxes.

~ Gandhi

We do have debates over smoking in pubs and restaurants though, and those are privately owned. If property is public then the ultimate decision maker is the collective will of the people, either expressed via referenda or through elected representatives. This is far less arbitrary than the whim of one individual.

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“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist” - Helder Camara
“It is not the will of God for some to have everything and others to have nothing. This cannot be God” - Oscar Romero
"It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder" - Einstein
"We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved through Him" - CS Lewis

we should offer students... both sides... one as modern science.. which is provable.. repeatable.. and usable.. in technology..

and the other.. as history.. of world belief systems.. so as to gain a clear perspective on what people used to believe as compared to what we now believe...

but these difference... only belong to the world of science.. and not in regards to morals, ethics, and value systems, which would be covered as one subject as phylosophy and religion... as a seperate class.

in essence.. we should teach it all, with a focus on science.

-Mosheh Thezion

Both sides restricts the view. All sides embraces the spectrum, equally.

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" ... It's not as though he proved anything, he only refuted my evidence. ..." Archangel 04.01.09

" ... this egregiously ignorant christian ... Archangel 03.09.09

“Probably the toughest time in anyone's life is when you have to murder a loved one because they're the devil.”

none of the above!

To the extent that the government decides what is done with them or not, they are publically owned, or rather they fall under the fascist model you often endorse, where things are privately owned in name and generate private profit but are directed by an authoritarian state claiming to represent the will of the people.

So if an individual pizza buyer decides he wants anchovies on his pizza, that's "arbitrary" (not based on the fact he likes them or not, he just plucks it out of the air), but if government institutes a blanket rule forcing them onto all pizzas or none, that represents the "will of the people" (they don't have individual wills, of course, but once they form a government, a magical collective will appears)

We can call this the "Fuehrer principle of democracy". Undoubtedly this manifestation of divine will occurs on a national or racial level, and can thusly be called National Socialism. Why a national vote should take priority over one at a local, family or individual level is unclear, but perhaps this "collective will" is shared via the shared genetic code of the people willing it, and perhaps the will can be strengthened by purifying the nation.

Is it not true that if the collective will is shaped by people with weakness - the ill or disabled, or lesser races, that the collective will itself will also be weakened? Is it not true that a collective will would seek to strengthen itself by purging this weakness?

Seriously though, the government doesn't represent the will of the people. It represents, more often than not, corporate interests, and you then become an unwitting tool of them by declaring their actions are somehow the common man's dreams put into action. Undoubtedly were the "public" decision to be made about whether to put anchovies in pizzas, it would be Anchovy Manufacturing Corp that would spend millions lobbying to manipulate the "will of the people".

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He or she who supports a State organized in a military way – whether directly or indirectly – participates in sin. Each man takes part in the sin by contributing to the maintenance of the State by paying taxes.

~ Gandhi

That's easy for you to say.

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I'll keep my guns and my money. You can keep your "Change".

"We had the machine scared and scrambling, and for them it is just the beginning of an election year filled with surprises. They will be challenged again and again across this country. When there's trouble in Massachusetts, there's trouble everywhere -- and now they know it." Senator Scott Brown (R MA)

No we should not.

The Dear Empress has spoken.

But, Dear Empress, I worship Science!

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Brother, you can believe in stones as long as you do not hurl them at me. Wafa Sultan

“War is an American way to teach geography,” British soldier

There is no problem in teaching intelligent design in school as long as it is consigned to theological classes. The fact is, there ARE certain guidelines that govern science. Its called the scientific method. I'm pretty sure everyone is familiar with it so I won't bother repeating it here. The fact is that creationism/intelligent design cannot be proven or disproven. It makes use of experiments and evidence only when the results support its view and when they don't, simply ignores them with the statement "Well, the Bible says so so end of argument". That is the belief in something you cannot test and are only taking by faith. Even if it turns out to be correct, that is theology. A theory MUST be open to testing to count as science. If it happens to be a completely hair-brained and wrong theory (i.e. eugenetics) it can therefore be disproven and assigned to the dustbin of history.

The teaching of science based on fact should not be abandoned.

The teaching of Greek Mythology should not be abandoned.

The teaching of Religious Mythology is no different from the teaching of Greek Mythology except for the inclusion of God.

Teaching of and forcing one to believe are two exclusive acts. There is no harm in attaining knowledge of myths, fables, scientific data, religious beliefs, fictional stories, true stories, historical data, science-fiction, sports statistics or any other trivial tidbits. It is believing in any one myth that should not be taught in public schools.

So, regarding lightning...you teach the scientific truth in science class, in literature class you teach that the Greeks believed Zeus or some other Greek God was throwing jagged spears, and you let the intelligent ones figure out what really happens. You can't have everybody understanding physics.

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What you say can and will be used against you.