在學校如何為進化論辯護 Defending Evolution in schools

從老師角度﹐如何為進化論辯護

學生如果是信基督教的﹐往往感到進化論冒犯了他們的信仰。我們知道很多基督教學校﹑教會自小都灌輸給孩童說﹐人類是上帝創造﹐進化論不是真的。有基督徒父母甚至在孩子看電視科學教育節目講到進化﹐也會說那只是「理論」﹐不是事實。

部份比較激進的教會﹐甚至提供材料去給學生在老師面前質疑進化論。

首先﹐老師必須小心注意以下事情﹕

• • 不要把學生的質疑變成一個對宗教批判的對話﹐這只會損害溝通

  • 不要侮辱﹑攻擊那些教導你學生這些知識的人﹐這只會傷害學生的感情

  • 不要把神創/智慧設計宣揚者貶低﹑侮辱為愚蠢﹑盟塞﹑反科學的人﹐同樣會損害溝通﹐因為在學生心裡面這些人可能是可敬的護教者

正面的方法是﹐以事論事﹐心平氣和接納學生有信仰的自由﹐但也需要堅定的指出﹕

• • 科學處理的是自然界的現象

  • 自然界的現象和事實不會因為信仰觀點而改變

  • 自然界的現象只有自然的解釋﹐而科學也只可以測試﹑驗證自然的解釋

老師應該把握機會在課室解釋什麼是科學﹐什麼不是。

網上流傳最廣的各種問題﹐都可以用我們在常見答問﹑相關文章的材料回應﹕

• • 如果學生質疑眼睛的設計﹑說達爾文自己也回答不了﹐可以用《達爾文的眼睛》回答

  • 一般的謬誤﹐可以用進化論七大誤解﹑「創世說」15個謬論等回覆

  • 回應寒武紀大爆發除了常見答問﹐可以參考澄江動物群挑戰達爾文進化論了嗎？ (兼答寒武紀大爆發)

  • 學生提出智慧設計﹐可以用常見答問或者“智能設計論”(智慧設計)只不過是一具行走的殭尸 兩篇文章

以上大部份都應該「貼中」學生可能提出的質疑。

回答學生的質疑﹐最恰當是在課堂上一點一點拿出來詳細的討論﹐而且強調科學的定義是什麼﹐信仰又是什麼﹐不要混淆兩者﹐慢慢的把神創﹑智慧設計等理論不科學的一面和進化論比較出來。

反駮質疑之後﹐就當拿出正面的證據﹕

• • 2004 加拿大接近北極圈發現了從魚類進化到陸地生物的中間類型﹐命名為 Tiktaalik﹐大家可以欣賞 Nova 這條片

  • 從分子生物學﹐有大量證據證明進化﹐可以到多媒體看﹐特別推薦

  • 指出智慧設計有問題最好的材料﹐就是電視紀錄片 Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial﹐網上觀看之余也可以看上面的材料

  • 同樣來自 "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design On Trial", 爬蟲如何進化出鳥類等五個化石證據﹕http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/transitional.html

其他可能老師遇到的質疑有﹕

• • 有雞先還是有蛋先﹖(回應)

  • 為何男人有乳頭﹖(回應)

儘量不要用說話挑戰學生的信仰或者質疑告訴他那些謬誤的人的品格﹐只說﹐進化論是一個博大精深的理論﹐普通人不明白﹑誤解是不足為怪的﹐然後可以建議學生來這裡（賣廣告﹗）。

智慧設計最大的弱點是什麼﹖大家可以問﹕

• • 智慧設計者IQ多高﹖

  • 到底有多少個智慧設計者﹖

  • 智慧設計者設計人心臟時候﹐怎樣開始設計﹖(人類心臟其實是最嚴重的缺陷﹐它只有一組冠心動脈﹐冠心動脈一出事就必須動手術﹐而不是好像現代設計那樣﹐有所謂的後備裝置)

