Friday, May 19, 2006

Evolution and the Inuit.


Oh, dear:

Teachers in some northern Quebec communities are being told not to talk about the evolution of humans because Darwin's theory offends some Inuit people.

Must rush. Off to meeting. Your thoughts?

6 comments:

Dave said...

I think the line where one should be sensitive to cultural beliefs (cultural beliefs here not being the traditional ones of the inuit, but rather those of the pentacostal church) stops when it comes to teaching science. If the school board wants to perpetuate the current social conditions in inuit communities then they are on the right track by not teaching science properly.

Other than that, it's just a typical ignorant religious diatribe against modern science. Teach myth in church, leave the schools for learning fact.

Anonymous said...

"A mother called, and she said that I'd told her daughter that she was a monkey."

Just from a quote like this, it's pretty clear that this is just another anti-evolution pile of crap, not a case of respecting beliefs. Probably a preacher has come to save their souls through the only way religion knows how : enforced ignorance. Importing dumbass religion and then refusing to teach science properly is a typically horrible mistreatment of native groups.

The American Anthropologist said...

After seeing how the Catholic church wants to boycott (or ban in countries that allow that) the DaVinci Code, and now the new Scopes IceMonkey trial, perhaps the church should change its slogan to:
"Fighting ignorance with censorship since 0"

Anonymous said...

The worst part is, by saying that evolution is 'offending Inuit' not 'offending Pentacostal Christians', they are trying to prey on even the most progressive Canadians for support. Most Canadians are all for teaching evolution, but most Canadians also (rightly so, given the history of brutal oppression) get a little tetchy when people are offending native beliefs. Not mentioning the fact that the Inuit in question are Pentacostals until the end of the article is a sort of manipulative lying through omission.

Dave said...

Heard this on my handy dandy satellite radio today. The interesting part of the interview was that the Catholic School Board which administers the school is on the side of the teacher and very upset that he's leaving.

Somena Woman said...

Agreed, they should teach the science as the science, and the mythology as the mythology.