It's becoming a trend: Evangelical Christian institutions that try to do science inevitably demonstrate breathtaking inanity of their own. The latest victim is the Pawleys Island Christian Academy. Take a gander at the first place winner in biology.

Brian Benson, an eighth-grade student who won first place in the Life Science/Biology category for his project "Creation Wins!!!," says he disproved part of the theory of evolution. Using a rolled-up paper towel suspended between two glasses of water with Epsom Salts, the paper towel formed stalactites. He states that the theory that they take millions of years to develop is incorrect.

"Scientists say it takes millions of years to form stalactites," Benson said. "However, in only a couple of hours, I have formed stalactites just by using paper towel and Epsom Salts."

More of the article here...

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Just... Wow. That's what christian schools are teaching kids?

This debate would work a whole lot better if the creationists used real evidence.

The children are our future. Buy that kid a case of paper towels, Epsom salts and never ever let him near Luray Caverns Virginia! He'll see that blue ribbon dissolve just as quickly as salt in hot water. Ewww proof that saline is a matter of creation and not evolution. Now, where's my ribbon.

It always annoys me when I hear about theists who think the whole of God and what it wanted for humanity can be contained in one old book written by men.

But what annoys me even more is that they assume God is something that is stagnant, unable to evolve with its children.
(After all, "Perfection" is in the context of thousands of years ago...)

Well, that child's grasp of science says more about his teachers and his parents than anything else. They do say that ignorance breeds ignorance...

Oh the humanity!

Wow, I can't believe the narrow mindedness that they teach. No wonder so many Christians call down other religions and theories that call in to question their own. They really need to get some education.

A friend of mine was home-schooled by her "Christian" mother because she didn't like what was being taught in public schools. My friend then continued her "education" at a Christian Bible College, finally deciding she wanted to go for a Masters in Psychology at a large state institution. She washed out in her first semester. She almost totally lacked the mathematics, chemistry and English skills needed to succeed in a professional career, even the rudimentary math and chemistry required in psychology.

The creation-evolution debate had nothing to do with her washout. The "home-schooling" provided by her mother amounted to no schooling. The Bible college prepared her for nothing. Many of the "Christian" schools don't even leave a student with enough reading skill to read the Bible and math and science are seriously neglected. I strongly advise everyone to go to public school, even if you have to move around to find a good one. At least, you'll have to meet a minimum competency level to graduate.

Lest you think I am down on home-schooling: another friend of mine, a member of my "church," was home-schooled. His "senior project" was a complete genealogy, tracing his family as far back as records go. I attended his graduation piano recital. After two semesters at a state univeristy in the US, he received a four-year full-ride Fulbright scholarship and is now studying at St. Andrews in Scotland. Home schooling is as good or as poor as the parents make it.

--DJS

Why do people play with things they can't comprehend? Maybe next year this kid will incorporate rock candy into a theory on how rock formations are made.

These are the people that give Sheri, GW, and Kratos so much ammo. I get the poor kids theory/concept, but for the love of Pete...
Makes me wonder (hope?) if he was pandering to his audience.

Uh... does his Science Competition thingy even realise that Epsom salts are Magnesium sulfate and stalactites are Calcium Carbonate? Also... do they even realize Stalactite has nothing to do with Evolution?

That school is a church in disguise... So much for seperation of church and state. Unless it's a private school then the parents should invest their money in another school that have teachers with a higher IQ and are not basing their science teachings on the bible...

Oh, give me a break, like the Play-Doh volcanoes are actually expected to truly reflect how vulcanology functions!

First of all, I would like to say that I am a Christian and I can't help but say that there are some crazy ones out there that are the most ignorant people in the world, but please don't say that all Christians are like that.

Well anyway, this kids an idiot, but the person who actually gave him the ribbon is an idiot. It also doesn't say a lot about his teachers and parents...God help us

I would like to say that the Bible doesn't say that evolution is not true, it just says that God created everything, other than that, species could change.

No, but they do reflect on the mechinisms of how they act. Pressure within the mantle which is then expelled via the volcano. Where'as an experiment to dissprove Evolution (through a geological study of Stalactites ) and then naming it proof of creationism is hardly like the volcano example.

It's irony that a creationist school even has a science fair...



Actually it does say Evolution is wrong. If the bible accepted Evolution it would add one more contradiction to the mass of contradictions that already thrive in it, the added contradiction is that god created everything so it would technically be 'perfect' and thus no need to evolve .

How pathetic. I never thought "Christian" and "science fair" went together anyways, what an oxymoron! But I guess this is what you get when you mix the two, doesn't surprise me.
Students make volcanoes to demonstrate lava flow not to prove unprovable religious theories! Silly goose.

