Quote:
While your world view may be tainted by faith, there are many of us who can view things objectively.
Notice I didn't say, "our faith", but "our view of faith". By that I mean how we think about faith, whether in a positive or negative light, influences how we study life. Earlier you said that religion and football were different, one being apropriate to talk about from a teacher and one not, on the basis that religion requires beliefs in fairy tales. That is an example of your view of faith influencing what you believe is allowable in the classroom.

Quote:
There were also many, many people who believed that the Earth was flat. That didn't make them right.
No, and I'm not saying they are/aren't. What I AM saying is that with two opposing viewpoints, you have to make an unavoidable choice. And when you are forced to make a choice, such as with evolution, you are adressing people's religion in a science classroom, intentional or not.

Quote:
Science depends on reproducible results
So says you (and I), but who makes us right about what science is or isn't?

Quote:
Bacteria have been modified through controlled evolution. Flowers have been. And it's been seen in those moths mentioned previously
Virtually no one denies evolution on the small scale, only where it invovles species changing from one to another. But once again, I'm not arguing about evolution anyway.

Quote:
Um, yes. Why do you think mathematics was chosen as the language sent out on SETI-type missions? What you're saying is akin to the idea that if we decided that the speed of light was not 300,000,000m/s then it would change. There are observable hard and fast rules of the universe. We have not yet discovered them all, but there are some that are absolute, and they're mathematics. Now, it's perfectly fine to say that God created mathematics and defined the laws of physics.
Well, you're missing my point here, I think. I was trying to put you and I on the same side here. Of course it'd be wrong, but if the majority of people accept something, that's what's going to be taught to our children. See, that's the position I feel I'm in. I see fundamental truths that are being denied (or ignored) in public schools, and its maddening at times. It's just as wrong to me as the "new math" would be to us all, but I'm really powerless to combat it.

And no, I don't want relgion classes in school. I don't think the government should be supporting one religion over any other. That takes away people's choices and opportunities for true faith. I just think the schools come off as anti-religion, which the government not ought to to.

Quote:
You mean like having religion taught in a science class?
Exactly- I almost used that as an example, but I was trying to go a little more abstract so we could get away from the "I believe this, you believe that" type stuff. I was trying to drive home how it feels when what is taught in school is inconsistent with one's fundamental believes and knowledge of the truth. In a democratic society, the majority rules, and the majority doesn't always support the truth. Admittedly, the "new math" was probably not my brightest analogy.

As an aside- I really need to stop trying to make points with analogies. It's a bad habit and never as effective as I think it is going to be.
_________________________
-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.