Students pushing for intelligent design
I thought it appropriate to post on ID in Ireland given that it’s St. Patricks Day.
Secondary pupils in Northern Ireland are spearheading a campaign to introduce a scientific concept, banned in the United States, into the curriculum.
Students from both secondary schools and some of the province’s most prestigious grammar schools claim that so-called intelligent design will give a “more balanced view of how the world came into beingâ€Â.
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No examinations body offers intelligent design but it is understood to be offered by the small number of the province’s Independent Christian Schools.Pupils in mainstream schools are, however, compiling a petition which they will forward to education minister Angela Smith, arguing that intelligent design should be offered.
They say the US constitution has no jurisdiction in Northern Ireland, and therefore the minister should consider changing the curriculum to accommodate the concept.
The petition reads: “I agree that intelligent design should be taught as science in schools in Northern Ireland as part of the curriculum from key stage 1 to university level alongside the theory of evolution.â€Â
The group has won political support for its campaign, most notably from the Democratic Unionist Party.
“It’s clear that in our schools the faith of many thousands of pupils is being actively denigrated on a daily basis and that the schools system is being used by education authorities to indoctrinate people against their own religious convictions. This must stop,†Upper Bann MP David Simpson says.