Get over fear of evolution

A national group of scientists gave Texas a big fat “C” for Christianity this week for its teaching of evolution in its schools.

Not much of a surprise for a Bible Belt state such as Texas. In fact, the state should be celebrating the fact it made the satisfactory mark.

Of the 49 states and the District of Columbia graded in the report by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, six states, including California, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina and Rhode Island, received perfect scores.

Four states scored in the 90s to receive A’s in the report, 14 received B’s, seven scored C’s, six were given D’s and 13 states including Wyoming, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Florida, Alabama, North Dakota, Georgia, Mississippi, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kansas failed.

Rhode Island received the highest grade and Kansas received the lowest for its “disgraceful” standards.
Iowa was not included in the grading because statewide education standards do not exist in that state.

Although the results showed weaknesses in the South and Midwest, they varied greatly across the country.
So, what’s the problem? It is not like evolution is a new phenomenon.

The problem is people are afraid of evolution. They are afraid to learn about it, hear about it and God forbid, believe in it. Why?

Well, I guess it comes back to the religious arguments. God created the world in six days and then rested on the 7th, right? He created Adam and Eve and from them all human beings are derived, right?

For the sake of argument we can agree on these principles, but if you believe in the story of creation as told in the Old Testament, does that mean there is not room for evolution?

Too many people are blinded by the arguments of either side. People aren’t examining the possibility that there was certainly room for evolution after creation.

If humanity is around for another 20,000 years, I’m certain the people will be much different than they are today, just as I am pretty sure Adam and I wouldn’t have had a lot in common if we were to have hung out together.

Religious arguments aside, evolution should still be able to be taught successfully in America’s schools.

he problem is America’s teachers aren’t prepared to do so. When most of them were in school, evolution was a bad word spoken only by atheists.

So, teaching evolution isn’t as easy as it sounds for these individuals. Many are afraid because they know there is always going to be that one student in the class who argues.

Argument and discussion of evolution has the potential of being a fruitful topic. However, this creates a problem for many of America’s schools. At the university level, intelligent conversation is easy to find because professors and students are allowed to express their ideas in more ways. But as for primary and secondary educators, it is difficult to discuss the topic of evolution without the mention of God.

As everyone knows, mentioning God in the classroom is a big “no-no.”

America needs to take the results of this report card and do what is intended by grading it in the first place, which is to examine what is being done wrong and what is being done right, and apply aid to all of those states needing help.

With any luck at all, by the time the next generation of children enter school, evolution will be discussed with as much ease as any other theory. All America needs to do is make an attempt to change their old-school ways of thinking.

James Zwilling is a sophomore news-editorial journalism major from Phoenix, Ariz.
He can be reached at (james_zwilling-@usa.net).

The Fort Worth City Council, in its Tuesday meeting, voted to amend the city’s anti-discrimation ordinance to include a provision barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The move will protect homosexuals and bisexuals from bias in employment, housing and public accommodations. Currently, the ordinance includes such designations as race, creed, color, religion, gender and national origin.

Those who opposed the change contended that homosexuality is a choice, and that the ordinance could infringe upon their right to exercise freedom of religion. Others doubted that the ordinance could really be enforced.

No matter. After two hours of passionate debate, the amendment was approved.

Although the council members have taken a positive step, should city officials be applauded for finally admitting that bias against homosexuals is a problem in Fort Worth? Or anywhere, for that matter?

Treating humans fairly isn’t something anyone should be praised for, nor should it be something that should have to be legislated. The ordinance isn’t about promoting a particular lifestyle, but instead demands we treat everyone fairly and that, as a community, we won’t stand for discrimination of any kind.

Council member Chuck Silcox, a conservative Republican, was one of the officials who willingly took up the fight to pass the ordinance. Only two years ago, Silcox had the issue tabled indefinitely at a council meeting. But after meeting a Fort Worth man who lost his job after his employer discovered he was gay, Silcox said his position on the issue changed.

“This is an anti-discrimination ordinance and nothing more,” Silcox told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

And if we all loved each other, we wouldn’t have to have these kinds of laws.”

But we do. Which is nothing to be commended.

I like the Internet. I like getting access to information any time of day, and I like the variety of information that’s out there. I like learning things I might never have known about were it not for the various news and information sites that populate the Web.

However, while visiting the Web site of noted Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly late last night, I learned a few things that made me want to shout “Ignorance is bliss” from the rooftops.

You see, until last night I remained blissfully unaware of the existence of the North American Man/Boy Love Association.

The North American Man/Boy Love Association. It doesn’t matter if I say it five times fast or 500 times slow — I remain utterly stunned at the mere existence of the association.

If your inference skills aren’t what they should be, or if your professor’s hypnotic voice has lulled you into a trance-like state as you’re reading this, let me clear it up for you.

There is an organization out there dedicated to fostering what it deems “mutually consensual” sexual relationships between adult men and boys as young as 8 years old. In fact, the association, through newsletters and via the Internet, has been in the business of distributing strategy tips to men to help them seduce young boys.

Umm … No! Am I the only one who sees something wrong here? These are some seriously wacked people. What is going on? Shouldn’t these people be put in jail or something?

But it’s not that simple, you see, because far from being thrown in the deepest, darkest pit humankind can dig, the association has actually found a defender in the American Civil Liberties Union. It seems that a bunch of sick-in-the-head crazies should have the right to mass distribute their tricks of the trade for sex with boys because of “free speech.”

Even if you’re sitting out there reading this and thinking “Hey, I think the First Amendment does give child molesters the right to talk shop online,” it doesn’t stop there. The association is reportedly in the planning stages of setting up an orphanage of young boys in Thailand so its members will be able to enjoy an exotic vacation and not have to deal with those oppressive statutory rape laws we Americans are burdened by.

Clearly they have crossed the line from an advocacy group to an organization with an active interest in destroying children’s lives for a few cheap thrills.

What a mess. I mean, when I was kid, I learned that the ACLU was a great organization, dedicated to fighting the censorship of novels, keeping Japanese-Americans out of concentration camps and ending the segregation of public schools. Now, they’re defending pedophiles ... it makes me sad to be a liberal.

As conflicted as I feel when I say this, I think it’s time to face up to the fact that the Bill of Rights has ultimately proven to be a failure. Every special interest group with a bank account and a penchant for empty rhetoric can use it to get away with murder, and the government is still under no obligation to fulfill its citizens’ natural rights to basic health care and a minimum economic standard of living.

It’s time to rewrite the Constitution. I’m not talking about amendments; I’m saying let’s declare the whole thing null and void and write a new one — one that can’t be so grossly misinterpreted as to allow everybody with a sick fetish or a gun obsession to claim his liberty is under fire. How can a document that was written before the invention of indoor plumbing even be considered relevant anymore, anyway?

Freedom has tragically gotten out of hand. Special interests are undermining the true nature of democracy. James Madison has proven to be an ominous prophet, and our social conscious is now subject to the tyranny of the minority. I’m not saying that certain minority or special interest groups don’t deserve a voice ... the civil rights movement, for example, is a shining example of the good that can be done in a free country. But it’s a sad state of affairs when perverts can gain credibility by linking themselves with Thurgood Marshall.

Americans are proud to proclaim their wonderful democracy. Well, folks, democracy means that, though everyone gets to vote, the majority rules. I wonder what the majority of Americans would say about the North American Man/Boy Love Association.

Daniel Bramlette is a senior radio-TV-film major from Ogden, Utah.
He can be reached at (dcbramlette@yahoo.com).