Mt Vernon, Ohio Science Teacher Trial Takes Strange Twist

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The trial of Mt. Vernon, Ohio grade school science teacher, John Freshwater (accused of teaching intelligent design/creationism) took an unusual twist on Thursday, March 28, when a student offered testimony contradicting  previous testimony.  Read the article below for more details.

I haven’t been following this story/trial very much, except to note the anti-creationist evolution bloggers at the Seed magazine science blog “ghetto” and Panda’s Thumb are all a twitter over the attacks on this Christian public school teacher.  They’ve been offering blow by blow commentary delighting in the attempts to fire the teacher and painting him as some evil, out-of-control teacher. It’s remarkable to watch them spin these contradictions about what actually happened!

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Attorney highlights contradictory story
by Dean Narciso
Columbus Dispatch, p. B3.
March 28, 2009

A former student of John Freshwater’s told investigators last year that his eighth-grade science teacher preached in class and burned crosses on his and other students’ arms.

But that’s not the story Ben Nielson gave during testimony Thursday.

The apparent contradiction was pointed out yesterday during cross-examination of an investigator hired by the school district.

On Thursday, Nielson said Freshwater never discussed creationism or intelligent design in class and that the teacher burned a small line, not a cross, on his friend’s arm with an electric lab instrument

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Darwin Celebrated on Magazine Covers, part 3

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Below are some additional magazines devoting cover space to celebrating Darwin. Of particular interest this month are two issues of the Turkish popular science magazine, Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology). In what amounts to an international controversy, the Turkish government apparently ordered the Darwin cover and cover story removed. (The second image of Bilim ve Teknik is the substitute.) The Turkish Hurriyet Daily News ran two stories on who’s to blame and the international press reaction.  The German magazine, Der Spiegel, published an interview with the former editor, who was dismissed over the incident.

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Canadian Science Minister Backs Down

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What I find even more fascinating is to see Canada’s other national daily newspaper, the National Post, take the Globe and Mail to task for starting a witchhunt!  

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‘Of course’ I believe in evolution, Goodyear says
by Anne McIlroy (Science Reporter)
The Globe and Mail (Canada), p. A7.
March 18, 2009

Science minister Gary Goodyear now says he believes in evolution.

“Of course I do,” he told guest host Jane Taber during an appearance on the CTV program Power Play. “But it is an irrelevant question.”

That’s a different answer from the one Mr. Goodyear, a chiropractor and Minister of State for Science and Technology, gave The Globe and Mail when he was asked the same thing during an interview for a story that was published in Tuesday’s paper. 

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Canadian Science Minister Under Attack

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And the attacks in the Canadian press continues againsts creationists and Christians.

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Canadian Science Minister AttackedScience minister won’t confirm belief in evolution
by Anne McIlroy (Science Reporter)
The Globe and Mail (Canada), p. 1, 4.
March 17, 2009

Canada’s science minister, the man at the centre of the controversy over federal funding cuts to researchers, won’t say if he believes in evolution.

“I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,” Gary Goodyear, the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

A funding crunch, exacerbated by cuts in the January budget, has left many senior researchers across the county scrambling to find the money to continue their experiments.

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Liberty University & Smithsonian Story in Edmonton Journal

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The Washington Post story about Liberty University’s David DeWitt and Marcus Ross biology class trip to the Smithsonian made it into Canada’s Edmonton Journal over the weekend.

I haven’t checked the Seed science blog ghetto yet, but suspect the chorus of angry and indignant pajama bloggers will be howling their protests and complaints.

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libertyandsmithsonianPeaceful coexistence at evolution HQ
by Steve Hendrix ( Washington Post)
Edmonton Journal (Canada) p. D8
March 15, 2009

Every winter, David DeWitt takes his biology class to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, but for a purpose far different from that of other professors.

DeWitt brings his Advanced Creation Studies class up from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., hoping to strengthen his students’ belief in a biblical view of natural history, even in the lion’s den of evolution.

His yearly visit is part of a wider movement by creationists to confront Darwinism in some of its most redoubtable secular strongholds. As scientists celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, his doubters are taking themselves on Genesis-based tours of natural history museums, aquariums, geologic sites and even dinosaur parks.

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Darwin Celebrated on Magazine Covers, part 2

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A few more recent magazine covers promoting evolution on the front cover. Of course, Evolution and Education is full-time, all the time coverage of evolution. Well, actually it’s over 50 percent anti-creation and anti-ID movement.

The nationally recognized honor society, Phi Kappa Phi, gave front page coverage in their publication, Forum. Answers in Genesis scientists Dr Georgia Purdom and Dr Jason Lisle were given space to present the creation position as well as promote the Creation Museum! Checkout Phi Kappa Phi’s special forum section on Evolution vs Creation.

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Liberty University Prof on Washington Post Front Page

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Creationist Students Take Field Trip to Hotbed of Evolution: the Smithsonian
by Steve Hendrix
Washington Post, p. 1 & A12.
March 11, 2009

Every winter, David DeWitt takes his biology class to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, but for a purpose far different from that of other professors.

DeWitt brings his Advanced Creation Studies class (CRST 390, Origins) up from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., hoping to strengthen his students’ belief in a biblical view of natural history, even in the lion’s den of evolution.

His yearly visit to the Smithsonian is part of a wider movement by creationists to confront Darwinism in some of its most redoubtable secular strongholds. As scientists celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, his doubters are taking themselves on Genesis-based tours of natural history museums, aquariums, geologic sites and even dinosaur parks.


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Vatican Cardinal Endorses Evolution…Again

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cardinal-evolutionCardinal dismisses atheist theories as ‘absurd’
by Nicole Winfield
Miami Herald, p. 7A.
March 4, 2009

The Vatican sought Tuesday to show that it isn’t opposed to science and evolutionary theory, hosting a conference on Charles Darwin and trying to debunk the idea that it embraces creationism or intelligent design.

Some of the world’s top biologists, paleontologists and molecular geneticists joined theologians and philosophers for the five-day seminar marking the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s “The Origin of Species.”

Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the Catholic Church doesn’t stand in the way of scientific realities like evolution, saying there was a “wide spectrum of room” for belief in both the scientific basis for evolution and faith in God the creator.

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