A Creationist Will Be Reviewing Arizona’s Standards on How to Teach Evolution
- By Elisa Meyer --
- 18 Sep 2018 --
Joseph Kezele believes that scientific evidence backs up the biblical story of Noah’s Ark.
Arizona State Superintendent Diane Douglas has hired Joseph Kezele, a creationist who holds the belief that Noah's Ark carried dinosaurs during the Biblical flood.[/tweetit] Kezele will assist schools to decide on the best way to teach evolution within science classes. If media reports are to be believed, Kezele opines the earth to be only 6,000 years old. He also believes the dinosaurs got saved after they sought refuge on Noah's Ark. He even claims the ark was adequately large enough to hold dinosaurs.
A Creationist Will Be Reviewing Arizona’s Standards on How to Teach Evolution[/tweetthis]
To the horror of the scientific minded, although Douglas will soon step down from her post, her appointment of Kezele to a working group entrusted with the editing and review of Arizona's proposed new science standards on the subject of evolution is a permanent one. When he is not a member of the working group, Kezele is Arizona Christian University's biology teacher. He holds the presidentship of Arizona Origin Science Association. The creationist-minded academic is also a great believer in the idea that there is sufficient scientific evidence is present to back up creation in its biblical context.
Where do we even start? There were no dinosaurs on the Arc because a) there was no arc and b) dinosaurs did not coexist with humans. Oh brother
Arizona State Superintendent Hires Man Who Thinks Dinosaurs Were On Noah’s Ark To Review Evolution In Schoolshttps://t.co/5HaqsqSrwq
— Doug Little (@jdouglaslittle) September 16, 2018
For Diane Douglas, the appointment of Kezele is a last shot across the bows. She waited a long time to import Sunday school curricula into the science class. To ensure this to happen, she edited all documents which mentioned the word "evolution." She emphatically insisted that the Theory of Evolution should be taught with the Intelligent Design theory, adding that she took the decision after she discussed matters with members of her staff. She has appointed Kezele to a member of an eight-person strong panel tasked with executing the final edit on draft standards. The Arizona State Department of Education will decide on the panel's final conclusions.
Douglas' spokesperson insisted that Kezele did not mention his creationist beliefs, which the spokesperson insisted was the latter's personal matter. There was one significant change though: the new appointee managed to convince other members to weaken standards. One notable variation is that scientific theory of evolution was put down from its pedestal and now merely an explanation. Kezele has claimed to many that enough scientific evidence is present to back up the creation theory as mentioned by the Bible. He urged that students must be exposed to other viewpoints and not exclusively to the Theory of Evolution.