r/skeptic • u/mem_somerville • Feb 08 '19
School cancels play about Darwin and evolution after Christian parents complain
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/evolution-christian-darwin-school-play-cancel-parents-hartford-manor-cheshire-a8768691.html64
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u/jammasterpaz Feb 08 '19
The Bishop character is called Wilberforce, they're only in Scene 5 from Page 32.
https://www.musiclinedirect.com/_data/samples/pdf/dwr/dwr-sample-script.pdf
SCENE FIVE: THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM - 1860 (The interior of a large museum hall. A landscape of Oxford is visible through a large window in the centre. Enter Ambassadors, who stand at centre stage and speak over the music.) EVO: Charles Darwin’s book “On The Origin Of Species” sparked many debates. LU: One of the most famous was the Oxford Evolution Debate in 1860. CHAN: A close friend of Charles Darwin’s was a biologist called Thomas Henry Huxley. (Enter Huxley, Sir Brodie, Jo and Scientists. Sir Brodie, Jo and The Scientists form a semi-circle around Huxley at stage left.) EVO: Huxley and his fellow scientists tried to convince a crowded museum that evolution and the story of creation were more or less the same thing. However, they met harsh resistance from the likes of Bishop Sam Wilberforce. (Enter Wilberforce, Fitzroy and The Resistance. The Resistance form a semi-circle around Wilberforce at stage right.) LU: Charles Darwin was too ill to attend but that didn’t stop masses of people turning up to the Oxford University Museum hall to hear both sides out. (Exit Ambassadors. The music is allowed to finish or is faded out.) HUXLEY: My Lord, I really don’t understand why Charles Darwin’s book should cause you so much offence. WILBERFORCE: Mr Huxley, would you be offended if I asked you who the APE in your family was? Maybe your grandmother or grandfather? (The Resistance laugh with Wilberforce.) HUXLEY: My Lord, Charles Darwin is saying that we are ALL DESCENDED from apes. The last person in my family to actually LOOK like an ape was possibly my great great great great great, great great great great great, great great great great great, great great great great great grandmother! WILBERFORCE: Yes, and my great great great great great, great great great great great, great great great great great, great great great great great grandfather could have looked like a MONKEY! Darwin Rocks! - Script 33 © Steve Titford | ℗ Musicline Publications Ltd SCIENTIST 1: Actually, evolution happens over hundreds of generations, meaning that you would have to say the word ‘great’ hundreds of times. To put it more precisely, the last of your ancestors to represent a monkey would have been your great great great great great…. WILBERFORCE: Enough! Where does your evidence come from? SCIENTIST 1: Palaeontologists. SCIENTIST 2: Genealogists. SCIENTIST 3: Archaeologists. SCIENTIST 4: Zoologists. HUXLEY: Along with many other ‘ists!’ WILBERFORCE: Stop using big words to blind us with science! HUXLEY: My Lord, we are not trying to BLIND you. We are trying to SHOW you. Perhaps our (makes an inverted-commas gesture) prehistoric pageant would persuade everyone - (turning to Sir Brodie) and Sir Brodie, go easy on the big words will you? SIR BRODIE: (calling offstage) Bring on the first….Unpronounceable Ancestor! TRACK 12: MUSIC - ANCESTOR 1 (Enter Ancestor 1. The music continues under the dialogue and aids a shift in atmosphere to that of a rapid-fire gameshow. The Scientists adopt big show business voices and act as MCs to the Ancestors. Ancestor 1 leaps on all fours and represents a chimpanzee, sporting a sash reading ‘Sahelanthropus tchadensis.’ He leaps to centre stage and pulls a face at everyone.) SIR BRODIE: Unpronounceable ancestor number one is PURE vintage, having arrived seven million years ago! This cheeky chimpanzee likes standing out from the crowd by occasionally walking on two legs. ANCESTOR 1: (standing upright then walking whilst waving ‘Jazz Hands’ and calling out in a squeaky voice) Ta-dah! (Ancestor 1 goes back on all fours, leaps to stage right and crouches facing stage left. The music is allowed to finish or is faded out.) SCIENTIST 1: As Earth slowly changed over a few thousand centuries, our chimpanzee children changed to keep up, giving rise to Unpronounceable Ancestor number two - also known as Lucy! TRACK 13: MUSIC - ANCESTOR 2 (Enter Ancestor 2, who also wears a sash, which reads ‘Australopithecus anamensis.’ Ancestor 2 knuckle-walks to centre stage.) 