THE father of a Knox County, Tennessee, public school student has lost the second round of his battle to have the school board ban a high school biology textbook which he says is biased against Christians.
Kurt Zimmerman demanded that the book be removed from the school after his son drew his attention to a passage which correctly described creationism as:
The biblical myth that the universe was created by the Judeo-Christian God in 7 days.
Alternatively, he would like the book to be “modified” and the statement “fixed”.
When a review panel’s found in favour of the book this week, Zimmerman decided to appeal its decision, but he told Fox News that his appeal was rejected. He claimed that the school would, however, review his complaint at a later date.
Zimmerman wants a change of textbooks because the honours biology course book used at Farragut High School is “offensive to Christians”.
According to this report, he said it could:
Mislead, belittle and discourage students from believing in creationism, and pointedly calls the Bible a myth.
He is asking that what he termed non-biased textbooks be used.
School superintendent Jim McIntyre said the committee’s finding to keep using the book was appropriate.
A six-person textbook review committee concluded the material wasn’t questionable and recommended the book not be banned.
One of the reviewers wrote that in context, the word “myth” was appropriately used to:
Describe a traditional or legendary story with or without a natural explanation.
Another reviewer concluded the writers used the word myth “for shock value.”
Among members of the review board were Farragut’s principal, a biology teacher, a parent and a student.
McIntyre said this is the first time in his first two years as superintendent that a parent has asked that a textbook be banned.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JQbThfN3O8[/youtube]
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
April 9th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Creationism in the form of the YEC 6/24 paradigm is a bloomin’ fairly new myth anyway.
Science is most certainly “biased” against fundie literalists…
April 9th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Actually God created the world in SIX days…on the seventh He rested…so the reference is misleading and therefore casts a shadow over any other material in this book…(shows a distinct lack of proper research)…
April 9th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Good job Mr. Zimmerman! Hang in there…Nick, California
April 9th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Science: study of the natural worlds using empirical knowledge that can be tested, evaluated, and “proven.”
Of course this guy is from the South… silly fundies… religion has no place in a science class, it belongs in sociology, social science, history, and literature classes, but not science.
http://www.motifake.com/image/.....791654.jpg
April 9th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Isn’t this just a little silly? I am a Christian and like any reasoning adult I understand that scientifically we have proven how the world was created.
No adult truly believes Creationism do they? It would be like believing the world was flat or the moon was made out of cheese.
I truly hope this man does not win his battle as it would be a step back for science and education.
April 9th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Right Les, whatever. Your knowledge of the bibble is certainly impressive (cough).
Anyway, I think they probably did include that quote for shock value. No point in putting it in a biology textbook. Belongs more in a philosophy, history, or religious studies book, if you ask me. Then again, as modern biology comes under attack from all these backwards, moronic hypocrites, I think the biologists have the right to strike back. The bible is at least as mythical and mystical as the Iliad and Odyssey, which were much better-written if you ask me. At least they are cohesive throughout, mostly, and they aren’t taken nearly as seriously in terms of trying to run people’s lives, though there is a lot more evidence of their historical truth (at least for the Iliad).
April 9th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Les, if your imaginary friend is anything like the rest of the biblical mythology industry he’d have claimed payment for his day off anyway – AND a tax rebate!
April 9th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Isn’t that Kryton out of Red Dwarf?
April 9th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Perhaps this idiot would like his son’s science textbooks to include the theory that Brahma created the world at the behest of Vishnu, as this is what the Hindus believe, and their religion has probably been around for longer than any other – certainly predating Judaism by millennia.
April 9th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
What is the word “Creationism” doing in a biology text book in the first place?
April 9th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Religion is failed science. It was our first attempt at science, the cosmos philosophy etc. If your too stupid now to understand science, then stick with religion.
April 9th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
zimmerman is such a numpty! there-is-no-god.
April 9th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Terry: Since in two separate postings you wrote “your” instead of “you’re” I have to assume that it was not merely a typo that you failed to spot in time to correct. Learn the difference. But your comment about religion being the first attempt at science is accurate.
April 9th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Kurt Zimmerman is the most square headed man, including crew cut, that I have ever seen. The name fits the head fits the religious views to perfection.
Tennessee has an infamous record for dumfucks making stupid statements and the State was seriously embarrassed back in 1925. Let us at give credit and thanks to the School Board for not going down that route again.
