"Are We Teaching and SELLING Creationism/Intelligent Design at Annapolis High School?"

by: PMF

Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 05:11 PM EDT

On Sunday, March 16th CP reported the following: "3. A MESSIANIC SCIENCE TEACHER AT ANNAPOLIS HIGH.....We read with little more than a raised eyebrow about this one in today's paper until we came to the part where this supposed science teacher said he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Uh oh. CP promises to look into this more...." Unfortunately, The Capital's article is not available on The Capital's web-site, but the story gets weirder.

Annapolis High School Science Teacher Neill Russell, a self described Messianic Jew, which likely means he considers himself Jewish but views Jesus as the messiah and the New Testament as the divinely revealed word of God, is teaching science to our children in our public schools....or is he teaching "creationism" and "intelligent design"? He has just published a book called, "Newton's Riddle. The Psalm 83 Conspiracy Revealed" which The Capital describes as a "Bible based thriller..."...and it gets weirder.... This is a concern not because of the teacher's personal religious beliefs, but because he is making them quite well known to the public as evidenced by the book, and this article in The Capital which states that he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Creationism and so-called "intelligent design" is nothing more than a pseudo-intellectual game, a smokescreen for fundamentalist beliefs cloaked in the rhetoric of science.

Mr. Russell is putting his books into the hands of students and staff at AHS and using them to sell his book! Let me make this very clear. CP has no objections to a person of faith practicing or teaching science. The concern is whether his beliefs, which are profound enough to lead him to publish about them, are spilling over into the classroom. And read on, because you'll see how he has brought them into his classroom.

There may be more of this going on. No less than two science teachers at nearby South River High School extol the book in The Capital. One is named Debie Lesko and the other is Linda Lamon. It gets yet weirder.... Annapolis High Principal Don Lilley says he likes "the way Mr. Russell connects Biblical stories to the modern day...." but seems to have no concerns otherwise. Lilley was at a conference and unavailable for comment as of Monday morning. A call was not returned by late Monday afternoon. It gets yet weirder.... The Capital says, "Mr. Russell sees no conflict between his firm grounding in science and his faith.....said he believes in intelligent design and has a Web site devoted to explaining how God could have created the universe in 'six days and 15 billion years.' "

Oh yeah. I could have graduated in high school in four years or a billion years and maybe never attended classes as well. I believe that School Superintendent Kevin Maxwell needs to look into this matter and consider it carefully. It's not just one teacher and one book.

Visit www.newtonsriddle.com to see a video about the book or at http://www.godtube.com/neill which describes the book as, "More thrilling than the Da Vinci Code.....Find out for yourself what God does not want you to know...Satan's Prophetic Plan for planet Earth". This video shows a student wearing an Annapolis High School sweatshirt extolling the book in an AHS school science classroom. In other scenes, also filmed in Annapolis HS, shows more students AND STAFFERS holding up the book saying, "Read this book". These videos used AHS students and staff-members in Annapolis High School classroom's, hallway and an office. So he is using his students to promote his book for his commercial, religious and even his political (see it for yourself...) gain.

Imagine the conflicts--including asking students to promote your own book!

In a web-site about his wife's "miraculous" recovery from liver cancer, a picture shows Jesus in the hospital operating room. In the video on that site, he tells his daughters that "Jesus healed momma." www.cindysmiracle.com Remember, this is what The Capital said on March 16: "...he considers his teaching 'to be one form of ministry' and his book another."

Superintendent Maxwell and Principal Lilley, we need you to weigh in on this one and quickly please. Again, the teacher's beliefs are not the concern. It's that he is using students to promote them in the school. There are plenty of private religious schools in this area. Creationism and other pseudo-science based on theology belong there, if they choose, but not in our public schools. Let's get to the bottom of this and make sure that Mr. Russell, and these other science teachers, are teaching science, and not their religious beliefs.

A Few Disturbing Items in Today's Capital

by: PMF

Sun Mar 16, 2008 at 06:33 PM EDT

Aaaaah.....the Sunday paper. Lots of ads. The comics. And controversy.

1. FOR THIS WE HAVE THE FIRST AMENDMENT???? The Capital now has the local hospital writing, laying out and paying for the "Health and Fitness" page. Editor Tom Marquardt admits he is "not entirely comfortable with the arrangement" after stating that, "We don't have a health reporter to write about medical issues..." Tom, that's the problem! Get a health reporter! Oh, that would cost money while the new arrangement makes money. Hmmm.

Maybe they should try this model in the entertainment section. The restaurants could write their own reviews. What about with government? Fire the local government reporters and just have the mayor and county executive's staff send in a report every day with a check. After that, we'll just change the name of the newspaper to more accurately reflect the collusion between the state and the media. We'll call the paper PRAVDA. It means "truth" On the other, the paper is considering welcoming columnist Amy Goodman as a regular contributor. That would be a most welcome and interesting development.

2. WHEN THE SCHUH IS ON THE OTHER FOOT.... In a guest editorial, Delegate Steve Schuh of elitist, gated Gibson Island protests that "...Maryland is dominated by the Democratic Party". That's because the people elected them Delegate Schuh. Poor Mr. Schuh is upset about partisanship. I guess those folks on Gibson Island who have been used to owning everything for so long now think the system is unfair once it starts allowing for other to compete with them to own a piece of the big pie.

He notes how 73% of General Assembly members are Democrats. Yeah--well that's because the people elected 73% of them as Democrats. He is upset that leaders of both houses of Maryland's legislature, as well as cabinet members and judges are Democrats. That's the system Mr. Shuh and it was done just the opposite way when Mr. Ehrlich was governor. Did you complain about partisanship control at that time? I don't recall Mr. Schuh complaining about this when George Bush Inc. owned the White House and both houses of Congress. Nor did he complain when both houses of Congress conspired to keep Bill Clinton from being more effective. Mr. Schuh failed to mention how our county is headed up a Republican and the majority of the County Council is Republican as well. Does that not reflect a Republican majority? Nor did he mention that until recently, our governor was a Republican.

I guess it's too bad for Mr. Schuh that Gibson Island cannot be a state. That would certainly guarantee a Republican majority.

3. A MESSIANIC SCIENCE TEACHER AT ANNAPOLIS HIGH.....We read with little more than a raise eyebrow about this one in today's paper until we came to the part where this supposed science teacher said he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Uh oh. CP promises to look into this more....

When the Inane Governs

by: Spuchuu

Sun May 27, 2007 at 01:35 AM EDT

I almost shed a tear of injustice today.  Some people can not seem to leave well enough alone, and have to perpetrate their small-minded views for future generations.  In the name of psuedo-science, there is a self-righteous effegy of Bible-thumping.

What makes this worse is that it's occuring in my home state of Kentucky.