More of Laura Carder’s Wackiness

I was perusing Ms. Carder’s site and found a bit more she had to say on creation “science”. For anyone unfamiliar with her she is currently running against Rocco Treppiedi for Spokane School District (District 81) board of directors, position 4.

"Apparently, the writers to Spokesman-Review and the left-wing tabloid Inlander have a problem using "Creation" and "Science" together. Instead, they call it "Creationism", a term I seldom use. I'm merely suggesting that if Evolution is being taught in our public schools, so should Creation Science, and let the students choose what to accept. No one knows all the answers. So why the paranoia? Those of you who think I'm a nut-case or a lunatic because I think differently from you, are merely showing off your ignorance and intolerance. Do you think our founding fathers, like Thomas Jefferson who wrote in the Declaration of Independence, "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights", were lunatic nut-cases too? If so, I'm in good company. Then there's Hitler and Stalin who believed in evolution. Whose company do you prefer?

Evidently, my response to the S-R Oct 18 stirred up a hornets nest and the hornets are buzzing around with their stinging remarks. My hope is that those of you who have seen them will merely consider the source, and vote for me, because we agree that students should have the right to choose. Remember, there are 4 other members of the board, and I will be facing a steep learning curve. I will not be a school dictator. I won't even be president of the board anytime soon, as is Rocky. I will know better what can be done and what can't. Whether I win or lose the election, at least the message is out there, and many intelligent people agree with me."

The most important thing I need to point out to Ms. Carder is that Jefferson died 33 years before Charles Darwin published "On The Origin of Species". So of course he didn't accept evolution, how could he? He also probably didn't believe in cars, planes or Pluto (the ex-planet, not the dog).

I think the problem with referring to creationism as a type of science is that their main tenet, that "god did it", is not falsifiable. Evolution is falsifiable, go find a couple of human, horse, rabbit, etc. fossils that date to 100s of millions of years ago and voila, evolution disproved.

She again argues that we should teach both and let the children decide. The problem with that is that there is no evidence for creationism and literally mountains of it for evolution. Also that begs the question as to whether or not we should teach kids that the earth is flat, that it is the center of the universe and that the Holocaust never happened.

She is right (shocking, I know) that we don’t know everything. Scientistd are constantly gathering more evidence, conducting new experiments and learning new things. Maybe one day evolution will be proved false, seems unlikely with all the evidence, but it’s possible. Right now though everything we know about the world tells us that evolution occurred and that Darwin’s theory of evolution was pretty spot on. So that’s what should be taught.

Another tidbit about Thomas Jefferson, he also said “State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights…Erecting the ‘wall of separation between church and state,’ therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.” See I can throw around quotes too.

I get a little tired of people holding up the founding fathers as the ultimate moral beacon. Yes, they did a great and brave thing when they founded this country, but they were also slave holders and misogynists (not all, but enough). Hitler also probably liked ice cream, does that mean it’s evil?

And because throwing around quotes is fun “I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord…I would like to thank Providence and the Almighty for choosing me of all people…” Adolf Hitler

At the end she stoops to that classic anti-argument “…many intelligent people agree with me.” Which proves absolutely nothing. I’m sure you can find plenty of intelligent people on both sides of every issue. There are actually some very intelligent scholars who are also Holocaust deniers. Just because a morally bankrupt person supports a theory does not in anyway detract from that theory. Only the data/evidence can do that. Science is NOT a popularity contest.

I really hope everyone gets out there and votes against Ms. Carder, let’s be honest, kids already receive a poor education, no reason to add kooky ideas and superstition to the limited time they have in school.