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[GreatJustice]

http://www.nature.com/news/south-korea-surrenders-to-creationist-demands-1.10773

Mention creationism, and many scientists think of the United States, where efforts to limit the teaching of evolution have made headway in a couple of states1. But the successes are modest compared with those in South Korea, where the anti-evolution sentiment seems to be winning its battle with mainstream science.

A petition to remove references to evolution from high-school textbooks claimed victory last month after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) revealed that many of the publishers would produce revised editions that exclude examples of the evolution of the horse or of avian ancestor Archaeopteryx. The move has alarmed biologists, who say that they were not consulted. “The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge,” says Dayk Jang, an evolutionary scientist at Seoul National University.

The campaign was led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR), which aims to delete the “error” of evolution from textbooks to “correct” students’ views of the world, according to the society’s website. The society says that its members include professors of biology and high-school science teachers.

I'm... a bit surprised here, but I'd rather not jump to conclusions. Thoughts?

[alway]

Oh yeah, that. tldr; version: evangelicals in the US were thwarted, so the US evangelicals go to other countries to push their agendas where groups opposing them (like the NCSE) don't exist because they hadn't pushed there in the past. This is just part of a trend; similar stealth-bullshit like this has been sneaking into Europe lately too IIRC. It's not entirely dissimilar nor separate from the trend of US evangelicals being behind many of the rises in anti-gay sentiment and laws in Africa.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Unfortunate, but evangelicals are fighting a losing, uphill battle as the general influence of Christianity wanes. South Korean Christians have an unfortunate reputation of fundamentalism, so this isn't all that surprising to me.

[kaijyuu]

Oh yeah, that. tldr; version: evangelicals in the US were thwarted, so the US evangelicals go to other countries to push their agendas where groups opposing them (like the NCSE) don't exist because they hadn't pushed there in the past.

Hrm, this sounds vaguely conspiracy theorist to me

I find it far more likely that nutbags exist everywhere, not just the USA (gasp!).

[alway]

Oh yeah, that. tldr; version: evangelicals in the US were thwarted, so the US evangelicals go to other countries to push their agendas where groups opposing them (like the NCSE) don't exist because they hadn't pushed there in the past.

Hrm, this sounds vaguely conspiracy theorist to me

I find it far more likely that nutbags exist everywhere, not just the USA (gasp!).

As is indeed the case; seems I wasn't aware of just how prevalent it was in SK's native population. Guess I should read the whole article first next time.

[Bdthemag]

Oh yeah, that. tldr; version: evangelicals in the US were thwarted, so the US evangelicals go to other countries to push their agendas where groups opposing them (like the NCSE) don't exist because they hadn't pushed there in the past.

Hrm, this sounds vaguely conspiracy theorist to me

I find it far more likely that nutbags exist everywhere, not just the USA (gasp!).

I'm not sure about South Korea, but evangelical groups are trying to push their agendas in Africa.

[Loud Whispers]

...It's almost as bad as South Korea without starcraft D:

[palsch]

Not really true.

They removed two outdated diagrams and accompanying text from a specific textbook. These diagrams are to be replaced with new, more accurate versions.

While the types of images are the ones that some creationist groups love to harp on about, and it does seem such a group was involved in their being highlighted, evolution itself has been reaffirmed by the textbook selection body. It looks like the creationist complaints will result in the case for evolution being made more robust in Korean textbooks, not removed at all.

[Loud Whispers]

Not really true.

More knowledge about the world today has been acquired.

[justinlee999]

haha the creationists shot their own feet.

[Montague]

That's great people are waking up and rejecting the ideas of evolution and all, but what I'm wondering is, what the in the hell is a 'korea' anyways?

[Aklyon]

Its something to do with starcraft, I think.

_

[kaijyuu]

That's great people are waking up and rejecting the ideas of evolution and all, but what I'm wondering is, what the in the hell is a 'korea' anyways?

Gasp! Watch your language! We'll have no h-words here!

[Aklyon]

That's great people are waking up and rejecting the ideas of evolution and all, but what I'm wondering is, what the in the hell is a 'korea' anyways?

Gasp! Watch your language! We'll have no h-words here!

But I like saying hello!

[MetalSlimeHunt]

That's great people are waking up and rejecting the ideas of evolution and all, but what I'm wondering is, what the in the hell is a 'korea' anyways?

Gasp! Watch your language! We'll have no h-words here!

But I like saying hello!

There were actually some people advocating replacing "hello" with "heaveno" a couple years back.