Romania removes theory of evolution from school curriculum
Romania's withdrawal of the theory of evolution from the school curriculum could be evidence of a growing conservative tendency in teaching. Evolution has been removed from the school curriculum in a move which, pressure groups argue, distorts children's understanding of how the world came into being.
Meanwhile, religious studies classes continue to tell Romanian children that God made the world in seven days.
*snip*
In 2006, the Ministry of Education and Research also removed Voltaire, Camus and Nietzsche from the philosophy curriculum. These three writers are noted for their critical views on religion and Nietzsche's pronouncement that 'God is dead'.
76 comments
I thought god rested on the 7th day lulz
Billy, God made the heavens and birds and then..haha disregard that I suck cocks.
Ugh. If rabid xtian fundies in the US had their way they'd do this in the states, too.
Of course they're distorting how the world actually works, switching reality with a creation myth. Like this is even up for debate...
In 2006, the Ministry of Education and Research also removed Voltaire, Camus and Nietzsche from the philosophy curriculum.
I have a very appropriate Voltaire quote for this:
"In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
Yup, that's Voltaire: pwning fundies from beyond the grave .
Bad situation here...
Even worse, the woo is pretty strong here too.
I've even seen a Romanian televangelist. I'd never thought we'd import that.
I cry for my country.
@#851113
Romania voted some days/a week ago for the parliament and the radical religious and the nationalists didn't make it in.
Facepalms are inadequate to describe my feelings on this. I mean, it just scares me what fundies all over the world is able to accomplish. I mean, never mind that there's actually *no* doubt in the scientific community that evolution is happening, the specifics around the theory can probably be trimmed and sharpened further, but it wouldn't be a good theory if one couldn't.
Anyway, I'm ranting... boo Romania, go to your room, no cookie.
Remember those Heinlein stories from the 50s and 60s, where all the people are wise, scientifically educated pipe-smoking, sweater wearing tough guys? The kind of people who could build a nuclear reactor while acting as a midwife.
In 2006, the Ministry of Education and Research also removed Voltaire, Camus and Nietzsche from the philosophy curriculum.
Yeah.
Umm aaa,
They cannot become a third world (not involved in ww2) country. (ie;Sweden, Spain, Tailand, And any country that did not exist prior to the end of the war.)
A first world country is by definition, a country that was on the winning side in ww2 (ie; America, Brazil, China, Poland,
Having said this, Romania is still a cesspool of poverty and ignorance.
For all their cuteness and charm, peasants are still dirty, ignorant, and incestuous... and liable to form armed mobs at the merest hint of progress.
@D Laurier:
Well guess what, Romania was on the winning side of WW2, because it changed sides during the war. :)
That said, I don't see what this has to do with anything.
OMG, an Eastern European country that is taking a step back into before the 1900s. That communism really screwed them up.
Edit: @D Laurier: You are really stupid. I mean seriously stupid.
First World = modernized capitalist nations
War has nothing to do with it.
As for Romania, well...I've heard that, in some places in eastern Europe, there are still people who hunt werewolves and vampires. That's in real life, mind you, not in some role-playing game. Granted, werewolves and vampires actually existing constitutes much cooler superstition than the idea of some all-powerful sky-daddy creating the universe in a week, but it's major superstition just the same.
@Rat of Steel
That'd be cool(though disturbing), but unfortunately, as a Romanian, I can say that although rural folks around here might be an ignorant, superstitious and religious bunch, werevolves and vampires are definitely not hunted, not even believed in.
Maybe evil spirits, but not that stuff.
Come on, Rat of Steel , you can do better than that! Where's the innuendo? Where's the raunch? Usually your comments leave me in a sweat, but now I feel like I just learned something... and it isn't a nice feeling.
Meanwhile, religious studies classes continue to tell Romanian children that God made the world in seven days.
There are two ways to teach an RS class. This is the wrong one.
Second World = modernized communist nations
wut?
Much of South America, the Middle East, etc. would like a word with you.
This really takes first prize. I went to school both in the comunist system and the, apparently, democratic system and the standards kept falling year after year. They tried to teach us religion, but my generation was too rebelious (being the "revolution" children) and it did not take. But 45 years of represing religion creates a sort of mith culture. "If the comunists were against it, it must be good". And people have been going back to their roots ever since, wether they actually belive in god or not. This is more about trust in the Orthodox church than in god. So the few powerfull people in the churh are now using this influence to further their own interests. Those religion teachers....they are all priests, who get paid first by the government for being priests and then by the government for being teachers, prety cushy job. Actually it may have changed, but that is the way it was in my days. So don't blame romanians too much, its not that they are stupid, its just that they are romantics who belive the old days are better. Hell, there are some people who actually belive that comunism was better. That said, the Ministry of Education has been screwing with the students for 20 years in it's present form. Expect more.........
