NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2016/04/15
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2016-04-15 14:38.
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A controversy over creationist encroachments in Poland's schools. And a Facebook milestone for NCSE.
FUROR OVER CREATIONISM IN POLAND A controversy is smoldering over the distribution of a creationist book to schools in Poland. According to Gazeta Wyborcza (March 2, 2016), unsolicited copies of Maciej Giertych's Ewolucja, Dewolucja, Nauka (Evolution, Devolution, Science) were sent to the biology teachers in public and private secondary schools across the country in early 2016. A dendrologist and socially conservative politician, Giertych is also a persistent critic of evolution. For example, in 2006, as Ulrich Kutschera reported in Reports of the NCSE, Giertych moderated a seminar at the European Parliament (in which he was then representing Poland) in which evolution was criticized by a number of creationists. Giertych also appeared in the 2008 creationist propaganda film Expelled, in which he asserted that evolution is incapable of producing new genetic information. Ironically, while Expelled blamed the acceptance of evolution for the Holocaust, Giertych wrote a booklet that the European Jewish Congress condemned as anti-Semitic, as Reuters (February 19, 2007) reported. Giertych told Gazeta Wyborcza, "The book accessibly shows the inconsistencies in the theory of evolution and the lack of evidence for it, as well as a growing number of evidence against it." But Jacek Graff, a biology teacher in Krakow who received the book, was not so enthusiastic, describing it as "hair-raising" and "a frightening fantasy." Szymon Drobniak, an evolutionary biologist at the Jagiellonian University, outlined and rebutted the major claims of Giertych's book in a column for Gazeta Wyborcza (March 2, 2016). "Giertych conducts his whole discussion in a very biased view," he summarized, "avoiding hard evidence and not presenting a single truly scientific source." Drobniak also organized a petition asking the ministry of education to inform schools that the book is not endorsed by the ministry and to refer teachers to authoritative sources on evolution, which will enable them to rebut the misconceptions and misrepresentations of Giertych's book. The ministry has yet to respond. For the story in Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish), visit: http://wyborcza.pl/1,75400,19704237,giertych-walczy-z-darwinem.html For Ulrich Kutschera's report on the antievolution seminar, visit: http://ncse.com/rncse/26/5/devolution-dinosaurs For information about Expelled from NCSE, visit: http://expelledexposed.com/ For the story from Reuters (via Haaretz), visit: http://www.haaretz.com/news/polish-eu-legislator-s-anti-semitic-booklet-sparks-outrage-1.213447 For Drobniak's column in Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish), visit: http://wyborcza.pl/1,75400,19704330,biolog-o-ksiazce-prof-macieja-giertycha-to-pseudo-naukowy.html For the petition organized by Drobniak (in Polish), visit: http://tydzienewolucji.tumblr.com/list And for NCSE's previous coverage of events internationally, visit: http://ncse.com/news/international FACEBOOK: N > 160,000 A milestone: there are now over 160,000 fans of NCSE's Facebook page. Why not join them, by visiting the page and becoming a fan by clicking on the "Like" box by NCSE's name? You'll receive the latest NCSE news delivered straight to your Facebook Home page, as well as updates on evolution-related and climate-related topics. Or if you prefer your news in 140-character chunks, follow NCSE on Twitter. And while you're surfing the web, why not visit NCSE's YouTube channel, with hundreds of videos for your watching pleasure? It's the best place on the web to view talks by NCSE's staff. For NCSE's Facebook page, Twitter feed, and YouTube channel, visit: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://twitter.com/ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd WHAT'S NEW FROM THE SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Have you been visiting NCSE's blog, The Science League of America, recently? If not, then you've missed: * Minda Berbeco relating her encounter with creationist hecklers at NSTA: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/creationists-at-nsta-0017009 * Stephanie Keep saluting Stated Clearly: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/stated-clearly-i-am-big-fan-part-1-0017006 http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/stated-clearly-i-am-big-fan-part-2-0017007 * Guest blogger Eric Teicholz describing the intersection of climate change and facilities management: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/changing-climate-by-changing-buildings-0017008 And much more besides! For The Science League of America, visit: http://ncse.com/blog Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 600 Oakland CA 94612-2922 510-601-7203 fax 510-788-7971 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's blog, Science League of America: http://ncse.com/blog Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join
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