Creationists Don't Like Other Sciences, Either

[I guess you can't really blame them for doubting global warming -- 
after, they don't believe that Gawd significantly altered the earth's 
climate when he flooded the entire planet and killed all animal life 
that wasn't in a little boat.--DC]

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/299253_inconvenient11.html
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Federal Way schools restrict Gore film
'Inconvenient Truth' called too controversial
By ROBERT McCLURE AND LISA STIFFLER
P-I REPORTERS

NOTE: This story has been altered since it was originally published. The 
computer program Al Gore uses to present scientists' findings in the 
movie "An Inconvenient Truth" is Keynote. A competing software program's 
name was mentioned in the earlier version of the story.

This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show 
one of the top-grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the 
global-warming alert "An Inconvenient Truth."

After a parent who supports the teaching of creationism and opposes sex 
education complained about the film, the Federal Way School Board on 
Tuesday placed what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film. The 
movie consists largely of a computer presentation by former Vice 
President Al Gore recounting scientists' findings.

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a 
schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said 
that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's 
being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. . . . The 
Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that 
perspective isn't in the DVD."

Hardison's e-mail to the School Board prompted board member David Larson 
to propose the moratorium Tuesday night.

"Somebody could say you're killing free speech, and my retort to them 
would be we're encouraging free speech," said Larson, a lawyer. "The 
beauty of our society is we allow debate."

School Board members adopted a three-point policy that says teachers who 
want to show the movie must ensure that a "credible, legitimate opposing 
view will be presented," that they must get the OK of the principal and 
the superintendent, and that any teachers who have shown the film must 
now present an "opposing view."

The requirement to represent another side follows district policy to 
represent both sides of a controversial issue, board President Ed Barney 
said.

"What is purported in this movie is, 'This is what is happening. Period. 
That is fact,'" Barney said.

Students should hear the perspective of global-warming skeptics and then 
make up their minds, he said. After they do, "if they think driving 
around in cars is going to kill us all, that's fine, that's their choice."

Asked whether an alternative explanation for evolution should be 
presented by teachers, Barney said it would be appropriate to tell 
students that other beliefs exist. "It's only a theory," he said.

While the question of climate change has provoked intense argument in 
political circles in recent years, among scientists its basic tenets 
have become the subject of an increasingly stronger consensus.

"In the light of new evidence and taking into account the remaining 
uncertainties, most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is 
likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas 
concentrations," states a 2001 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on 
Climate Change, which advises policymakers.

"Furthermore, it is very likely that the 20th-century warming has 
contributed significantly to the observed sea level rise, through 
thermal expansion of seawater and widespread loss of land ice."

The basics of that position are backed by the American Meteorological 
Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Sciences.

Laurie David, a co-producer of the movie, said that this is the first 
incident of its kind relating to the film.

"I am shocked that a school district would come to this decision," David 
said in a prepared statement. "There is no opposing view to science, 
which is fact, and the facts are clear that global warming is here, now."

The Federal Way incident started when Hardison learned that his daughter 
would see the movie in class. He objected.

Hardison and his wife, Gayla, said they would prefer that the movie not 
be shown at all in schools.

"From what I've seen (of the movie) and what my husband has expressed to 
me, if (the movie) is going to take the approach of 'bad America, bad 
America,' I don't think it should be shown at all," Gayle Hardison said. 
"If you're going to come in and just say America is creating the rotten 
ruin of the world, I don't think the video should be shown."

Scientists say that Americans, with about 5 percent of the world's 
population, emit about 25 percent of the globe-warming gases.

Larson, the School Board member, said a pre-existing policy should have 
alerted teachers and principals that the movie must be counterbalanced.

The policy, titled "Controversial Issues, Teaching of," says in part, 
"It is the teacher's responsibility to present controversial issues that 
are free from prejudice and encourage students to form, hold and express 
their own opinions without personal prejudice or discrimination."

"The principal reason for that is to make sure that the public schools 
are not used for indoctrination," Larson said.

Students contacted Wednesday said they favor allowing the movie to be
shown.

"I think that a movie like that is a really great way to open people's 
eyes up about what you can do and what you are doing to the planet and 
how that's going to affect the human race," said Kenna Patrick, a senior 
at Jefferson High School.

When it comes to the idea of presenting global warming skeptics, Patrick 
wasn't sure how necessary that would be. She hadn't seen the movie but 
had read about it and would like to see it.

"Watching a movie doesn't mean that you have to believe everything you 
see in it," she said.

Joan Patrick, Kenna's mother, thought it would be a good idea for 
students to see the movie. They are the ones who will be dealing with 
the effects of a warmer planet.

"It's their job," she said. "They're the next generation."
P-I reporter Robert McClure can be reached at 206-448-8092 or 
robertmcclure@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
Dan Clore

My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1587154838/ref=nosim/thedanclorenecro
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-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"