{"id":3800,"date":"2014-02-19T08:01:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T08:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/?p=3800"},"modified":"2014-02-19T13:00:20","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T13:00:20","slug":"scaramanga-takes-on-accelerated-christian-education-and-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/2014\/02\/19\/scaramanga-takes-on-accelerated-christian-education-and-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Scaramanga takes on Accelerated Christian Education. And wins."},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonny Scaramanga came to do a talk about his experiences with Christian education at Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub recently. I was gutted to have missed it – I was really looking forward to that one. However, keeping a tab on his blog, it seems clear that he is embroiled in a right ding-dong with his arch nemeses, Accelerate Christian Education, or ACE. Here<\/a> is his article ion the subject which he wrote for the Guardian.<\/p>\n

More recently, Scaramanga wrote a piece attacking ACE in the New Statesman:<\/p>\n

Creationism and the \u201cconspiracy\u201d of evolution: inside the UK’s evangelical schools<\/a><\/h4>\n

The article, as with the fascinating Guardian piece, includes examples from text books used in the “teacherless” learning environments. As a teacher myself, this is very interesting, and it makes me incredibly angry:<\/span><\/p>\n

These quotes come from the compulsory course which current students take instead of GCSE science.<\/p>\n

From year 11 biology:<\/p>\n

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No branch of true science would make these kind of impossible claims without proof. Because evolutionists do not want to believe the only alternative\u2014that the universe was created by God \u2013 they declare evolution is a fact and believe its impossible claims without any scientific proof!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From year 10 science:<\/p>\n

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A person who is not right with God must find reason, or justification, for not believing. So he readily accepts an indefensible theory like evolution \u2013 even if it will not hold water. That is his academic justification for unbelief.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was this piece which prompted a personal reply to Scaramanga from\u00a0Dr Greg Hibbins, general manager of\u00a0Christian Education Europe<\/a>\u00a0(Accelerated Christian Education\u2019s UK distributor).<\/p>\n

Dear Mr Scaramanga<\/p>\n

Please find attached my letter of response to your article in the New Statesman. I have sent it to the paper and also trust you will publish it in whole and unedited on your blog.<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

Dr Greg Hibbins<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is his reply to Scaramanga:<\/p>\n

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The letter makes for fascinating reading. I contacted Jonny to ask if he wanted his response to this reply disseminated more widely, which is why I am laying it out here. Please check out his blog, Leaving Fundamentalism<\/a>, and his original piece here<\/a>. Over to Jonny:<\/p>\n

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Alright, now you\u2019ve read it, here are my comments (and if CEE disagrees with anything I write here, they\u2019re welcome to respond again. We can keep going until one of us gets bored).<\/em><\/p>\n

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To: The Editor- New Statesman<\/p>\n

Re: You\u2019re Article- Creationism\/Jonny Scaramanga\/05\/02\/2014<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Off to a flying start.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dear Sir\/Ms
\nI am writing to correct some blatant mistruths and present a balanced view to the whole debate.<\/p>\n

Let me begin by saying that we as an organisation were contacted by one of your staff, less than an hour before your deadline and asked to comment. I would expect any responsible journalist to give us more time to comment, we are a small staff of very dedicated but, busy people. For us to give a response that is well thought out requires at least 72 hours\u2019 notice before your deadline. Please extend that basic journalistic integrity to us next time you wish to publish an article in which we are named. Mr Scaramanga used a similar tactic and wanted us to comment on some one line statements without giving us the context of those statements. Mr Scaramanga refused to let us see those statements within the context of his article, which shows us a lack of journalistic and academic integrity. If he is so confident in his view, allow us the courtesy of seeing the whole article and giving an honest answer- or is he scared to act with journalistic and academic integrity?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s what actually happened: I emailed CEE at 16:18 the Wednesday before my article was published. There were particular claims I\u2019d made that the\u00a0Statesman<\/em>\u2018s lawyers wanted checked, so I was running these past CEE for a confirmation or denial. I had four questions, and requested a reply by the close of business on Friday so I could finish the article for Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Hibbins replied that they wanted\u00a014 days<\/em>\u00a0to respond to any questions, and that he wanted to see the article in full. I told him that wasn\u2019t going to happen (not least because I hadn\u2019t finished writing it). My article was published on 5th February, just under a week after my first email to CEE. I didn\u2019t know that the\u00a0Statesman\u00a0<\/em>had contacted them directly, but presumably when CEE failed to reply, the editors gave them one last chance to respond to allegations. They refused, and now they\u2019re trying to act like they we denied them a chance to have their voice heard.<\/p>\n

Alright, get your creationist bingo cards at the ready people\u2026.<\/p>\n

On the question of Creationism, it is a basic biblical truth that any \u2018Born again\u2019 and bible believing Christian would or should hold to. Evolution, even though taught in many spheres as \u2018fact\u2019 is still in scientific terms, a theory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Awesome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I refer you to this current clip that makes some very good points and highlights the current robust discussion taking place around this whole question.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.mychristiandaily.com\/index.php\/feature\/9370-bryan-fischer-defeating-darwinism-in-four-easy-steps<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I would also like to point you to the following organization, here in the UK, which highlights some well-respected scientists and academics that support creation.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/creation.com\/<\/a>\u00a0and<\/p>\n