Skip to main content

Info from the committee at BCSE



Britain's answer to Creationism in science classrooms

Did you know that there are several active groups of creationists here in the UK?
Did you know that they are actively working their way into science classrooms without the knowledge of parents and sometimes even without other teachers at the schools being aware?
Do you want to do something about it?

The British Centre for Science Education (BCSE) is a group dedicated to promoting and defending science education in the UK. It is run as a cooperative organisation by part-time volunteers with paid membership and a public forum where the general public can debate the key issues involved. It has no full time members of staff and believes in the tools for everyone to think for themselves - Science, Education and Reason - and the outcome – Democracy, Pluralism and Liberty.

The BCSE has become deeply worried about attacks on science education, particularly from creationists funded from the USA, and our campaign is dedicated to keeping all forms of creationism including Intelligent Design out of the science classroom in the UK.

The BCSE actively monitors creationist activity and is aware that leading creationists are deliberately keeping their in-school activities secret so as to stay out the media spotlight. Leading figures in two such groups have said this. We are always looking to raise awareness of this issue and to gather and collate information on creationist activities which threaten good science education in the UK.


We have a comprehensive Wiki of intelligence, a free community forum, and we have cultivated several links with major media players in the UK.

Now that the creationists have realised that they will not gain media support they are trying to hide their school activities from the public gaze. We are therefore now looking to attract new members who can be on the look out for items in their local press, local public meetings and local school activities to help us keep tabs on things and keep creationism out of science classrooms in the UK.

The BCSE is open to all, irrespective of religious or political affiliations, who wish to oppose the tide of creationism in the United Kingdom.

Email contact ; committee@bcseweb.org.uk
Membership applications ; membership@bcseweb.org.uk

Comments

Anonymous said…
Looks like one of the links is malformed.
I think it should be
BCSEWeb
Andrew Louis said…
Stephen,
in a speach you gave you had mentioned introducing philosophical ideas to children made them 6.5% smarter (or something like that). Not that I'm questioning you on this (I'd tend to agree with it), but I'd be curious to read the study if it's available.
Stephen Law said…
that was a study by keith topping done at dundee university. schools in scotland. try googling it...
Stephen Law said…
i will fix link, thanks anon
crabsallover said…
thanks Stephen. I've joined BCSE as a member. I've suggested that they might assist British Humanist Association Science Group http://www.bhascience.org.uk/ in exhibiting in the Science Hall at Cheltenham Science Festival 2009. Our theme is teaching of evolution in schools.
Stephen Law said…
yes good idea, crabs. Maybe CFI could link up with them too.
Stephen Law said…
Thanks anon. I already did see that. Went through the various allegations before I posted this. Can't see that theres much substance to them.

Incidentally, the author of this anti-BCSE site is the author of the presuppositionalist website I posted on. That's how I found his website, in fact.

Wouldn't be you, would it?
Psiloiordinary said…
We now have a blog.

Anyone want to play "Creationism or Fiction?"

http://bcseweb.org.uk/blog/2008/08/20/creationism-or-fiction-1/

Popular posts from this blog

Why I won't be voting Labour at the next General Election, not even to 'keep the Tories out'.

I have always voted Labour, and have often been a member of the Party, campaigning and canvassing for them. For what it’s worth, here’s my feeling about voting Labour next General Election:   1. When the left vote Labour after they move rightwards, they are encouraged to just move further right, to the point where they are now probably right of where e.g. John Major’s Tory party was. And each time the Tories go further right still. At some point we have got to stop fuelling this toxic drift to the right by making the Labour Party realise that it’s going to start costing them votes. I can’t think of anything politically more important than halting this increasingly frightening rightward slide. So I am no longer voting Labour. 2. If a new socialist party starts up, it could easily hoover up many of the 200k former LP members who have left in disgust (I’d join), and perhaps also pick up union affiliations. They could become the second biggest party by membership quite quickly. Our voting

EVIDENCE, MIRACLES AND THE EXISTENCE OF JESUS

(Published in Faith and Philosophy 2011. Volume 28, Issue 2, April 2011. Stephen Law. Pages 129-151) EVIDENCE, MIRACLES AND THE EXISTENCE OF JESUS Stephen Law Abstract The vast majority of Biblical historians believe there is evidence sufficient to place Jesus’ existence beyond reasonable doubt. Many believe the New Testament documents alone suffice firmly to establish Jesus as an actual, historical figure. I question these views. In particular, I argue (i) that the three most popular criteria by which various non-miraculous New Testament claims made about Jesus are supposedly corroborated are not sufficient, either singly or jointly, to place his existence beyond reasonable doubt, and (ii) that a prima facie plausible principle concerning how evidence should be assessed – a principle I call the contamination principle – entails that, given the large proportion of uncorroborated miracle claims made about Jesus in the New Testament documents, we should, in the absence of indepen

Aquinas on homosexuality

Thought I would try a bit of a draft out on the blog, for feedback. All comments gratefully received. No doubt I've got at least some details wrong re the Catholic Church's position... AQUINAS AND SEXUAL ETHICS Aquinas’s thinking remains hugely influential within the Catholic Church. In particular, his ideas concerning sexual ethics still heavily shape Church teaching. It is on these ideas that we focus here. In particular, I will look at Aquinas’s justification for morally condemning homosexual acts. When homosexuality is judged to be morally wrong, the justification offered is often that homosexuality is, in some sense, “unnatural”. Aquinas develops a sophisticated version of this sort of argument. The roots of the argument lie in thinking of Aristotle, whom Aquinas believes to be scientifically authoritative. Indeed, one of Aquinas’s over-arching aims was to show how Aristotle’s philosophical system is broadly compatible with Christian thought. I begin with a sketch of Arist