8 ms·

I very much doubt there were any UK schools teaching it anyway, hence this news is not really news this side of the pond. (Context for those in the US)

codeulike 12y ago
Also, this is just a clarification of an existing rule that already applied to most state schools, they are just re-stating it for some of the funding edge cases like acadamies and free schools. ref: http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/06/18/secular-triumph-as-government-bans-creationism-from-free-sch http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/06/18/secular-triumph-as...
- MarcScott 12y ago
  Academies are no longer edge cases. Most Secondary Schools (11-18) are now Academies, and hence no longer have to teach the National Curriculum. I feel this is a very important clarification, especially considering the number of Academies and Free Schools that are sponsored by religious groups.
  - grkvlt 12y ago
    Although the majority of secondary schools are academies, which I had not realised, they all still have to follow the core national curriculum for maths, english and science subjects.
louthy 12y ago
There are ACE schools in the UK teaching creationism as science: http://www.christian-education.org/christian-education/curriculum/ace-curriculum/ http://www.christian-education.org/christian-education/curri... http://www.christian-education.org/schools/choosing-a-school/uk-schools/ http://www.christian-education.org/schools/choosing-a-school...
- codeulike 12y ago
  Well OK it seems there are a handful, e.g http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/30/free-schools-creationism http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/30/... ... but I just wanted to highlight that the situation in the UK is generally very different to the USA.
  - tptacek 12y ago
    It's unlawful to teach religion in public schools in the US.
    - flavor8 12y ago
      And yet http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_public_schools_mapped_where_tax_money_supports_alternatives.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201...
    - grkvlt 12y ago
      What about 'Religious Education' type classes where they teach about religion, I assume that distinction is important?
    - joesmo 12y ago
      False. "Part of the problem is widespread misunderstanding regarding U.S. law. According to a 2010 Pew Forum survey, nearly two-thirds of Americans erroneously believe that the Constitution forbids public schools from offering a course on religion. "Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, said courts have ruled that schools must be neutral, but that doesn't mean they must ignore religion. On the contrary, ignoring religion gives preferential treatment to a strictly secular worldview, he said." -- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765616766/Religion-in-public-schools-America-is-religious-but-also-illiterate-of-religion.html?pg=all http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765616766/Religion-in-pub...
      - tptacek 12y ago
jwdunne 12y ago
I went to a catholic school and we were still taught evolution, the Big Bang theory, etc. Even had compulsory religious education lessons (sane number per week as maths, english, science) and accompanying GCSE in Catholic Christianity and we were still taught evolution. Many teachers even said that the Old Testament shouldn't be taken literally! It's quite rare I think and I'm surprised there are schools still teaching it.
- vidarh 12y ago
  Catholic schools in general are not the problem when it comes to these things. Pope Pius XII made it quite clear in 1950 that evolution is compatible with catholic doctrine, with certain proviso (such as that they don't accept a material basis for the human soul, and the idea that God is "guiding" evolution). Pope John Paul II further strengthened that substantially in the 90's, by reaffirming Pius XII's statement and adding that scientific discoveries in later years have substantially strengthened the theory. This has been supported by a long range of conferences and statements supported by the Catholic church. Including outright dismissal of any scientific basis for intelligent design by the Vatican's chief astronomer.
  - PPLwynSPFJ5p 12y ago
    Perhaps the Catholic Church would like to enlighten us evolutionary skeptics as to precisely what scientific discoveries "in later years have substantially strengthened the theory"? Evolutionist are abandoning Darwinian theory in droves (check it out for yourself by googleing the Altenberg 16, or The Third Way, for example) because their bankrupt theory has no explanatory power whatsoever. Then there is also the small problem of the recent discovery of soft tissue, blood cells, collagen, DNA and significant amounts of carbon-14 in dinosaur bones, which proves that they cannot be millions of years old (the discovery was made by an evolutionist by the way, not a Creationist. Most people will be unaware of this discovery, of course, because anything that contradicts the prevailing dogma does not get any media attention, and secularists try very hard to cover it up anyway). You see, when the established church falls into compromise, abandons its belief in the Bible, and sells its own soul to the devil, we should hardly be surprised if our children end up being forcibly indoctrinated by atheists. The Catholic Church (and the Anglicans - who are just as bad in this respect) need to look more closely at what the scientific evidence ACTUALLY says. Most of that evidence is posted on various creationist websites such as Creation Ministries International.com. Just choose your topic of interest and type it into their search box. Your eyes will be opened as to what is actually being withheld from you by the so-called scientific "consensus". God bless.
walshemj 12y ago
Its to cut off some of the fringe "free" (but tax payer funded) schools that Gove was so fond of until recently.
- Silhouette 12y ago
  Indeed. There has been a lot of controversy in recent weeks about how some schools operate and the influence of certain religions in what is taught: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-27944190 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-27944190 Although that situation is about something else, it did renew attention on other long-standing concerns about how our schools today aren't all required to follow the same rules as much as they used to be and how this might negatively affect their children's education. Incidentally, the article title is misleading here. In the UK, "public school" means something counterintuitive and quite different to "school receiving public funds": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_%28United_Kingdom%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_%28United_Kingdo...
rwissmann 12y ago
There were/are a few, but generally you are right. Creationism is not really a thing in Europe.
lotsofmangos 12y ago
There were a few of the state funded free schools trying it on - http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jul/17/creationist-groups-approval-free-schools?guni=Article:in%20body%20link http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jul/17/creationist...
josephlord 12y ago
I think "any" is probably an optimistic stretch. Certainly there have been academies[0] teaching it. It wouldn't surprise me if some religious schools would still like to (Muslim and Church schools being most likely). [0] http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/jul/11/schoolprivatisation.schools http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/jul/11/schoolpriva...

codeulike 12y ago

Also, this is just a clarification of an existing rule that already applied to most state schools, they are just re-stating it for some of the funding edge cases like acadamies and free schools. ref: http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/06/18/secular-triumph-as-government-bans-creationism-from-free-sch http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/06/18/secular-triumph-as...