Fake lava, lightning and tornado in a bottle are staples of science fairs...I love how the media edits maybe thirty minutes of an interview down to a few sentences and panders to their target audience. *wipes tears*

lol have you ever built one as a kid IAMS?? I did lol

Yeah, in elementary school when kids are preteens. This pathetic excuse for a science fair was won by a 15 year old and has nothing to do with biology nor religion. This is ignorance at it's finest!

Well, it's been a long time since I was in school and we didn't learn how to make those. ...I'd like to see how it's done.

I'm sure it's pretty cool!

Evidently, only the side of the media you agree with doesn't edit.

That is like the holy grail of high school science projects.

Little effort required and if he won, he must have gotten a decent grade on it.

If only there was an explosion.

Explosions are always good!!!

Do you ever watch - brainiac science abuse?? all they ever do is blow stuff up

We must not have that here...we do have Mythbusters and they blow huge stuff up!

Ohh yea I watch Mythbusters too lol

but there was this ONE show of mythbusters that i watched and was like WTF??....they were testing to see the impact on a body been thrown through a glass window, like shown in the movies....

Anyhoo, they made up a human like body...tested it...through the window it went, and hardly a scratch...............so this wasn't good enough...they then went and removed the clothing and a layer of skin...made the glass twice as thick, and the force behind the throw was stronger............off it went again and this time they got a minor result and believed they busted that movie myth...of actors going through glass windows and getting up with hardly a scratch!!! I recall watching and thinking GIMME A BREAK!! LOL

Careful dear your transparent contempt is showing. These people didn't give anyone ammo. They're proud of this project enough to call the media's attention to it. Therefore, they are subject to the public opinion that ensues. And if this poor kid believes this is education, then the concept of that, makes for a poor future indeed in a world that isn't responsible for what he doesn't know, when he arrives.

I love watching Christians try to explain the "theory" of Creation. It always makes me laugh. Teach your kids real science, not some crap in a fictional book written thousands of years ago.

Just be sure you put "fundy" or "bible-banger" or such in front of this story and your comments about it. They are an extreme minority that come up with this stuff. Mainstream Christians don't try to prove these ridiculous ideas. We have no problem whatsoever with Christianity and Evolution. There was another thread in the science section where someone said the same thing about growing stalagites under the Washington monument. I corrected his ignorance and never heard back. Some wacko publishes this crap and the gullible believe it.

~ Michelle: It is easy to make one, all you need is modeling clay, test tube or bottle (I didn't use one in my third grade project) vinegar, and baking soda. When the vinegar reaches the baking soda (inside the test tube) it "erupts" like a volcano would, because of the pressure between the vinegar and baking soda.

Thanks, punkmonkey...something I'll definately have to play with one of these days.

Ya, I never had the need to build the baking soda volcano. When I was 13, we got to watch a real volcano blow her stack (see Mt. St. Helens). Heard her go too... 8:30+/- am on a Sunday, BOOM... and it was over 250 miles away!

But ya, this is creepy when a kid wins a "science" fair with a project like that. Luckily, there aren't a lot of Christians out there that would buy that drivel.

And as a 12+ year homeschooler (more or less, likely a lot less... since I never had a cirriculum for my kid) it can be a lacking education. As a homeschooler, you have to be willing to seek help from the outside world if you need it (my daughter and I recognized that her math skill were totally sub-par once she got into college. It wasn't anything that 6 months at Sylvan couldn't fix... in fact, I give them two thumbs up... cept that they're outrageously expensive). Apparently this kid and that school could use the help of some real scientific methods training... being young earth Christians doesn't mean you get to be stupid.

I'd love to see one of these kids try to do a science project using biblical genetics. Use two mice that are related to each other and keep inbreeding. If one is to believe both the Adam and Eve story and Noah's flood, let them prove that you can inbreed that much and not end up with some serious issues. Before they start to try to debunk evolution maybe they should try to prove some of the silly things in the Bible first.

This is just plain ridiculous! And scary!

Exclusionary education is the worst thing in my mind. I'm of the opinion that you should teach children EVERYTHING you possible can... and everything else as well.

Tell me where and I will agree with you but right now I think you are wrong. The next thing I would like to say; or rather ask; is:
Does the Bible simply contradict itself, or are we too stupid to fully understand it?

.....You mean........they don't.



...
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...
...
... Dammit.


Oh well it was nice for the kid to try.

Its not that science and Christianity don't mix, its that stupid, ignorant people and science that don't mix.
Stop Bashing My Religion!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christianity and Evolution can be buddies...

see here

"and god saw that it was good" IE; it was perfect.

No, those who wrote, added, took away, changed and edited the bible were the ones who were too untelligent to comprehend that man would one day be able to distinguish reality and/from myth. Though... for the rest of the 5 billion people on this planet, they were right in their thinking.

There are good people in the world...so then are all people perfect; is anybody perfect? Well if I used your logic, all people are perfect as long as they are good. I look at my 3 year old cousin and see that he is good, but I know he is not perfect.

