Worldviews | Underground Paradigm

Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence Part III

Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence in the National Science Standards is continued below as Part III. The condensed version of this article is published in the April 2015 edition of the AFA Journal. http://bit.ly/1Fb7tO1

Public school students are in a position where everyone is taught Darwin’s proposal that all living things, including humans, originated from a common single-celled ancestor. Regardless of whether or not a disclaimer is added that God may have guided the process, Darwinian evolution is taught in public schools without scientific challenges and as the only scientifically accepted possibility for our origins. Attempts to include scientific creationism or intelligent design have been struck down by courts as state-sponsored religious ideas.

The case of COPE vs. Kansas Board of Education has yet to be decided. Parents are suing the Board because the state-approved science curriculum teaches an exclusively atheistic explanation for origins. Continue reading Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence Part III

Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence in the National Science Standards- Part II

Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence in the National Science Standards is continued below as Part II. The condensed version of this article is published in the April 2015 edition of the AFA Journal.

Although naturalistic evolution from a common ancestry has been taught in public schools for over 50 years, NGSS is more systematic, dogmatic, and deceptive in its approach than most previous standards. The deception is extremely effective because it begins at age 5 in kindergarten. The new standards will continue to present evidence in a manner that supports the idea that all life evolved from a common ancestry. Furthermore, most scientific challenges to unguided evolution will remain inadmissible. The big difference is that evolution will be taught progressively in this way from grades K-12.

Studies have shown that young children from all backgrounds have an inborn natural inclination to favor purposeful design as the best explanation for life, including man. Most young children instinctively believe that God made all living things, because living things look designed. Due to this instinct and the subconsciously recognized improbability that complex organs happened by chance, they find naturalistic evolution to be illogical – which in fact it is. Psychological studies have found that very young children can be effectively persuaded to accept natural evolutionary ideas with picture books and visuals when they are taught these ideas at an early age. -1

Continue reading Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence in the National Science Standards- Part II

Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence in the National Science Standards

American jury trials are probably the fairest way in the world to determine the guilt or innocence of an accused. Time-tested rules permit the person or group on trial to be both prosecuted and defended in a way that doesn’t favor either side. The prosecutor and the defender examine the same set of evidence, but present the jury with different possibilities regarding what actually happened. Our system of justice works because the jury is given the opportunity to consider the full set of evidences, as well as the arguments from both sides before making a decision. The right to a fair trial is such a cherished part of America that citizens would be outraged if they heard of a judge who allowed the prosecutor to freely present evidence and arguments to the jury, but declared the defender’s entire case inadmissible based on an unproved and controversial assumption.

A very important legal case, COPE vs. Kansas Board of Education, is now making its way through the courts. Although the lawsuit is a civil case, it has many parallels to the example of the unjust judge. There have been several court cases where Christian parents were accused of trying to insert their religious beliefs into science classes. However, in this case, it is Christian parents who have valid reasons to claim that they are being wronged by a situation in which their religious beliefs are being ruled inadmissible while the ideas of another opposing religious belief are being freely allowed. They find themselves in a situation where a state policy seeks to replace their theistic religious beliefs with a non-theistic religious worldview. The dilemma arose when the Kansas State School Board adopted a new set of science standards known as Next Generation Science Standards or NGSS.

Continue reading Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence in the National Science Standards

Lessons from Jehoshaphat for 2014

As events in 2014 become more dismaying for Christians, I find myself relating to an ancient group of people from the kingdom of Judah. Three powerful nations made an alliance with each other to invade and conquer Judah by force. Their armies were already marching toward the capitol city of Jerusalem when word came of the impending invasion. The people of Judah knew they would be no match against their enemies in a military battle.

Continue reading Lessons from Jehoshaphat for 2014

Bottom Line, It’s the Definition. No Kidding!

Prior to the publishing of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in 1859, European scientists were making revolutionary scientific discoveries and, in the process, making science a highly respected field. Scientific empirical methods were being developed, and research was conducted to discover how things operate in nature.

Some of the more well-known early scientists included Galileo, Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, and Johannes Kepler. They all used empirical methods in their research, and they all based their explanations on natural processes. This meant that these scientists were both empiricists and naturalists. Continue reading Bottom Line, It’s the Definition. No Kidding!

What Are the Right Questions to Ask Darwinists?

Rationalism is an attempt to justify that something is true when evidence and conclusions are hard to pin down. It often leads to the practice of starting from the position that a certain explanation is true and then looking for evidence to show that it is true.

When On the Origin of Species was published, it soon became obvious that the kind of evidence that supported Darwinian evolution was not going to have the same level of certainty as that provided by the empirical methods of operational sciences. Evidence for Darwin’s version of how life originated was vague and general. It was difficult to find solid evidence by standard empirical methods, so rationalism and justification became necessary methods used by evolutionists. Continue reading What Are the Right Questions to Ask Darwinists?

Where Are Next Generation Science Standards Taking Us?

The new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were released in April of 2013. They are not requirements, but they will have a major influence on textbooks and state curricula for years to come.

One of the goals was to help students have a deeper understanding of a few basic core ideas rather than focus on a lot of unconnected ideas. Another goal was to teach the core ideas at increasingly advanced levels from K-12 and to integrate them with scientific and engineering practices and with concepts from the different disciplines.

These were reasonable goals, except that the core ideas in both life science and earth & space tilted heavily toward naturalistic evolution and the effects of human activities on the environment. Continue reading Where Are Next Generation Science Standards Taking Us?

Naturalism Is a Philosophy

Naturalism Is a Philosophy

Anyone trying to understand the secular evolutionary version of “where did we come from?” is at a huge disadvantage unless they first understand the science behind it. The next few posts will deal with this. I guarantee you will be better prepared to defend your Christian worldview if you can grasp these principles. These posts are taken from an unpublished manuscript, “The Resurrection of Genesis 1-11” by Carolyn Reeves.

First of all, you need to understand that secular science is based on the philosophy of naturalism. Its followers believe that there is a natural explanation for everything that exists, including the beginning of all things. When it comes to origins, naturalists believe that all forms of life on earth can trace their origins back to the same one-celled ancestor rather than to a supernatural creation by God. They also believe there is a natural explanation for how the earth and the universe came to be. Evolutionary naturalists consider a Creator to be either false or irrelevant when it comes to how all living things came to be. Continue reading Naturalism Is a Philosophy