These are classic discussions published back in May 2008

Evolution and Intelligent Design

May 20, 2008
BYU professor Steven Peck wrote a tremendous op-ed on science and faith. Some highlights: My last complaint about Intelligent Design is that it sets religion and science against each other. It puts forward a false dichotomy in students’ minds that suggests that evolution and faith are incompatible. It makes people of religious faith suspicious of science. When students genuinely think that science and religion are incompatible, one of two things typically happens. They embrace science and, since it is incompatible to religion, religion is abandoned. The other is that they maintain their faith but remain inappropriately suspicious of science and dismiss its methods and findings, inclining themselves to superstition and pseudoscience. And: Faith and science need not be enemies. I embrace both fully and without reservation. My religious convictions are part of who I am. My science and faith reciprocate and inform one another. They are part of the way I understand my place in the universe. Intelligent Design does nothing to promote the... (read more)
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Improving Public Education

May 19, 2008
The toughest thing to do in a political arena is to move away from the status quo. Nowhere is this more true than public education. Yet, twenty percent (20%) of Utah’s graduating seniors this year did not pass the basic skills test (a simple test). That poor result comes, despite the fact that each student gets 5 shots at the test, starting at the end of the sophomore year; and, despite the fact that remediation money specifically was provided for students who had failed parts of the test 3 times. Twenty percent. One-fifth of all students (who haven’t already dropped out). And, compared to the rest of the nation, these are very teachable students. This is a crisis of the first order. Part of the problem is funding. Utah has two significant challenges. First, Utah has more school kids per taxpayer than any other state. Second, Utah has less land on the tax rolls than any state, except Alaska and Nevada.... (read more)
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From the Campaign Trail

May 16, 2008
I saw the following quote in an article today. After campaigning for 15 months in nearly all 50 states, Barack Obama and our entire campaign have been nothing but impressed and encouraged by the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life. The last year has only reinforced Senator Obama’s view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest. I cite it not for anything to do w/ Sen. Obama, but for its commentary on what his campaign found on the campaign trail – a people and a country that are much better than the dreck that is our modern politics. Having attended and, to some degree, participated in several of the conventions that now have drawn to a close in the Utah political process, I solidly agree with the Obama campaign’s observations regarding the “decency, kindness, and generosity” of the people. It is invigorating and greatly encouraging to witness the goodness and goodwill of the... (read more)
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