Humanities and Diversity
HUMA 2400- Religious Diversity
I took this class during the fall semester of 2012 at SLCC. Taking this class not only fulfills my humanities credit, but also my diversity credit. Here I have posted some media reviews that we did during the school year.
Reflection I picked these assignments for my ePortfolio because to displays my thoughts on the religious diversity in United States. These assignments were media reviews in which we would discuss and analyze critically news articles relating to religious diversity. I really enjoyed these assignments because the articles that I choose were of personal interest to me. Most of them concerned religion infiltrating our schools or matters of separation of church and state. As I have said in elsewhere on my ePortfolio, I feel very strongly that religion has its place which isn't in school or state affairs.
Critical thought is something that I enjoy doing. So any assignment that allows me to do this is fun. It feels good to get my opinions and ideas down on to a piece of paper. This is exactly what these media reviews did for me. I also believe that these assignments also demonstrate my ability embrace our religiously diverse culture, and that is exactly what the goal of this class was. |
Media Reviews
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Evolution and Alternative Theories in School
In the article, “Kentucky Evolution Fight: GOP Lawmakers Upset State Exams Test Students On 'Made Up' Theory”, the Huffington Post reports that Kentucky Republicans are all up in arms over the new test standards put on high school students. Earlier in 2009 the state legislature decided to link its testing system with national education standard, which opened the door for ‘controversial’ test question in the field of biology regarding evolution. Now the state republicans are rethinking their decision, they criticize that the theory of creationism isn’t presented in a positive light and places undue emphasis on the teaching of evolution, which they maintain exists only as a "theory."
Vincent Cassone, chairman of the University of Kentucky biology department, says, “The theory of evolution is the fundamental backbone of all biological research…There is more evidence for evolution than there is for the theory of gravity, than the idea that things are made up of atoms, or Einstein's theory of relativity. It is the finest scientific theory ever devised.” The fact that the teaching of evolution is still controversial is a testament to people’s ignorance. There is so much evidence that is available for people who are just willing to look. In the article I see a common theme that people are getting confused with a theory vs. a scientific theory. A theory, in its common use, is a hypothesis or guess, something that can’t necessarily be proven. This is wholly different from a scientific theory. A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on the facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Evolution has undergone this process of people trying to poke hole in it, and still stands up to the task of explaining all the diverse populations of the biological world. I wonder if the theory of creationism would hold up under the same skeptical scrutiny that evolution has undergone. The simple answer is it wouldn’t. Science is based on testable experiments; the theory of creationism can’t be tested just by its nature because God did it. Therefore, creationism isn’t science. So my question to the legislatures of Kentucky is: why would we have non-scientific view points in a science class? Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/kentucky-evolution-act-testing_n_1789716.html#slide=more245180 If you want to read more of my media reviews please click here.
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