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Author Topic:   Kansas State School Board At It Once Again
Monk
Member (Idle past 3924 days)
Posts: 782
From: Kansas, USA
Joined: 02-25-2005


Message 19 of 136 (189571)
03-01-2005 11:47 PM
Reply to: Message 14 by custard
02-27-2005 8:25 PM


Re: it makes me sick
custard writes:
Which do you find easier to believe:
A- You were put here on the earth for a purpose, your life has meaning.
B- Your life is meaningless, and it doesn't matter if you, your family, or your entire species ever existed.
What's going to be easier for the folks in Kansas to believe? People exist as part of a plan, or as the result of a random mutation that could have just as easily not have happened?
Please, I live in Kansas. Despite what has been posted in this thread, the State of Kansas has not run amok with creo's.
But this thread did alert me to this issue and the recent articles appearing in the Kansas City Star. I haven't seen any coverage in the local television news.
The KC Star is at least making an effort to present all sides of the issue. Here is a recent article.
Separate science and theology
By Christopher J. Papasian
Special to The Star (Posted on Tue, Mar. 01, 2005)
As a microbiologist, I am certain that evolution occurs. Genetic mutations clearly produce selective advantages or disadvantages for organisms that inherit these mutations, and these mutations radically alter the characteristics of microbial populations over short time periods.
The data supporting microbial evolution is voluminous and compelling. Microbiologists study organisms with short generation times, so we can determine the evolutionary effects of genetic mutation on multiple generations in a matter of hours or days.
For example, the enzyme responsible for replicating HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is error-prone. Some errors allow HIV to evade the host's immune response, thus allowing these mutants to persist and reproduce while viruses lacking these mutations are eliminated by host defenses. Other mutations promote resistance to anti-viral drugs. In patients taking these drugs, resistant mutants rapidly become the predominant population because they continue to reproduce, while susceptible viruses lacking these mutations are suppressed or killed.
Another example of microbial evolution involves the organism that causes tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis mutates frequently, and some of these mutations promote resistance to anti-TB medications. Patients with tuberculosis receiving only a single anti-TB drug often relapse clinically and transmit the infection to others because resistant mutants survive, reproduce, cause damage and are infectious. Organisms lacking these mutations are suppressed or killed, do not cause damage, and are not transmitted to others. Under these conditions, the resistant mutants have a tremendous selective advantage.
So, evolution occurs. What is God's role in this? Did God design imperfect enzymes of genetic replication so that organisms would change over time through genetic mutation? Does God intervene each time an organism reproduces, orchestrating mutations that produce gradual change, allowing one species to evolve into another? Does God intervene periodically, creating an entire new species (e.g. Adam and Eve) to inhabit the planet Earth? Alternatively, are evolutionary changes attributable entirely to random genetic events?
God's role is of fundamental significance to a substantial portion of the human population and warrants significant debate. The concepts of evolution and intelligent design are not mutually exclusive. Evidence supporting evolution can be subjected to the rigors of scientific investigation, and presented in science classes. At this time, however, there is no mechanism by which the concept of intelligent design can be studied scientifically. Consequently, intelligent design should be discussed in theology, not science classes.
Christopher J. Papasian is chairman of the Department of Basic Medical Science at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He lives in Lenexa.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 14 by custard, posted 02-27-2005 8:25 PM custard has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 20 by jar, posted 03-02-2005 12:59 PM Monk has not replied

  
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