MarcScott 12y ago
Academies are no longer edge cases. Most Secondary Schools (11-18) are now Academies, and hence no longer have to teach the National Curriculum. I feel this is a very important clarification, especially considering the number of Academies and Free Schools that are sponsored by religious groups.
- grkvlt 12y ago
  Although the majority of secondary schools are academies, which I had not realised, they all still have to follow the core national curriculum for maths, english and science subjects.

louthy 12y ago

There are ACE schools in the UK teaching creationism as science: http://www.christian-education.org/christian-education/curriculum/ace-curriculum/ http://www.christian-education.org/christian-education/curri... http://www.christian-education.org/schools/choosing-a-school/uk-schools/ http://www.christian-education.org/schools/choosing-a-school...

codeulike 12y ago
Well OK it seems there are a handful, e.g http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/30/free-schools-creationism http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/nov/30/... ... but I just wanted to highlight that the situation in the UK is generally very different to the USA.
- tptacek 12y ago
  It's unlawful to teach religion in public schools in the US.
  - flavor8 12y ago
    And yet http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_public_schools_mapped_where_tax_money_supports_alternatives.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201...
  - grkvlt 12y ago
    What about 'Religious Education' type classes where they teach about religion, I assume that distinction is important?
  - joesmo 12y ago
    False. "Part of the problem is widespread misunderstanding regarding U.S. law. According to a 2010 Pew Forum survey, nearly two-thirds of Americans erroneously believe that the Constitution forbids public schools from offering a course on religion. "Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, said courts have ruled that schools must be neutral, but that doesn't mean they must ignore religion. On the contrary, ignoring religion gives preferential treatment to a strictly secular worldview, he said." -- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765616766/Religion-in-public-schools-America-is-religious-but-also-illiterate-of-religion.html?pg=all http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765616766/Religion-in-pub...
    - tptacek 12y ago

jwdunne 12y ago

I went to a catholic school and we were still taught evolution, the Big Bang theory, etc. Even had compulsory religious education lessons (sane number per week as maths, english, science) and accompanying GCSE in Catholic Christianity and we were still taught evolution. Many teachers even said that the Old Testament shouldn't be taken literally! It's quite rare I think and I'm surprised there are schools still teaching it.

vidarh 12y ago
Catholic schools in general are not the problem when it comes to these things. Pope Pius XII made it quite clear in 1950 that evolution is compatible with catholic doctrine, with certain proviso (such as that they don't accept a material basis for the human soul, and the idea that God is "guiding" evolution). Pope John Paul II further strengthened that substantially in the 90's, by reaffirming Pius XII's statement and adding that scientific discoveries in later years have substantially strengthened the theory. This has been supported by a long range of conferences and statements supported by the Catholic church. Including outright dismissal of any scientific basis for intelligent design by the Vatican's chief astronomer.
- PPLwynSPFJ5p 12y ago
  Perhaps the Catholic Church would like to enlighten us evolutionary skeptics as to precisely what scientific discoveries "in later years have substantially strengthened the theory"? Evolutionist are abandoning Darwinian theory in droves (check it out for yourself by googleing the Altenberg 16, or The Third Way, for example) because their bankrupt theory has no explanatory power whatsoever. Then there is also the small problem of the recent discovery of soft tissue, blood cells, collagen, DNA and significant amounts of carbon-14 in dinosaur bones, which proves that they cannot be millions of years old (the discovery was made by an evolutionist by the way, not a Creationist. Most people will be unaware of this discovery, of course, because anything that contradicts the prevailing dogma does not get any media attention, and secularists try very hard to cover it up anyway). You see, when the established church falls into compromise, abandons its belief in the Bible, and sells its own soul to the devil, we should hardly be surprised if our children end up being forcibly indoctrinated by atheists. The Catholic Church (and the Anglicans - who are just as bad in this respect) need to look more closely at what the scientific evidence ACTUALLY says. Most of that evidence is posted on various creationist websites such as Creation Ministries International.com. Just choose your topic of interest and type it into their search box. Your eyes will be opened as to what is actually being withheld from you by the so-called scientific "consensus". God bless.

walshemj 12y ago

Its to cut off some of the fringe "free" (but tax payer funded) schools that Gove was so fond of until recently.

Silhouette 12y ago
Indeed. There has been a lot of controversy in recent weeks about how some schools operate and the influence of certain religions in what is taught: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-27944190 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-27944190 Although that situation is about something else, it did renew attention on other long-standing concerns about how our schools today aren't all required to follow the same rules as much as they used to be and how this might negatively affect their children's education. Incidentally, the article title is misleading here. In the UK, "public school" means something counterintuitive and quite different to "school receiving public funds": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_%28United_Kingdom%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_%28United_Kingdo...

rwissmann 12y ago

There were/are a few, but generally you are right. Creationism is not really a thing in Europe.

lotsofmangos 12y ago

There were a few of the state funded free schools trying it on - http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jul/17/creationist-groups-approval-free-schools?guni=Article:in%20body%20link http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jul/17/creationist...

josephlord 12y ago

I think "any" is probably an optimistic stretch. Certainly there have been academies[0] teaching it. It wouldn't surprise me if some religious schools would still like to (Muslim and Church schools being most likely). [0] http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/jul/11/schoolprivatisation.schools http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/jul/11/schoolpriva...