  • 為何智慧設計者設計人類免疫系統﹐但又設計破壞它的HIV﹖

  • 為何智慧設計者設計帶來人類痛苦的病毒﹑細菌﹖

教師更加應該把握機會﹐去和學生討論什麼是科學﹑什麼是科學方法 (scientific methods)﹐然後直接和神創/智慧設計對比﹐讓學生更加對科學和科學方法印象深刻。

此外﹐也可以對學生解釋﹐保持自己的信仰﹐不需要否定進化﹐因為美國有不少基督徒是接納進化論和否定神創/智慧設計的﹐著名的有﹕

• • Dr. Kenneth R. Miller

  • Dr. Keith B. Miller

  • Dr. Francis Collins, 美國人類基因圖譜研究的一個尖端科學家

接納進化論和否定神創/智慧設計的機構﹕

• • 美國著名的惠頓大學 Wheaton College﹐是基督教大學﹐也教導學生進化論

  • Biologos.org﹐一個 Dr. Francis Collins 和其他信仰神﹐又接納進化論和否定神創/智慧設計的科學家成立的機構

接納進化論和否定神創/智慧設計的教會宗派﹕

• • 天主教會

  • 聖公會

  • 路德宗世界聯會 (Lutheran World Federation)

最後﹐老師可以解釋﹐神創/智慧設計是一種文化現象﹐它們是在美國基督教文化下的產物﹐就如中國風水那樣。神創/智慧設計是基督教文化抗衡理性主義和科學發展一種運動。

從學生角度如何為進化論辯護

從學生的角度﹐我們認為學生應該以自己的處境考慮。

遇到老師教授神創論﹑智慧設計和質疑或攻擊進化論﹐學生對比老師是處於弱勢﹐貿然的挑戰老師﹐除非學生有其他人保護﹐否則實在不值得冒險。

但有幾個情況﹐學生身份的你是可以引導你同學思考的﹕

當老師以辯論形式質疑進化論

這時候﹐你要充份利用這個網站的資源﹐反駮的材料 (常見答問﹑《達爾文的眼睛》﹑進化論七大誤解﹑「創世說」15個謬論﹑澄江動物群挑戰達爾文進化論了嗎？ (兼答寒武紀大爆發) ﹑“智能設計論”(智慧設計)只不過是一具行走的殭尸 ﹐另外一本必定參考的就是科學、進化與神創論。

你需要清楚定義什麼是科學﹐引用各大科學組織共識﹐然後指出﹐如果科學的定義模糊化﹐就會連星相﹑煉金這些古代迷信都變成科學。

同時最好熟習他們的策略。

當老師積極推銷智慧設計 (Intelligent Design)

如果老師不是直接反對進化論﹐而是動搖它﹐提出智慧設計﹐你可以問這些問題﹕

• 1. 智慧設計有多少科學家支持﹐有多少反對﹖

  2. 那些從事智慧設計研究的學者﹐有沒有發表學術論文﹖

  3. 美國賓夕法尼亞州多佛鎮案件已經判定智慧設計不是科學﹐為何老師要在科學堂教不是科學的東西﹖

  4. 智慧設計者有多少個﹖是不是一定是一個﹖

  5. 智慧設計者設計人心臟時候﹐怎樣開始設計﹖(人類心臟其實是最嚴重的缺陷﹐它只有一組冠心動脈﹐冠心動脈一出事就必須動手術﹐而不是好像現代設計那樣﹐有所謂的後備裝置)

  6. 為何智慧設計者設計人類免疫系統﹐但又設計破壞它的HIV﹖難道是有兩個不同的智慧設計者﹖

要注意的是﹐老師會拿出例如 Darwin's Black Box﹐The Edge of Evolution, the icons of evolution 等書本﹐你可以問﹐有那些科學家嚴格審閱裡面的內容﹐並且指出出版一本書﹐裡面就算說的全錯都可以出版的。

