Mike Riddle accused of being a "geeky dude"

Well, another secular newspaper report on Mike Riddle’s speaking at a public school in Missouri appeared this past weekend. And, as is normally the case for such reports, the reporter couldn’t help himself-he had to try to ridicule Mike.

The report stated:

It wasn’t particularly unusual that a group of bored-looking high school students were rolling their eyes Monday morning at a geeky science dude making lame jokes like "It’s `amino acids,’ not `mean-old acids.’" It was, however, unusual that the teenagers were sitting in their public school’s library and that the geeky dude giving them a different perspective on science was not a scientist at all, but an evangelical Christian representing an organization promoting a literal interpretation of the Genesis story.

Also notice the statement that Mike "was not a scientist at all, but an evangelical Christian." Actually, Mike is a very qualified science educator---but, of course, that is not mentioned---it’s more important to label Mike as an "evangelical Christian." Now, of course, Mike is not ashamed of being called an "evangelical Christian"---but in this newspaper report, the reporter didn’t want people to know that Mike was qualified as a science educator---the big "sin" is that Mike is a Christian. And what a terrible thing it is that a Bible-believing Christian is allowed to actually teach students in a public school! This is a good example of how far the public education system has fallen.

We could write an article about this article! But I’ll cover just one more aspect. The reporter stated: "Glenn Branch, deputy director for the National Center of Science Education, sees it differently. ‘They prepare students to ask questions to embarrass teachers when talking about evolution,’ he said." Now the reporter asked me about how we teach students to ask questions of their teachers. I spent time explaining how we urge students to be respectful, and to ask questions in a way that does not attack the integrity of the teacher-but just to get them to explain more concerning the details of a particular topic (like dating methods, etc). I also explained that we tell students to talk to the teacher on a one-on-one basis and to give them a book or article, but not to attack the teacher in any way, and certainly not to belittle the teacher in front of others. Of course, the reporter didn’t put any of that in the article!

The article will be available for a short time at: centredaily.com.

DR. MENTON TV INTERVIEW

On May 13th, AiG’s Dr. David Menton was interviewed on St. Louis’ KMOV--TV (Channel 4) Extra Edition program. The topic for this segment was "Should Creationism or Intelligent Design be taught or even discusssed in our public schools..."

You can watch the interview from the Channel 4 website’s Extra Edition section: kmov.com.

ICR VISITOR

Dr. Andrew A. Snelling (who lives in Australia but works with the Institute for Creation Research) will be visiting AiG--USA this week to be filmed for video presentations associated with the Creation Museum. Dr. Snelling will also use his geology expertise to advise us on certain museum scripts.

MOTHER’S DAY

It’s Mother’s Day in America and our lead article on the AiG website is about my mother. The article is an excerpt from the new Genesis of a Legacy book that is currently at the printer and to be released June 10.

You can read the article at: The Role of a Godly Mom

Thanks for stopping by and please, keep praying!

Ken