April 9th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Quote: Zimmerman wants a change of textbooks because the honours biology course book used at Farragut High School is “offensive to Christiansâ€.
So how about an atheist bringing a lawsuit on the grounds that bibles used in schools are offensive to atheists. Better still remove bibles from schools.
April 9th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Before Mr Zimmerman tries to get a perfectly sensible book banned, perhaps he should try and locate his son’s porn stash.
April 9th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
@Angela_K I would like to know what else would be “offensive to Christians.” Long list, including some “offensive” questions, I suggest: e.g. No Adam and Eve; whom did their sons marry?, how did Noah get to the Koala Bears when he didn’t know Australia was there; and much more.
Last time I tried some of these on a USA fundie he had a sweeping answer, breathtaking in its comprehensiveness which was, “To God all things are possible and faith in the face of what appears impossible is no more than a test of faith. The harder it is to believe, the greater the faith.”
April 9th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Broga: That is precisely what I was taught. However, there is a corollary to that statement which shows just how ridiculous is their stance. Ask them on what basis the gospels attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are included in the Bible, as opposed to many others that exist, or on what basis Protestants refuse to accept the apocryphal writings, like the Book of Tobit, and they will tell you that the things recorded in the biblical books are quite reasonable, and easy to accept, whereas those recorded in the apocryphal writings are just fanciful!
April 9th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
an update from http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/.....to-attend/
http://content.usatoday.com/co.....n-secret/1
Fuckers, eh?
P.S. feel free to kill this post, if you are planning an updated post anyway Barry
April 9th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Barriejohn, I think this quote is a very good description for modern religiots:
“Given enough time for the generations to evolve, the predator produces particular survival adaptations in its prey which, through the circular operation of feedback, produce changes in the predator which again change the prey–etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…. Many powerful forces do the same thing. You can count religions among such forces.”
- The Stolen Journals (Leto II)
Taken from God-Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert. It certainly makes a lot of sense to me.
April 9th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Piers,
Anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of Americans believe in literal Creationism over evolution. That’s how dumbed-down and nutty the RRRW has made the general population. Between home-schooling and teaching kids to ignore reality (plus adults who choose to ignore reality) we’ve got millions of willfully ignorant people here. It’s no wonder we’re so far down the ladder from where we used to be in maths/science and overall quality of life indicators.
April 9th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
That’s disgusting, Rog!
April 9th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
@barriejohn As I understand it, the books included in the bible were decided by a group who threw out some. The New Testament was written to ensure that what was supposed to be prophesies in the Old Testament were fulfilled. I think it was Emperor Constantine who decided for political imperatives to go with Christianity.
However, when you are dealing with USA fundies who insist the bible is the King James version and was written in its original in English, that Jesus was white, that the world was created in 4004 BCE because it has been calculated in the bible and contradictions only seem contradictions and would “fade away” if I read them “prayerfully and with due reverence” you are dealing with an obtuse and bigotted ignorance of a very special kind.
April 9th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Terry: Since in two separate postings you wrote “your†instead of “you’re†I have to assume that it was not merely a typo that you failed to spot in time to correct. “Learn the difference”. But your comment about religion being the first attempt at science is accurate.
Doc Hardwood,
Does anybody’s grasp of English really matter when we are discussing the obvious shortcomings and lies embroiled in religion. Surely anybody who can see religion for what it really is should be encouraged to join in on the debate without being subjected to petty criticisms about their grammar from supposedly better educated individuals who just serve to portray themselves as elitist. I’m sick of seeing atheism and/or secularism portrayed as the preserve of the learned. You may be a Doctor but most of us aren’t.
Do you really think that being this pedantic is a step in the right direction? I think comments like yours will only discourage people from joining in with and supporting the secularist cause. You don’t have to have a doctorate to have common sense, but maybe you need one to consider yourself the guardian against grammatical errors.
Get down off your high horse and lets all do our bit to encourage the like-minded, free thinking individuals that take the trouble to comment here, or anywhere for that matter, to do so without fear of criticism when they are making good, sound, logical points.
Sorry for the rant but comments like yours are one of my pet hates.
April 9th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Broga: Athanasius is usually reckoned to have drawn up the first New Testament canon, and guess what? All the books backed up his doctrinal views!