學生也可以向老師問一問美國 Lehigh University 生物科學系的聲明。"Darwin's Black Box" 與 "Edge of Evolution"的作者 Dr. Michael Behe 就是這大學生物科學系的教授。

http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Einbios/news/evolution.htm

聲明說﹕

• 本學院生物科學系致力持守最高標準的科學誠信和學術工作

• 本學院生物科學系非常肯定地支持演化論

  • 與本學院生物科學系以上立場持否定態度的唯一一人﹐Dr. Michael Behe﹐是知名的“智慧設計”倡導者。我們尊重 Dr. Behe 他個人表達自己觀點的權利﹐但這僅僅屬於他個人的觀點﹐並非本學院生物科學系所讚同。智能設計並沒有科學依據，尚未經過測試實驗，而不應被視為科學。

這樣子﹐老師應該是難以回答你的問題﹐一定會迴避。

然後你可以私下向可以信任的同學和願意求知的﹐宣傳本站和本站介紹的材料。

當老師表現出對進化論很大的敵意﹐極力否定﹑攻擊進化論

這個情況﹐我們絕對不建議硬拼。學生在老師下是處於劣勢的﹐最好的方法就是投訴。

Defending evolution from a teacher's perspective

The sad reality is significant number of students received very negative information about evolution. Some of their feelings are quite deep rooted and often being told by their parents during their upbringing. In extreme forms there are pastors who took students to a tour of the Museum of Natural History and said the displays of dinosaurs and other ancient animals are just "statues" and not about science.

Some churches even supply propaganda materials to young people to challenge evolution and challenge biology teachers.

As teachers, they should be cautious not to:

• • Turn it to a critiqute of theism or religion, that will hurt the dialogue

  • Turn it to creationists/clergy bashing, it will hurt the student's feelings

  • Call the Creationists/ID proponents as irrational, stupid etc.

A rational and factual approach should be used, and the teacher should acknowledge the student has his/her freedom for personal belief, while firmly pointing out that:

• • Science deals with natural phenomena that can be repeatedly observed

  • Objective facts of science and natural phenomena is not affected by personal belief

  • Science talks about natural explanation to natural phenomena because only these can be observed and tested

Teachers should take the oppurtunity to explain to students what is science, and what is not.

Many of those queries or "challenges" to evolution are already addressed in our Frequently Asked Questions, and our collection of Articles, which is constantly updated and added upon:

• • For common misunderstanding to evolution: 15 Answers to Creationists Nonsense

  • Evolution of the eye: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_01.html

  • Cambrian explosion: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html, http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CC/CC300.html

• Answers to the 10 questions to the biology teacher

The above will be able to address questions from most students.

Don't dump onto the students everything, deal with it one by one, reinforcing the difference between science and faith, showing to students why Creationism / Intelligent Design are not science.

Show the students positive evidences, here are some very profound ones:

• • 2004 Neil Shuban and his colleagues discovered the transitional fossil Tiktaalik (means big fresh water fish), which is a form between land animal and amphibians, watch this from Nova

  • Molecular biology which give astounding evidence of common descent that can be found in our Multimedia section, check out the one about human genome

  • The best production so far that exposes the problems with Intelligent Design:Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

  • Five other vivid fossil evidences of evolution from Nova's site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/transitional.html

There maybe other odd questions, such as:

• • Eggs came first or birds with beaks came first ? (response)

  • Why do man have nipples ? Did they evolved from women ? (response)

We will try our best to keep this site maintained and ahead of the IDC's propaganda.

Resist any temptation to openly criticise people who told those misinformation to your students. Just say, evolution is not an easy topic, and it is easily misunderstood. Point your student to this site!

Furthermore, in the classroom discussion, the teachers can point out problems of Intelligent Design:

• • It tells you nothing about the IQ of the intelligent agent(s)

  • How many intelligent design agents are there ?

