Quote:Original post by Cold_Steel
I think the teaching of anything religious that is not in a social context should not be allowed in schools.

Quote:Basically, I think it's fine to teach how Christianity or Judaism evolved and how it has impacted the world from a historical and cultural perspective, etc, but don't teach that God created the universe and control everything.

Quote:if the religious people don't like that creationism isn't being tought, don't make their kids take the class, or that part at least.

Quote:Original post by mtw

Quote:Original post by Raduprv
BTW, just to make it clear, I believe in both creation and evolution. I believe that we did evolve, but our evolution was/is controlled by some higher force (such as God). When I say god I don't mean Jehova.

That's my thinking as well, except that last part. But I still think religious explanations should be kept out of public schools.

Quote:Original post by ontheheap
Creationism is depracated. The new thing is "Intelligent Design." It's more "scientific" that way.

Quote:Original post by Andrew Russell
I'm just going to add my two cents.

Say you have a programmer trying to come up with a high quality design for some thing, where they don't know how the final outcome will work, but they know what they need it to do. A good method is to throw some random data at the problem and use a simulator to evolve the solution. Frequently used to come up with aero/hydro-dynamic shapes, artificial intelegence, and complicated circutiry.

What makes you think that a devine creator would use any other method?

I always knew God was a programmer [grin]

from ineffability import *from evolution_theory import approximate_copy# By my calculations it will take them about 7400 years to sort# that one out. Either that or about 15 billion. I haven't# decided on that yet. I'll get around to it eventually, but# there are more important design decisions to make, like the# energy density of empty space...def fiat_lux(*args):  """Create the Universe."""  heaven = object()  earth = []  day = light + darkness  day()  earth.append(firmament())  (below, above) = ([x for x in args if x < earth[0]],                    [x for x in args if x > earth[0]])  heaven = firmament # In the beginning I also created  # garbage collection, but I don't expect Adam and Eve will be  # interested in the technical details...  day(assert_goodness(light))  (seas, earth) = (''.join(below), [])  # Trust me, there are good reasons for all the reassignment.  # TODO: document ineffability module fully.  goodness = assert_goodness(seas, earth)  class fruit:    def __init__(self, seed_prototype):      self.seed_prototype = seed_prototype    def __call__(self):      return approximate_copy(seed_prototype)  class fruit_tree:    def __init__(self):      self.fruit_after_own_kind = fruit(self)    def __call__(self):      return approximate_copy(fruit_after_own_kind)  earth = [grass, lambda seed: herb, fruit_tree()]  goodness = goodness and assert_goodness(*earth)  day(goodness) # third  # TODO: Four More Days! Eh, I'm immortal, what do I care, really.  # Anyway, I do know I'll need this check at the end:  if None in globals.values(): raise ValueError, "God's word never returns void!"

Quote:Original post by Etnu

Quote:Original post by Andrew Russell
lol. your reply was totally unexpected. I thought someone with the word "jesus" in their username would have a totally oppisite view on it.

Anyway, I am glad people are agreeing, carry on.

I thought you were a programmer. You do know what the term "xor" means, right?