Thursday, October 12, 2006

"BCSE Revealed" - Introduction to this blog

Who am I, and what is this blog about?

Who am I?
My name is David Anderson, and my Blogger profile page is here. In particular you should listen to this 2-minute audio clip. In short, I am a Christian, a husband, a father, a minister. I have a Masters degree [1] in a science subject from Oxford University (first class), a Bachelors degree in theology from the University of Glamorgan (first class), and am very interested in the debate concerning origins and Darwinism. I believe that the theory of Darwinism as a theory of origins is deeply flawed.

What is this blog about?
As it says at the top, "The purpose of this blog is to examine the new group calling itself the 'British Centre for Science Education'" whose website you can find here. Consider this letter, which was published in the Times on October 3rd, 2006:


Sir, The British Centre for Science Education is deeply concerned about the teaching of pseudoscience in place of science in schools in the UK.
We are a new pressure group that aims to keep science and only science in the science classrooms of the UK.

...

ROGER STANYARD
Spokesman,
British Centre for Science Education
What is more, on the 12th of October, the M.P. for Blackley, Graham Stringer, tabled a Commons motion beginning as follows:

That this House shares the concerns of the British Centre for Science Education ...

Letters in the Times, motions in the House... sounds like they must be quite an impressive group, yes?

Err, no. Anyone taking this group at face value has been misled.

In case anyone is inclined to take this group seriously, this blog exists to shine some light on it. Who are its members, what are its published statements, and what are its published discussions? As we do this, we expect that you will come to the same conclusion as we have - that they can't be taken even slightly seriously.

This new group with the grand-sounding title is, as we shall see, very small and ramshackle, and its experience in either the worlds of education or science is either non-existent or something that they wish to keep secret. However, research shows that they do between them have a lot of history in promoting secularism through various organisations. Their website has almost no scientific information that can be evaluated. Of course, they are at perfect liberty to do all these things; but by claiming that their basic concern is "science education", they open themselves up for investigation and criticism.

How will we be going about this?

I will be going about this by posting a series of short articles. Each article will examine some aspect of the "BCSE", in light of the available facts. The BCSE are very fond of claiming that their opponents are liars, as a quick visit to their website will soon show you. Here's a quote:

"Now, as we repeatedly point out, creationists lie, systematically, habitually and repeatedly. The lying Australian (well, he lives there, warts and all) venomous toad that stated the above was Jonathan Sarfati of Answers in Genesis." - http://www.bcseweb.org.uk/index.php/Main/RichardPorter, 12th October 2006

The documented facts will show how seriously we should take pronouncements like the above from the BCSE. Documented facts are what this blog will be dealing with. By contrast, I will be inviting you to tour the BCSE's website, to see what kind of documentation or other proof they produce for the allegations that they make.

Any Other Information?

Comments on this blog are enabled. Nevertheless, this is blog is for diseminating information, not for debating, so I will only accept non-anonymous[2] comments which in my opinion add value. There are plenty of discussion forums available - there is one on the BCSE's own website. Because this blog is about facts, if you have a factual error, then I am interested - please contact me by e-mailing bcse-blog at dw-perspective dot org dot uk. If your e-mail is not about a factual error, please do not be disappointed if I do not reply.

Footnotes

[1] I am aware that recipients of Bachelors' degrees from Oxford University normally receive a Masters a few years later without needing to submit any further work. My Masters is not of that kind.
[2] "Non-anonymous" here means that you are willing to give your proper name, the town you live in, and that your profile page includes a photograph.

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