From: jloucks@uts.amdahl.com (Jim Loucks)
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Darwin's Enigma
Date: 10 Apr 92 21:39:07 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA


I'm currently reading a book "Darwin's Enigma" by Luther Sunderland.
On page 11, I found the following information quite interesting and
thought I'd pass it along. Now, I'm not saying this information is 
true or not, as you will see, you can look it up yourself as I will 
when I find a library that's open.

===================================================================
In December of 1978, the New York State Board of Regents directed
the New York State Education Department to do a detailed study of 
how theoriers on origins should be treated in a revised version of  
the state's Regents Biology Syllabus. As part of their study, they
invited the author to supply pertinent scientific information to 
the Bureau of Science Education which was conducting the study.

During the next year, the author conducted taped interviews with
officials in five natural history museums containing some of the
largest fossil collections in the world. The interviews were with
Dr. Colin Patterson in London; Dr. Niles Eldredge in New York City;
Dr. David M. Raup in Chicago; Dr. David Pilbeam in Boston; and Dr.
Donald Fisher, state paleontologist at the New York State natural
history museum. Written transcripts of the interviews were given
to the New York State Education Department for use in the study
on origins. 

In these interviews, the paleontologists were questioned in detail
about the nature of the fossil record from the deepest deposits
containing fossils to the most recent. Typed transcripts of the
five interviews were then sent to the interviewees for editing.
All but Dr. Patterson made editorial corrections before they were
published for use by educators in various states. 

This book (Darwin's Enigma) presents the substance of these 
interviews through the use of short excerpts and summaries of the
replies to the questions. Anyone, however, can gain access to the 
original typed verbatim interview transcripts which were prepared
for the New York State Education Department by going to any public
library in the United States and asking for the ERIC Document 
Reproduction Service microfiche ED 228 056, Darwin's Enigma: The
Fossil Record.

If information about the true nature of the fossil record, so 
vividly described in these interviews, were to be presented without
bias in public school textbooks, there would be no need for over
half of the state legislatures to be considering legislation
requiring open academic inquiry into the teaching of theories on
origins. It is not so much a problem of failing to include in 
textbooks the simply factual statements that there is an alternative
to evolution theory - which is accepted by the majority of the
public - that a Supernatural Power created the universe and first
life. Rather, the main issue is that textbooks and other school
materials are completely devoid of certain very significant 
scientific information which is talked about behind closed doors
but not made available to the public. Should the information 
presented in this book be openly discussed in public education,
the controversy would be defused and cease to be the hottest
issue in public education.
==================================================================

As mentioned above, this book contains excerpts of the replies
to questions, and in the scientists own words. I also have some of 
this information on video, but I intend to get hard copies of the 
microfiche data myself.

I didn't post this information because I like to get flamed, I 
just thought you would be interested in reading for yourself what
I've been trying to communicate all along. 

-- 
Jim Loucks           jloucks@uts.amdahl.com 
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