Jerry Coyne gets email

Original link

Coyne was quoted in this article on homeschooling, which brought in an unexpected surge of email, including some rather nasty words from the Christians. This doesn't surprise me at all; criticizing religion, especially the more far-out beliefs that are clearly unsupportable and in contradiction to all of the evidence, is always a reliable trigger to start some kooks spewing.

Homeschooling is another trigger. People care very much about their kids, and so telling them that they're wrecking their children's future by giving them a substandard education poisoned with a falsified ideology is not the kind of thing that will get you pleasant nods of approval…even if it is true. I'm one of those people who thinks we ought to be consistent and require everyone to attend an accredited school, public or private, and that private schools ought also to be required to meet certain secular standards, such as that their science education ought to address the evidence reasonably. You want to send your kids to a school that teaches them all about Jesus? Fine. But it doesn't count as a legitimate education unless it also teaches the basics of science, math, history, English, etc. in a way that meets state education standards.
...
Continue reading

TAGGED: CREATIONISM, EDUCATION, SCIENCE


RELATED CONTENT

Dawkins made it to my Sociology class

Omer Kamal Bin Farooq - The Express... 17 Comments

[That documentary] allows us to think out of the comfortable narrative that has been concocted for us by the state and its right-wing allies. Watching it allows us to digest opinions wildly diverse from ours and still give them their due consideration and appreciation. This is what made me happy.

Creationist School Bill Looks Doomed in...

Jeffrey Mervis - Science 35 Comments

Legislators in Indiana appear to have fallen short of their goal of injecting creationism into U.S. public schools.

U.S. State Science Standards Are...

Anna Kuchment - Scientific American... 25 Comments


A new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute paints a grim picture of state science standards across the United States.

Education is the only antidote to...

Geetanjali Jhala - DNA - Daily News &... 13 Comments

Education is the only antidote to religion: Richard Dawkins

Why is NCSE Now Concerned with Climate...

- - National Center for Science... 43 Comments

NCSE has long focused upon defending and promoting the teaching of evolution and the nature of science. Why are we now adding climate change to this list?

Richard Dawkins celebrates a victory...

Jamie Doward - The Guardian 90 Comments


Free schools that teach 'intelligent design'
as science will lose funding

MORE

MORE BY PZ MYERS

Bang! How We Came To Be

PZ Myers - Pharyngula 22 Comments

Deepak Chopra reviews Richard Dawkins

PZ Myers - Pharyngula 89 Comments

I think we've been insulted by American...

PZ Myers - Pharyngula 47 Comments

"the major American publishers were reluctant to support a skeptical book, with some suggesting that I re-write it to suggest that ghosts were real and psychic powers actually existed!"

I think the creationists would rather...

PZ Myers - Pharyngula 60 Comments

Abortion needs to be taught in our...

PZ Myers - Pharyngula 77 Comments

MORE

Comments

Comment RSS Feed

Please sign in or register to comment