PR - The War Between Science & Religion: World Leading Scientist and Atheist Blogger PZ Myers…
October 21, 2008
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katie Kish
Phone: (416) 267-5780
E-mail: kkish@centerforinquiry.net
Web site: http://www.cfiontario.org
THE WAR BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION:
World Leading Scientist and Atheist Blogger PZ Myers to Address Perils of Science Education as it Battles with Religion
Toronto, Ont. (October 21, 2008)-The Centre for Inquiry-Ontario and the University of Toronto Secular Alliance will present "Science Education: The War Between Science and Religion" with Dr. Paul Z. Myers, PhD, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 31 at the University of Toronto's McLeod Auditorium, 1 King's College Circle. A catered reception with the speaker will precede the event from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m at the Centre for Inquiry, 216 Beverley St.
Faith has intruded into education like never before. In America schools are fighting to keep evolution in their science curriculum while others are fighting to keep the religious movement called creationism out.
This is not only a fight in the United States. In Alberta the government funds up to 70% of some Christian fundamentalist schools. In Ontario catholic schools funded by all taxpayers frequently deny admission to non-Catholic students. In Quebec, the new faith and ethics course denies equal time to secular ethical worldviews like humanism.
Dr. PZ Myers has been a longtime critic of intelligent design and has written extensively on the topic on his popular blog http://www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula . Earlier this year the Catholic League asked the University of Minnesota to take legal action against Myers after he publicly criticized those who had sent death threats and hate mail to a young man who took a communion wafer back to his seat and didn't consume it as expected.
Dr. Myers has shown frequent contempt for religion on his blog. He once ripped out pages of the Q'uran and threw them in the garbage with "old coffee grins and banana peels". His university dismissed the call for action by stating that their faculty is allowed to express themselves however they see fit.
The Center For Inquiry Canada welcomes Dr. Myers October 31 for a presentation on the intersection of religion and science within education.
Dr. Paul Z Myers, PhD is a professor of biology at The University of Minnesota, Morris campus. He works with zebra fish in the department of evolutionary developmental biology. His blog, Pharyngula is the most widely read science and atheism blog on the Internet. He is a self-avowed godless liberal and as such is one of the most vocal skeptics on all forms of religion, pseudoscience and superstition.
For more information on the event and to arrange an interview with Dr. Myers, contact Katie Kish at (647) 267-5780.
The Center for Inquiry Ontario is devoted to the promotion of freedom of inquiry and expression in all human endeavors. This presentation is part of our ongoing Freedom of Expression Campaign. Visit cfiontario.org for more information.
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