April 9th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
BarryJohn: Not quite accurate. Only the fourth gospel backed up Athanasius’s trinitarian theology. The synoptics and all of the Letters supported Arius. The overwhelming majority of Christers were Arians until the rigged Council of Nicea, POSSIBLY representing Constantine’s preference, voted that Jesus was a god.
April 9th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Broga
Saw something on TV about Constantine kicking arse for the lord.
Was that the Council of Nicea where everything was thrashed out?
Yourself and Mr John are religiously very learned. All I do is turn up and take the piss….
April 9th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
@barriejohn
“Besides McMillen and her date, the other attendees included two students with learning difficulties.”
This bit gets me, they tricked the kids with learning difficulties into going to a fake prom, I understand that they’d already fell out with this girl[McMillen], not that excuses anything, but they thought they’d have a poke at disabled kids for good measure – is this an example of christian values they want to show to the world given, the media attention then the issue had already generated? They’re not just bad people, but demonstrably stupid as well.
April 10th, 2010 at 7:15 am
Dr Harwood: You’re right, of course. As soon as you take off the magic glasses you can see that most of the New Testament supports Arius, but then Christians just interpret it all in the light of their beliefs. I was taught, for instance, that “Son of Man” was just another title of the “Son of God”, expressing a different aspect of his character, in much the same way as all those different names of God in the OT could never have actually been referring to DIFFERENT gods, but are necessary to show what a wonderful being he is – and unquestioningly accepted it all!
April 10th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Rog: I notice that she also states that if the youngsters with learning difficulties had attended the “real” prom then they would have had the mickey taken out of them, and would in all probability have had a thoroughly miserable time. How nice. I hope that the Americans continue to stand up for their “Christian values”!
April 10th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Ok you got me, I didn’t get a university education. Those sexually repressed middle-aged virgins were more concerned with my soul than my mind, any how what can you do! I’ll try to do better next time Dr Harwood.
April 10th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Terry: I am glad that you appreciate that, when I encourage nontheists to avoid errors in English, it is in the hope of pulling the rug out from under theists who would be delighted to argue that nontheists are uneducated.
April 10th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
terry, I happen to think that Dr. Harwood was slightly out of order to draw attention to this matter as I generally feel that provided people are making themselves understood we should cut them some slack.
On the other hand I can’t seem to stop myself from feeling a twinge of irritation when people do use the wrong word that sounds the same but is spelled differently. These different spellings are very useful in conveying meaning in written language which lacks the benefit of the inflection and tone that is present in speech.
So when you say that you will try to do better, go for it, it really isn’t rocket science, I would think that the best way to start would be to make some kind of chart giving the various meanings of there, their and they’re or were, where and wear etc. and refer to it when posting. I don’t think that it would take long before using the correct word becomes second nature.
April 10th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
@Stonyground stop being so homophonebic
April 11th, 2010 at 4:09 am
Les said:
“Actually God created the world in SIX days.”
You see, Les, if Moses had said god had created earth in 4.5 billion years, and said while god was distracted, a meteor strike derailed his whole plan to have giant reptiles rule the planet, so he decided to make humans, that would have GOTTEN MY ATTENTION!!!! But the fact that Moses’s god didn’t know shit about his own creation makes him a joke.
Matthew said,
“Science: study of the natural worlds using empirical knowledge that can be tested, evaluated, and “proven.—
Very true, but every time I tell an atheist that you cannot prove the universe is an accident, I get a pile of grief. Double standard.
Oh yeah, me, too!! My hunch is that there is no designer out there, but I could write a book on reasons to doubt that. But, if I want to sit in the shadow with my chin in my hand, and wonder, can you give me some space?
NeoWolfe
April 11th, 2010 at 9:16 am
If I thought that there was the remotest chance that there HAD been a “creator” of the universe, then I could quite happily go along with the idea that, in grasping for some knowledge of him and his ways, peoples of the past had invented myths and fables to convey their beliefs, which is obviously what we have here. But how can any intelligent person living in the modern world possibly claim that these things really happened? Even when I was a Christian myself I didn’t believe that!
April 12th, 2010 at 1:24 am
‘Mislead, belittle and discourage students from believing in creationism’ – this would be the best possible outcome. The fundie brainless need to grow up and live in the real world rather than their reverie. The science may not be 101% proven but it’s more proven than creationist theories by a factor of about eleventy squillion.
April 13th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Bravo!
What irks me are those super pedants who mock more than that and fail to respond by at least askng me what I mean.