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Biology teacher fired for referring to Bible
'I never taught creationism ... I went out of my way not to teach it'

During his eight days as a part-time high school biology teacher, Kris Helphinstine included Biblical references in material he provided to students and gave a PowerPoint presentation that made links between evolution, Nazi Germany and Planned Parenthood.

That was enough for the Sisters School Board, which fired the teacher Monday night for deviating from the curriculum on the theory of evolution.

"I think his performance was not just a little bit over the line," board member Jeff Smith said. "It was a severe contradiction of what we trust teachers to do in our classrooms."

Helphinstine, 27, said in a phone interview with The Bulletin newspaper of Bend that he included the supplemental material to teach students about bias in sources, and his only agenda was to teach critical thinking.

"Critical thinking is vital to scientific inquiry," said Helphinstine, who has a master's degree in science from Oregon State. "My whole purpose was to give accurate information and to get them thinking."

Helphinstine said he did not teach the idea that God created the world. "I never taught creationism," he said. "I know what it is, and I went out of my way not to teach it."

Parent John Rahm told the newspaper that he became concerned when his freshman daughter said she was confused by the supplemental material provided by Helphinstine.

"He took passages that had all kinds of Biblical references," Rahm said. "It prevented her from learning what she needed to learn."

Board members met with Helphinstine privately for about 90 minutes before the meeting. The teacher did not stay for the public portion.

"How many minds did he pollute?" Dan Harrison, the father of a student in Helphinstine's class, said at the meeting. "It's a thinly veiled attempt to hide his own agenda."

It's sad times when the truth is considered polluting minds.

Amen,

And it is just as sad when attempts to show logical fallacies and to expose the agenda's of evolutionist is also called pollution.  I have fought that fight with old friends of mine.  It is not a matter of teaching evolution...but a matter of teaching it correctly and stating it as a fact is purely incorrect and should not be done.  Even my Biblical knowledge aside if you look at what evidence there is and only present the evidence as it is.  I do not want my children to learn the outcome, but how they got to the outcome...The teachers should be teaching my children how to think...not what to think.

Amen, brothers.  It is truly sad that our schools discourage critical thinking.  If they are so sure of the validity of evolution, why are they so afraid of the Bible?

It is a shame that in this country, the land of the free people are not free to teach the truth

I just got an email from my cousin with several questions about my views on evolution.  It is for her daughter (16 yrs old, I think) and a class project she needs to do.  So far I answered all of the questions but one.  The last question is "What can we learn from fossils?"  I guess I'll just write it shows that there are no transition stages shown by the fossils...and in order to prove evolution, you would need to have transitional fossils.

It is a shame that they teach evolution like a fact rather than a theory.

Here is what we can learn from fossils.

We can learn of what creatures looked like that may or may not be extinct.  We can sometimes but rarely gather ideas about their social structure as well (packs, herds, etc).  Every now and then we can surmise possibly what they ate by fossilized partially digested materials as well, although this is rare.

If we even look at the idea of old earth mentality we can only see an approximate timeframe of when these creatures lived, based on the strata of the earth.  Also the region in which they lived in (N. America, Asia, etc).  But that is it.  We can learn nothing else from fossils themselves.  Only when we apply the presupposed position of evolution do we even consider transitionals and the similar.  But that again is only with the presupposition that evolution in a natural sense of the origins of man is in place.  Pull that supposition out and fossils show next to nothing.

Actually the fossil record shows us a number of things. As you pointed out it shows that there were no transitional fossils (missing links). It also shows us that due to the vast majority of fossils being found in one geological layer that most fossils were accumulated at one time and that some fossils are found that extend through multiple geological layers such as a fossilized tree. We also see that in order for fossils to be made that the original living organism had to have been buried rapidly as a living organism that isn't buried rapidly would rot before it had time to fossilize. There is much more on this that can be found in a book that is posted in the Bible Study area:

http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=11019.0

I also read at another site that 95% of fossils are of marine animals.

Thanks for the link to the book....just skimmed some of it for now.  It looks very good for those wanting answers.

That is true and 95% of the remaining 5% of fossils are of algae, plants and trees.

You're most welcome. It is a pretty comprehensive book written in easy to understand language.