August 4, 2005 News

Proponents of teaching both strengths and weaknesses of Darwinist evolution dogma (as required by clear Texas law) continue to gain ground across Texas and America.  Some very recent highlights include:

Washington, D.C:  August 1 -- President George W. Bush said in a round-table interview with reporters asking about whether students should learn about intelligent design, that, 

"...first of all, that decision should be made [by] local school districts, but I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught."

"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes." [red emphasis added]

Stories on the press round table ran in numerous papers nationwide and abroad, including: 

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/12278405.htm 
Dallas Morning News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/080205dnnatbush.d40960b.html 
Queensland, Australia "Leading the Charge":
  http://www.leadingthecharge.com/stories/news-0053659.html
AOL News:
  http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050801231009990004&ncid=NWS00010000000001  
Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2002415528_bush02.html

Note that the more liberal Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express News, and Austin American Statesman -- which were three of the five papers (all Texas based) who had reporters at the round-table meeting with the President, initially chose not to print his support of Intelligent Design, but did two days later. 

Colorado: Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson hosted Dr. John West and Dr. Stephen Meyer from the Discovery Institute Center for Science and Culture on the Focus radio programs August 1 and August 2.  In the interviews, Dr. Dobson commented that, 

"This topic of Intelligent Design...captures my imagination, it stirs my soul, and it's something that I wish every human being on earth understood..." and that, "We may now be on the verge of major changes in how the origins of life and evolution are taught in science classrooms across the nation..." -- Dr. James Dobson - Focus on the Family founder, Aug 1-2, 2005. [ red emphasis added]

We agree.  With scientific discoveries underpinning the 'design' aspect of the world around us on an almost daily basis, and the internet and other 'new media' sources available to get the word out, it is no wonder that the number of people of all walks of life who now reject a pure Darwinian explanation of life is growing.  (See TBSEF DVD project below).

Listen to both radio programs online (limited time) at:
http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/Archives.asp

Back to School - Free Teacher Resources! - Texans for Better Science Education Foundation has started the project for distributing high quality DVD videos to biology teachers in the state of Texas. Though the project goal is to get a copy in every high school and for every biology and science teacher, since funds are limited at present, teachers will be sent videos on a 'first come first served' basis while supplies last.  If you have not done so already, please recommend biology and other science teachers you know (including yourself) for receiving one of these free and no-strings-attached videos at www.tbsef.org, or help fund the project with a contribution.  (All staff are volunteer.)

The first DVD is "Where Does the Evidence Lead", a public school classroom version of the highly acclaimed "Unlocking the Mystery of Life", that has been shown on 30 PBS stations in many major markets around the nation.  Among several topics presented, this special classroom version features stunning graphics clearly showing how cell proteins are assembled from instructions contained in the DNA molecule.  The DVD is broken into six segments of 10-15 minutes each, to facilitate introduction and discussion by the teachers.  Both versions are professionally done (similar to programs on Nova, the National Geographic Channel, or the Discovery Channel), and highlight well-known scientific challenges to evolutionary theories, narrated by the working research scientists themselves.  

Texas  #1 - Legislature: After the regular session and two failed special sessions, the Texas legislature is again attempting to reform schools and school finance.  In this third special session, the new bill of the day is SB8.  It is not yet known if the House will again propose putting laptops in the place of textbooks, and hence likely kill the possibility of tax savings and a deal with the Senate.  State Board of Education Member (district 8) Barbara Cargill has a summary of this new bill's features on her website at www.barbaracargill.com .  While it has some good features, it appears to remove SBOE approval of textbooks at this writing - something we view as wrong.  Additionally, it does NOT appear to contemplate any property tax relief.  View the bill itself at Texas Legislature Online here.

Texas #2 - Online video:  "How to Teach the Controversy" - If you have a broadband connection, be sure and watch the short video online containing five guidelines on how to legally teach the controversy regarding evolution theories.  Contrary to what is often written in newspapers, it is completely legal for public school teachers to present scientific weaknesses of Darwinism  The video is located here (www.discovery.org/csc/streamingMedia/Teaching_the_Controversy_Legally.wmv)'

California:  The California Academy of Sciences has now published a retraction of a prior erroneous article by an evolution-only  advocacy group and a rebuttal letter written by the person targeted by the retracted one.  Full information here.

Kansas:  The Kansas State Board of Education votes his week on new proposed science standards.  They are widely expected to adopt the new standards, which foster critical thinking and evaluation of flaws in Darwinist theories.

Virginia:  A citizens' group has formed to DEFEND Darwinism.  While their motives are somewhat murky, the organizers report very LITTLE support for their efforts.  Even among their "cocoon" of activists, support is lukewarm at best.  

Is Darwinism at the Breaking Point?:  Chuck Colson, of Prison Fellowship Ministries, has an excellent article in response to the pundits making fun of President Bush's faith and position on teaching students 'both sides' of the origin of life and evolution controversies.  Read it at:
http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint1&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=16547

Please tell others of the controversy, that we are winning, and of the TBSEF free DVD offer to teachers and administrators of public and private schools.

As always, thanks for your time and support.

Very truly yours,

Mark Ramsey

“The second property of almost all living things is their complexity and, in particular, their highly organized complexity. This so impressed our forebears that they considered it inconceivable that such intricate and well-organized mechanisms would have arisen without a designer. Had I been living 150 years ago [prior to Darwin's Origin of Species] I feel sure I would have been compelled to agree with this Argument from Design.” (p. 32)

Note:  Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick is a co-discoverer of the DNA molecule.  It is widely reported that he realizes that the complexities of life could not have arisen by random chemical interactions, and as an atheist, now believes life, or at least the DNA instructions for it, came from outer space!

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