  • Why is it there are so many design flaws ? Human heart has a single point of failure - only one set of coronary arteries and when it failed the only way is surgery, or why is the DNA so vulnerable to mistakes ?

  • Why do the intelligent agent design HIV to attack the immune system it designed ?

  • Why do the intelligent agent design virus and bacteria that brings us miseries ?

Take the oppurtunity to talk about scientific methods, and contrast evolution with Creationism/Intelligent Design.

In the end, you should let your students know that there are Christians who accepted evolution in whole, and rejected Creationism/Intelligent Design i.e. evolution do not necessariliy contradicts their faith.

Christian scientists (some of them):

• • Dr. Kenneth R. Miller

  • Dr. Keith B. Miller

  • Dr. Francis Collins (former head of USA Human Genome Project)

Christian institutes that rejects Creationism/Intelligent Design and embraces evolution:

• • Wheaton College

  • Biologos.org (founded by Dr. Francis Collins)

Religious organizations that accepted evolution and rejected Creationism/Intelligent Design:

• • The Catholic Church

  • The Anglican Church (Epicospal Church)

  • Lutheran World Federation

It will be worthy to note that, Creationism/Intelligent Design arose from the unique American cultural background, and they should be discussed in cultural context rather as science.

For more information and knowledge, try this How Stuff Work resource.

Defending evolution from a student's perspective

Students doing this must be sure they have the safety to do it, especially they are not on equal footing with the teachers and principals.

It is not wise to challenge the teacher without evaluating the situation.

There are a number of scenario the student can deal with:

When there is a class debate that challenges evolution

Student should use this sites information as far as they can (Frequently Asked Questions, and our collection of Articles, 15 Answers to Creationists Nonsense, etc.)

Quote the Interacademy Panel Statements and other major science institutes position.

Read the definitive book by USA's National Academ Press Science, Evolution and Creationism.

Also read about their tactic.

When the teacher talks about Intelligent Design

If the teacher is doing this, the teacher is trying to induce doubt. It is useful to ask the teacher these questions:

• • How many scientists, compared to evolution, accepted Intelligent Design ?

  • Who are the scientists that do research on Intelligent Design, and what peer reviewed academic papers have they published in reputable scientific journals ?

  • The Dover Pennsylvia trial in December 2005 determined that Intelligent Design is not science, why is it taught in science class ?

  • Do we have a single intelligent design agent or more than one of them ?

  • How did the intelligent design agent design the human heart - given that it has a single point of failure (one set of coronary arteries)

  • Why do the intelligent design agent design HIV to attack our immune system which is also designed by intelligent design agent ? (or are they different intelligent design agents?)

The teacher may point you to a number of books, such as Darwin's Black Box, The Edge of Evolution, the Icons of Evolution etc.

You can point out that in freedom of expression, many things, even if it is not scientifically valid, can be published. You may also asked what peer review process those books have gone through.

It will be interesting to have your teacher's comment on the notice by Lehigh University Department of Biological Sciences of USA, where Dr. Michael Behe, author of "Darwin's Black Box" and "Edge of Evolution" is the professor there.

http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Einbios/news/evolution.htm

In this notice, the university said:

• • The faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences is committed to the highest standards of scientific integrity and academic function

  • The department faculty, then, are unequivocal in their support of evolutionary theory

  • The sole dissenter from this position, Prof. Michael Behe, is awell-known proponent of "intelligent design." While we respect Prof. Behe's right to express his views, they are his alone and are in no way endorsed by the department. It is our collective position that intelligent design has no basis in science, has not been tested experimentally, and should not be regarded as scientific.

It is likely that the teacher will not have answers to the questions.

You should also promote this site to your classmates (who can be trusted and will not expose you).

When the teacher shows great hostility to evolution and teaches intelligent design / creationism eagerly

This is not safe for you to oppose the teacher directly. We recommend you to make a complaint to the Education Bureau.