Loch Ness Monster taught as fact to disprove evolution
Offline It's not April 1st, is it? The lengths they will go to to make reality fit their fairy tales...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/25/american-fundamentalists-loch-ness-monster-is-real_n_1623533.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
A state in America is paying for children to attend fundamentalist schools where the existence of the Loch Ness monster is taught as fact in an effort to disprove the theory of evolution. School children in the southern state of Louisiana are to receive vouchers, provided by the government, enabling them to attend private schools which teach the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum (ACE). One ACE textbook asks: "Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence. Have you heard of the 'Loch Ness Monster' in Scotland? 'Nessie' for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur."
Another claim includes a Japanese whaling boat catching a dinosaur, according to Herald Scotland. Jonny Scaramanga, a 27-year-old musician who was educated via the ACE programme, told the Scottish paper said it is common for creationists to believe in sea monsters. "They're saying if Noah's flood only happened 4000 years ago, which they believe literally happened, then possibly a sea monster survived. If it was millions of years ago then that would be ridiculous. That's their logic."
Around 6,000 schools teach the controversial curriculum in more than 140 countries, including the UK, although they are not funded by the state. In 2009, a UK government agency ruled ACE's exams - International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE) - were equivalent to A-levels. Material on the course includes:
> The Loch Ness monster disproves evolution
> Apartheid was beneficial to South Africa as segregated schools meant different heritages could be passed on to children
> Unquestionable proof exists for creationism
Darwinism and the theory of evolution has traditionally been seen as a threat to Christianity as many claim it proves God does not exist. Roger Stanyard, spokesman for the British Centre for Science Education, told the Huffington Post the organisation has had widespread concerns over the issue for many years. "The main worry we have had is the creationist movement getting into education by the back door - which is what has happened in the States. "We think these sort of tactics are likely to be deployed in the UK as we do not have the protection of a separation between the Church and state. A third of schools teaching children are run by religious organisations - that's the danger we have in the UK. They are free to endorse right-wing politics." Lawsuits have been launched in America, seeking to throw out the education policies, introduced by Governor Bobby Jindal.
- Login to post comments
In 1987, Operation Deep Scan, the most ambitious sonar survey of Loch Ness, found three unexplained underwater targets.
With 1970s came the of expeditions was sponsored by the Boston-based Academy of Applied Science, whose members included many technically skilled people with ties to MIT. The Academy's approach was to set a trap for the monster by combining sonar and underwater photography for the first time. Under the leadership of Robert Rines, a lawyer trained in physics, the team pointed a sophisticated form of sonar, called side scan sonar, out into Loch Ness from a point near the shore. Nearby they placed an underwater camera taking pictures every 45 seconds as a strobe light illuminated the depths with a bright flash. The system paid off one night in 1975. At the same moment the sonar was registering a large, moving object, the underwater camera was taking pictures of an object that looked, after development and computer enhancement, like the flippers of an aquatic creature. [Later shown to have been photoshopped than 'enhanced'].
Even if some people say the Loch Ness Monster exists (or existed until very recently). From reports you can suppose there is a ton of discrepancy about what this creature might be; maybe it looks like a snake, or a fish, or a lizard, or a dragon; maybe it has fins/flippers (if not we can always add some). How about its' size? What? It might be that of a horse, or a small whale, or even bigger. A large fish is found in the lake. But Where it resides might be more telling as to if it exists. Eye witness reports are plagued with faults. People are notoriously bad at judging size especially at a distance. I would not agree that this is evidence of the Loch Ness Monster nor could hold much water with no agreement about what the Loch Ness Monster even is, or how large it might be, or a damn thing. Like many similar 'creatures' in all likelihood is just evidence of a wave action (Joe Nickel, Lake Monsters Of CSICOP). Plus, There doesnt seem to be the food supply to sustain a sm. breeding population. What is ICR left with then? (Sorry ICR lore is not a good basis for supporting any case for something).
The desperation makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Now theists have reduced themselves to pointing at invisible monsters to prove their invisible gods. The loss of members to these religious institutions is about to start skyrocketting. I approve their methodology.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I gotta agree with Vastet on this one.
I do feel sorry for those poor kids being brought up in such ignorant households.
To be honest, when I stopped being religious, I went though that "spiritual but not religious" bullshit that has become such a popular meme these days. Then I went through a brief flirtation with buddhism and such. Then I went through a brief period of reading about ghosts, other dimensions, psychics and all that other bunk.
I can accept that Bigfoot and other creatures do not exist.
But I REALLY wanted the Loch Ness monster to be real. I think it hurt my feelings to stop believing in it far more than it did to throw the bible in the trash.
Science, logic and technology took away Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, the horrifying tyrant of the bible, BUT NOT NESSIE ! Damn. Just another myth.
Really comical these same people are the ones that do not want their children to watch harmless entertainment like Harry Potter and the Golden Compass, will not celebrate Halloween, piss and moan about the secularism of Christmas, but want the Loch Ness monster and Noah's Ark taught as science ?
“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno