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Each time this subject comes up on the list serve, I read every post with great interest. The tangents may seem tiresome, off-subject or panicky to some, but as a group - I have found all of your thoughts and opinions fascinating. The subject is very personal to me.
So, to answer your question Edith, here's my story. It's not anything profound and hopefully not disrespectful - just a real experience from a 9-yar-old's perspective. I hope it amuses you.
When I was in fourth grade, I was kicked out of Hebrew School.
I lived in Pittsburgh. (a blue city in a blue state - btw)
My history teacher, Morah Shalamas, started the class, "The Earth is 5000 years old." (I'm not sure when it became 6...)
I raised my hand immediately.
She asked, "You have a question, Lynn?"
I corrected her, "No. It's 5001."
She just looked at me. I added, "It was 5,000 last year when I was 8. Now, I'm 9. So, it's 5000 and 1." (I was certain of this because my birthday fell around Rosh Hashanah.)
She looked irritated and repeated more loudly, "The Earth is 5,000 years old."
I waved my hand more aggressively. She said, "Lynn..." She was probably going to tell me to be quiet, but I took the opportunity and asked, "So you just round it up? Like 5000, 5010?? When is it going to CHANGE, a hundred years? Will I still be alive?" (I really wasn't being sarcastic - this concerned me, I was waiting all year for a change. I knew Christians who got to change their years. The whole thing just didn't seem fair.)
She closed her book and slammed it on the desk determined to ignore me, she continued to the rest of the class, "the Earth is 5,000 years old..."
So, I yelled, "what about the dinosaurs?! They're millions of years old."
She yelled, "There were no dinosaurs!"
I was appalled, "What?!... There ARE BONES in the museum!!!"
She simply answered, "They're plastic. They're lying to you."
(The Carnegie was like my whole world - something precious that couldn't be touched.) I just looked at her and said, "You suck." The next day, my mother got a letter saying that I was a discipline problem.
This memory sticks in the back of my mind each time I teach a dinosaur workshop :-)
Lynn Parrucci
Director of Education - Group Programs
Philadelphia Zoo
3400 Girard Ave
Philadelphia PA 19104
215-243-5243
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-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edith Piaf
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 7:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: religion AND science (as opposed to versus)
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
are there truly people who think the earth started 6000 years ago or just people who believe that is when the first people like us (after the cave men and cromagnon man) known as adam and eve if one believes were put on earth or evolved? edith piaf
> De: Eric Siegel <[log in to unmask]>
> A: [log in to unmask]
> Objet: Re: religion AND science (as opposed to versus)
> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 17:34:29 -0500
> <pre>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> While the Hall of Science contingent is chiming in...I think Bill's
> post overstated the case here. Most of the posts on this and related
> threads have expressed an openness to religious experience. The
> problem is when the religious explanation and the scientific
> explanation are brought to bear on the same phenomenon. Bill, how do
> we deal with the very significant number of people who think that the
> earth was created 6000 years ago? Is it responsible for us to say
> "well, that is one perspective and you are entitled to it?" That is
> what we are struggling with here.
>
> While this particular divergence between religious and scientific
> worldviews is focused upon evolution, there is a challenge to the
> scientific worldview on many topics, from genetics to climate change to
> extraterrestrial life. Many of us have programs on these and related
> topics, and we feel the same responsibility to present the scientific
> perspective on all of these topics. While people are absolutely
> entitled to believe that aliens have landed on earth, it remains our
> responsibility to present what science knows about life beyond earth.
> Why would we change our approach with evolution?
>
> Eric Siegel
> Executive VP
> Programs and Planning
> NY Hall of Science
> 47-01 111th Street
> Queens, NY 11368
> www.nyscience.org
> On Mar 24, 2005, at 5:10 PM, Rita Mukherjee Hoffstadt wrote:
>
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> </pre>
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