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	From: 	  [log in to unmask]
	Subject: 	Re: IMAX and evolution
	Date: 	March 23, 2005 10:49:28 AM EST
	To: 	  [log in to unmask]


Anybody remember some guy called Galileo and his struggles when the  
science he discovered clashed with the bible?


Jared Diamond in his latest book, "Collapse" gives a great definition  
of Science:  "Science is the acquisition of reliable knowledge about  
our world."

Well, Galileo had reliable knowledge.  Even the Catholic church now  
thinks so:
	One of the first steps of John Paul's papacy, which began in 1978, was  
to begin procedures leading to the rehabilitation in 1992 of Galileo,  
the Italian astronomer persecuted by 	the Church for teaching that the  
Earth revolved around the sun.

	The Inquisition condemned Galileo in 1633 because his teachings  
clashed with the Bible, which read: "God fixed the earth upon its  
foundation, not to be moved forever." 	Galileo was rehabilitated after  
359 years.

Evolution is reliable knowledge.  Scientists don't make this stuff up  
to fit preconceived ideas.  It comes from studying all the evidence and  
figuring out what fits the facts.   My personal opinion  is that those  
of us who believe in God can look at evolution and say Wow! that's how  
s/he did it!

Here is a great web resource for Science and Evolution.
http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/evolution/index.shtml

Their take on this  is probably the best route for science centers to  
take:  science is science and religion is religion.

Science can never prove or disprove there is a God, but science can say  
this is the way our world is, whether or not there is a God behind it.

The other fact that gets mentioned  with complaints about evolution is  
the age of our world.   The layers, counting back from present trees,  
to layers of dirt and ice to layers of rock laid down, are proof, as  
much as science ever has proof, that the Earth and it's biological  
world are as old as biologists and geologists say; hundreds of millions  
of years for life and five or so billions of years for the planet.   
It's the interpretation of the layers that makes sense; we see in our  
recent past layers of tree rings and ice, laid down on the yearly cycle  
of seasons, match up to the recent layers in stone and get a scientific  
idea how to interpret the stone evidence in terms of time.   
Irrefutable.  Stick up for it.  It is reliable knowledge about our  
world.

Those who let their religious beliefs deny or try to alter the facts of  
science to fit those beliefs make science no longer reliable.  Guess  
what?  It stops being science.
If you give creationism equal billing with evolution please remove the  
word science from your name, because you are no longer about science.

Peter Anderson is right.  We have to stand on our principals.

We need to write a position statement that we can post for our visitors  
to see, most especially for the Science Centers in the most religious  
communities, based on Science is Science and Religion is Religion with  
a positive tone.  I'm not a good writer.  Anyone want to do a first  
pass to post for feedback and tuning so we all have it as a tool?


Clifford Wagner


On Mar 23, 2005, at 3:18 AM, Peter A. Anderson wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> *********************************************************************** 
> ******
>
> Charlie,
>
> If we can't stand on principal on important items because of our  
> financial
> support system, surely, we need to work to change  that support system
> so that we can stand on the principles.
>
> Being fanatically principled is unproductive indeed; we must roll with  
> the
> punches to a degree, but there comes a time .......
>
> Regards,  Peter Anderson
>
> ***********************************************************************
> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at  
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