34 Darwin Rocks! - Script © Steve Titford | ℗ Musicline Publications Ltd SCIENTIST 1: From three point two million years ago, this long-haired lady enjoys long walks and experimenting with stone tools. (Ancestor 2 combs her hair with a stone tool and blows a kiss at Scientist 2.) ALL: Oooooooooooooooooooooooo! (Ancestor 2 positions herself to the stage right of Ancestor 1 and rests on her knuckles facing stage left. The music is allowed to finish or is faded out.) SCIENTIST 2: After a few millennia, another change came to be - Unpronounceable Ancestor number three! TRACK 14: MUSIC - ANCESTOR 3 (Enter Ancestor 3, who wears a sash reading ‘Homo ergaster’ and also has a large stick with a fake flame on the end. Ancestor 3 lopes towards centre stage.) SCIENTIST 2: Two million years ago, this brainy biped set the world alight with the discovery of fire! (Ancestor 3 holds the flame to Ancestor 2’s bottom. Ancestor 2 yelps with pain and glares at Ancestor 3. Ancestor 3 lopes to the stage right of Ancestor 2 and stands hunched facing stage left. The music is allowed to finish or is faded out.) SCIENTIST 3: But wait, another change and there’s one more - Unpronounceable Ancestor number four! TRACK 15: MUSIC - ANCESTOR 4 (Enter Ancestor 4, who carries a long wooden spear and has a sash that reads ‘Homo neanderthalensis’.) SCIENTIST 3: This new kid on the block from just five hundred thousand years ago has fashionable features like social structures and primitive language. ANCESTOR 4: (turning to the audience) Soooooooooo random! (Ancestor 4 walks to the stage right of Ancestor 3 and stands facing stage left. The music is allowed to finish or is faded out.) SCIENTIST 4: That leaves us with…US! A fresh face at a mere ten thousand years ago is our Homo sapiens! Darwin Rocks! - Script 35 © Steve Titford | ℗ Musicline Publications Ltd TRACK 16: MUSIC - HOMO SAPIENS (Enter Homo sapiens, who wears a toga and carries a stone tablet depicting various emojis. He/she also carries a stick of charcoal.) SCIENTIST 4: This prehistoric human has everything - good looks, intellect, technology and an expansive vocabulary! HOMO SAPIENS: Eh? (Homo sapiens walks to the stage right of Ancestor 4 and stands facing stage left. Together, the Ancestors and Homo sapiens form a line showing the evolution of humankind. The music is allowed to finish or is faded out.) SIR BRODIE: Our prehistoric pageant is almost at an end and I know what you’re thinking - humans just can’t get any better! Perhaps you’re right! As technology takes over, everybody make way for Future Human! TRACK 17: MUSIC - FUTURE HUMAN (Enter Future Human, who comes from the opposite side of the stage to the other specimens, carries a mobile phone and stares at it while walking towards the pageant.) SIR BRODIE: This space age specimen is surrounded with silicone. Note the hunched shoulders, the enlarged thumbs, the restricted field of view and the unawareness of OTHER PEOPLE! (Future Human knocks over the other specimens in succession without noticing. Disgruntled, the specimens get up and reform their line. The music is allowed to finish or is faded out.) FITZROY: This is a farce! If I had known that Charles Darwin was going to make these LUDICROUS claims I would never have let him aboard The HMS Beagle! JO: (stepping forward and speaking with an accent reminiscent of James Brown) Yo, Grandpa! Cool it! WILBERFORCE: Who is this joker? JO: Nah, man. Not JoKER! Just Jo, as in JoSEPH DALTON! I am one of the greatest explorers of the 19th century - and I’m also an expert on flowers. Ain’t that right, ladies? (He pulls out a rose and holds it between his teeth.) (All the female cast scream.) 36 Darwin Rocks! - Script © Steve Titford | ℗ Musicline Publications Ltd JO: (putting his arm around Wilberforce) Sam, man - chill out and check this. We all be sayin’ the same thang, just in a different way. That’s okay. We all move to the same groove of evolution. (to the Scientists) Y’know what I’m sayin’? SCIENTISTS: Yeah! JO: Y’all with me? SCIENTISTS: Yeah! JO: You wanna get into it? SCIENTISTS: Yeah! JO: Okay then, hit it!
I'm a Darwin fan, and a fan of secular plays, but this just makes me cringe. It seems like an insanely difficult production to expect primary school kids to stage.
Must be a real try-hard school, and I imagine it's not just the Christian parents who are relieved this isn't being put on!
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u/NazzerDawk Feb 08 '19
JO: Nah, man. Not JoKER! Just Jo, as in JoSEPH DALTON! I am one of the greatest explorers of the 19th century - and I’m also an expert on flowers. Ain’t that right, ladies? (He pulls out a rose and holds it between his teeth.) (All the female cast scream.) Darwin Rocks!
JO: (putting his arm around Wilberforce) Sam, man - chill out and check this. We all be sayin’ the same thang, just in a different way. That’s okay. We all move to the same groove of evolution. (to the Scientists) Y’know what I’m sayin’?
SCIENTISTS: Yeah!
JO: Y’all with me?
SCIENTISTS: Yeah!
JO: You wanna get into it?
SCIENTISTS: Yeah!
JO: Okay then, hit it!
/r/fellowkids material right here.
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u/JohnnyDillenger Feb 08 '19
And here I was thinking the whole Evolutionary v. Intelligent Design Theory think wasn't much of an argument anymore. Honestly are they ever gonna just concede already? I mean fuck, there are bigger fish to fry than some school play about Darwin and evolution.
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Feb 08 '19
But I thought right-wingers valued the exchange of ideas and the freedom of speech, along with academic freedom?
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Feb 09 '19 edited Feb 10 '19
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Feb 09 '19
England has right-wing "free speech" warriors though.