If the world was perfect, as you believe the Bible says in your quote, then why did God have heaven for those who died and followed him?

Well, I proved that logic wrong, ya'll have any other quotes from the Bible ya'll would like to try to use to prove me wrong?

the real kin of Adam and Eve if there weren't other people on earth -

or if all were wiped off after Noah's flood.

hey!...obvious baiting!
I happen to look just like one of those gentlemen, and I'm offended Ms. Ripley.....B






halfhandshuffle:Adam Ant - Friend or foe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VveCVscF1wM&NR

Not all Christians believe in a 6000 Y.O. universe - just the wacko ones.

Here's my view: If God created everything, then he also created physics, chemistry, geology, and everything else scientific. The bible even speaks somewhere about a thousand years being as a day to God. Obviously, His time is different than ours. So therefore, creation was not literally six of our days. Also, I don't see why(if He created science) He would not want to play by His own rules and allow evolution, etc, to take place.
Long story short, there are plenty of Christians who believe in science, as well as evolution. You just don't hear about us on the news because we are not loony tunes.


I tend to be skeptical in most areas of my life. I like firm scientific proof, or firsthand evidence when I am looking for something. I am a Christian who believes in God because I have had some very overwhelming personal experiences in my life. I don't expect to cause anyone else to believe based on my experience, as I do not believe in things merely based on someone else's say-so.

Don't judge us all based on a news story featuring ridiculous pseudo-schooling. Many people here would probably be outraged if I judged all Wiccans by the weird girl in my local mall who dresses in long black cloaks, wears too much eyeliner and walks around chanting "spells" at people. Every group has its clueless fringe elements.

WTF?? EH?

This kid with his stalactite demo, well while kind of funny and a little disturbing kind of gives me some hope. He is showing that he wants to learn, if that is fostered then eventually he will probably discover that his own experiment and conclusion were a bit shall we say faulty. Perhaps once he gets to college he will actually get a chance to learn more about science as most of the world knows it.

While it is always sad when a person is homeschooled by a person not capable of handling the job it does happen, I am glad that you have been able to see instances where it has actually worked out positively for the student. I kind of wondering where you got such a low opinion of Christian schools. Having attended one I got to tell you the Math and Science that was taught at least at the schools I attended was totally sane and normal Religion was kept in Religion class and Science class in science kind of like separation of church and state. (It was a catholic school and they covered evolution and all that good stuff that public schools teach) Many of the private schools in my area are superior to their public counterparts.

My other half and I will be forced to choose what type of school to place our son in in a few years and let me tell you if there is any way I can avoid it he won't be attending public school. I remember seeing some of the things that were being taught to friends of mine at the same grade level who where in the public education system and it was depressing. The English, Math and Science that they were being taught in ninth grade were things we had covered in sixth. I'm not trying to be too hard on public schools but any school private or otherwise can have poor results unfortunately we are in an area with some of the bad public ones so private may be the only way short of home schooling. Gee I wish I were independently wealthy so I could just move to a better district.

I want to make one like Peter Brady did ! wooooooooohooooo

sorry !

I love Adam Ant

There were people in the world before Adam and Eve, the Bible says so: "Cain said to the Lord,'My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from Your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." Genesis 4:13-14

If Adam and Eve were the first people, then everyone would be related to Cain (either his brother or sister) and so would know about him.

Another quote verifies this: "Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch." Genesis 4:17

The Bible just comes out of the blue saying that Cain all of a sudden has a wife, and the Bible talks of no relation between them.

I believe that Adam and Eve were not the first humans in the whole world, but they were the first chosen people of God, the first Jews; Hebrews.

Some little boy somewhere getting a blue ribbon on something ludicrous says a heap about Christians everywhere!

I dooo declare.

thnx for making a generalization

it is VERY obvious you have no idea what you are talking about and it is ALSO VERY clear that your inteligence is not good enough to add, in any productive way, to ANY of these discussions.

I believe that it is often generalizations that start wars.

That's mean.


Also, kinda mean, please realize that many people believe in this "crap-filled fictional book written thousands of years ago." In light of that, try to be more peaceful.




I do believe she was being sarcastic as is Sunni is a Christian. Don't go about insulting people's intelligence. It's flaming.

Believers are taking creation stories from the same book that claims that the earth is flat, bats are really birds, that jews cannot eat meat because all the clean animals were killed, says snakes eat dust, says a flood covered the earth, that perhaps when a child is made in goats whatever the parent sees then at the moment is what the kid will have streaks on the coats, camels don't have split hoofs, says hares and conies eat cud, some birds have 4 feet, beetles really have 4 legs, that unicorns existed and that firey serpents existed.

Those items as listed are all false or they simply have no evidence to support them in any fashion.

Now granted this christian kid and the school doesn't apply to all christians because they're simply misinformed but it does point out the very real fact of the bogus science creationists and intelligent design followers are using to try to make gains.