Censorship and creationism

[Chris Finer <cfiner@NEWFOUND.K12.NH.US>]

Tom wrote:

<snip>
>If I am anti-censorship
>but refuse to buy books from the creationist view point am I acting like a
>hypocrite? (A student did suggest this.) I cited a lack scientific support
>for this students viewpoint. She countered with the idea that her book,
>while citing religious information also would cite a little scientific
>information.
<snip>

I don't know which books you were asked to order. Is there any chance you
can see them for yourself before you have to make the decision? For myself,
I'd love to get a look at that 'little scientific information' she speaks
of. If it contains sicence, great. If it doesn't, that's OK too, unless it
PRETENDS to present science. I've seen plenty of printed matter than
purports to have scientific content which, upon examination, has no
scientific thinking at all.

Your post is about censorship, though, and I think it's great that you are
examining your own beliefs and questioning whether or not you are censoring,
and great too that you want to bring LM-NETters into it. Do the books meet
your selection criteria? Can the inclusion of books on this topic be seen as
an effort to be as all-inclusive as possible? Will they be classified with
religion or science books?

I have a book called _Darwin's black box : the biochemical challenge to
evolution_ / Michael J. Behe. (New York : The Free Press. 1996.
0-684-82754-9) which presents scientific rebuttal to Darwin. I read it and I
don't 'buy' it -- the science is too shoddy, IMHO -- but it's a genuine
alternative to Darwinism.

>I don't want to alienate the student, and I think she feels that the school
>is being unsupportive if we don't include her viewpoint.
<snip>

Do you have The Bible in your collection? Maybe THAT will offer the creation
story she is looking for.

>Honestly, if I just I am not an expert in this field, but I am leaning
>towards putting a variety of viewpoints out, including theirs and letting
>the students decide for themselves. Is there a reason why I wouldn't want
>to do that? Share with me your wisdom

Frankly, and, again, IMO, I think you are definitely on the right track. To
me, EXCLUSION (the opposite of selection, but just as 'active' a process) is
relatively unusual, and when you find a book that you need to exclude,
you'll feel as though you're very much on solid ground doing so.

I hope this thread IS picked up by other LM-NETters. I LOVE a good
censorship discussion.


Chris Finer
Newfound High School
Bristol, NH, USA

-- cfiner@newfound.k12.nh.us --

"The school nutures both teamwork and thorny individualism, at once the
readiness to serve and the readiness to resist, for nobody knows ahead of
time which the Good Citizen may have to do."  -- Paul Gagnon

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