Oh look, Romania has decided it would prefer another Dark Age. Bully for them! Perhaps they'll join the rest of us in the 21st century some day, of course, by then the rest of us will be in the 25th or 26th century.
hey, it used to be a runing joke, that we were so far behind everybody else, that when the Apocalipse came, we'd still have 200 years to enjoy the earth.
"Romania removes theory of evolution from school curriculum"
Christians are opposed to evolution.
PROOF THAT CHRISTIANS ARE VAMPIRES!!!!!!!!!
@Sayna!
Relax, the Numa Numa song is from Moldova. Romania is the Kansas of Europe. It's got Vlad Tepes on it's currency. A man known for being so bloodthirsty to his own people that the turks did not want to face him on the basis of "they had to fix his mess".
Think of him as the sort of animal that craps itself and then rolls around in it to make it seem less appetising.
"Umm aaa,
They cannot become a third world (not involved in ww2) country. (ie;Sweden, Spain, Tailand, And any country that did not exist prior to the end of the war.)
A first world country is by definition, a country that was on the winning side in ww2 (ie; America, Brazil, China, Poland,"
Not exactly, first world countries are broadly speaking the ones that aligned with the USA during the cold war, second world are those that aligned more closely with the USSR, and third world countries are considered "unaligned".
WW2 didnt have much to do with anything
@ FMG: Who taught you any history? Yes Tepes was bloodthirsty no doubt about that, but he only used methods that were already popular in Europe arround that time. And he did it to try and unite Valahia under the rule of the Prince instead of the barons and their alliance with a known enemy of the country, i.e. the Otoman Empire. He killed traitors and criminals in the most efficient way. So don't speak of what you know not. Oh, and just to set the record straight: he....was....not....a....vampire.:) there.
and sorry to say, Vlad does not appear on any romanian money, Sephen the Great, Michael the Brave, Tudor Vladimirescu.... yes and many others but I can't seem to find Vlad.
Just wait for the rants about how fucking Romania, as Southpark calls it "the asshole of the world" is so much smarter and ahead of the Americas, Europe and Asia scientifically *HAH!* because they bowed to the fundie's delusions.
I'm not convinced by the story - trawling through the reactions to this on google it seems like it's an overreaction to stopping a specific class on evolution rather than that Romania has stopped all teaching of evolution.
Redaing through the comments here I worry that sometimes we are a bit too ready to jump in and condemn based on a headline - a fault of fundies everywhere
distorts children's understanding of how the world came into being.
Meanwhile, religious studies classes continue to tell Romanian children that God made the world in seven days.
And this doesn't?
Dissapointed with my country wrote, regarding Vlad Tepes:
"He killed traitors and criminals in the most efficient way." Since when is impaling them on the top of a 10-meter pole and letting them die a slow, agonizing death "efficient"?
Fifth world: New Lemuria?
Anyway, I'm curious as to whether Romanians still regard Vlad Tepes III as a hero or not (I suppose it depends on what the Turks had in mind for the "reprobate tritheists", as it were, if they won). Although...Stoker definitely had a made-from-whole-cloth member of the Order of the Dragon in mind for his vampire. I believe he had Dracula refer to himself as a...Szekely? (Romanians, please correct...) That wasn't Tepes's lineage.
@Skynight
Tepes's father was referred to as Dracula. That's where Stoker got the name I guess.
Btw, Szekely sounds nowhere near Romanian, it might be Hungarian.
@ tracer's : "Since when is impaling them on the top of a 10-meter pole and letting them die a slow, agonizing death "efficient"?"
Since it deters the next guy. And it was not a 10 meter pole, 3.5 to 4 meters was enough. He had improved the original turkish system with a cradle design that allowed variable speed for the victims descent. He was using terror as a determent. And you know.... it worked.
@skynight
His lineage is of the Basarab family that rulled in the Romanian countries from arround 800 A.D. He was a grandson of Mircea the Old. Vlad's father was refered to as Dracul and was a Knight of the Order of the Dragon, knighted by the king of Hungary. Dracula inherited the Knighthood although he only used the ring but not the cape that was part of the "uniform". And he is regarded as one of the great rullers of the Romanian countries. Stoker's caracter only has the name, all other references are fictitious, including most of the geograpy.
@D Laurier
The "1st World" refers to the west and any nation that fits such Criteria.
"2nd World" is for mostly former Soviet States and ongoing Socialist nations.
"3rd World" are the poor crappy nations no one really cares about.
"Evolution has been removed from the school curriculum in a move which, pressure groups argue, distorts children's understanding of how the world came into being."
Yup, that move is going to distort children's understanding of how the world came into being. Or rather, how the animal species came into being, as we are discussing evolution, not geology.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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