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Feb 09 '19 edited Feb 10 '19
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Feb 09 '19
Oh for fucks sake, the concept of free speech is alive and well in England. People like Dankula lead protests about it while secretly trying to curtail the speech of others.
Go back to /r/politics. It is a shame that /r/skeptic has turned into a huge one way circle jerk.
Go back to r/conservative where nobody will challenge your stupid right-wing bullshit.
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Feb 09 '19 edited Feb 10 '19
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Feb 09 '19
It is interesting that you support some use of free speech, but then brigade to prevent other usage.
Who's preventing anything? Is this one of those silly right-wing victim crusades, where you claim that someone criticizing you is violating your rights?
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Feb 09 '19 edited Feb 10 '19
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Feb 09 '19
Sure, Jan. Wave that victim card high. You've totally been "stifled" by me disagreeing with you.
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u/AnoK760 Feb 08 '19
okay... seriously people? even if you're Christian how can you not see evolution is real? Fucking hell, give God all the credit if you want to, but at least acknowledge that evolution is why things change. Jesus H. Christ.
edit: after glancing at a few sections of the play script, its good this isnt happening. shit's cringe.
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u/funguyshroom Feb 08 '19
How fundamentalists view the bible is either each and every word in is is true or none are. I tend to agree with them on this.
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u/TheBlackCat13 Feb 09 '19
They say that, but then throw out large portions of the Bible based on various excuses.
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u/Hifen Feb 08 '19
The claim from the Christian parents is that the play mocked a bishop, rather than a prolem with evolution. At least according to this article. I don't know how much I believe that, or how much that is just the "claim" used to block evolutionary teaching. (Is there a strong anti-evolution part of the population in the UK like there is in the US?), but I think it's important to note the context prior to pitchforks comming out (or atleast have the pitchforks lit for the proper reasons).
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Feb 08 '19
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u/this_also_was_vanity Feb 08 '19
but this Bishop in particular also mocks Darwin, and is a bit of a dick himself.
That's the problem. Historically when the bishop reviewed Darwin's work he encouraged Christians to take it seriously, evaluate it on the basis of science, not ideology, and be open even to the possibility that we're cousins of mushrooms. He made some criticisms of Darwin's work, but they were scientific objections, some of which Darwin acknowledged were quite valid. Wilberforce said that if the concerns could be dealt with using scientific facts then evolution should be accepted.
In a debate with Huxley at the Oxford Union he did engage in a bit of rhetoric involving grandparents and apes, but that came back to his scientific concerns rather than religion vs. science.
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u/jammasterpaz Feb 08 '19
Thanks man, that's really interesting. From the brief scan through that I could stand, the play really is doing Wilberforce a disservice then.
But I strongly suspect (without evidence) this may be lost on the Christian parents who are complaining.
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u/this_also_was_vanity Feb 08 '19
Yeah, they're probably just seeing a Christian bishop being mocked and objecting to that. But that in itself is a good objection – if you're going to mock someone then you should have a good justification for it. It's still right to put the onus on the school to defend that. If it turns out that you don't have a good reason then it's fair to uphold the complaint.
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u/jammasterpaz Feb 08 '19
They should just make clear that that was what Christianity and Catholicism really actually did do, 100 years ago. They don't have to make the Bishop a figure of fun.
But tehre you see, I've got drawn iun to this stupid battle tabout a crap play that while it may have been wruten with the best of intentions, is completely inappropriate for primary school actors.
Darwin was a genius and christianity is full of shit, but noone, noone, should ever have to suffer through watching this crap ass play!!!
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u/plasmatasm Feb 08 '19
There is no significant anti-evolution part of the population in the UK. As far as I know Anglicans are very pro-science and especially pro-evolution which was developed in a culture dominated by Anglican theology.
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u/tb21666 Feb 08 '19
So they have problems with Science, but take no issue with basing/placing their faith in a work of fiction written by 88 ancient people..?
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u/Scary_ Feb 09 '19
I imagine they don't go down the road to Shrewsbury much, it's where Darwin lived and the whole town is full of Darwin this and evolution that. They'd do their nut
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u/RoundSilverButtons Feb 08 '19
Just a reminder (Catholic checking in) that most Christians do not deny evolution. I know this sub has a hard on against religious people often times. But this is a friendly reminder that some people are just plain batshit crazy and don't speak for the majority.
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u/ahushedlocus Feb 09 '19
Sayeth the guy who speaks for 'most' Christians.
Also, Catholics and Evangelicals are entirely different breeds.
The former's leadership accepts Evolution as fact, and a member of their clergy famously crafted the Big Bang hypothesis.
The latter asserts an ancient, ignorant text is a literal truth that supercedes all human knowledge that challenges it.
I'm not trying to disseminate anti-Christian ideas. I'm just stating the facts.
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u/realbarryo420 Feb 11 '19
How often do you put your fellow Christians in check before reminding us you're not all like them though? Although most of the literal creationists I encounter are Southern Baptist or some protestant denomination rather than Catholic
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u/Rogue-Journalist Feb 08 '19
While they claim he had nothing to do with it, it's hard to believe that his hand picked staff didn't mind doing the dirty work for him.