---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 12:20:08 -0500 (CDT)
From: Adrian Melott <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 4/8/99

Contact:

Adrian Melott, publicity chair
Philip Kimball, treasurer and contact person
        749-5795; [log in to unmask]


LAWRENCE, KS GROUP REVEALED AS SATIRE BY INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE JOURNAL <NATURE>

In a news item dated April 9, the international science journal Nature
revealed that a lobby group based in Lawrence, Kansas was an elaborate
satire with a serious purpose--to point out the absurdity of attempts
to inject Bible stories into science classes.

The group (called FLAT for Families Learning Accurate Theories), advocated
the teaching of the value pi=3 (rather than about 3.14, the usual value),
that the Earth is flat (with 4 corners),
and that the teaching of foreign languages should be abandoned.  They
did this, calling on the Bible for support, in response to a local group's
attempts to put creation science into the public school system.  For
example, one such request by POSH (Parents for Objective Science and History)
was to give
"the observed evidences for a young Earth".  Creationists usually say
the Earth is no  more than 10,000 years old.

"We did this to show just where such thinking can lead", said Adrian
Melott, a  physicist and spokesman for the group.  "POSH was very selective
in their attack on science.  They just went after those pieces of biology,
paleontology, geology, and physics that disagree with the creation story
in Genesis.  In order to be 'fair', they want schools to teach their
pseudoscience as an alternative.  If they fail at this, we expect they
will try to get mention of evolution removed as a so-called compromise."

"We wanted to show that a lot more 'alternative science' lurks in the
Bible.  We want them, and everyone to know that we are on their case,
we are watching, and we won't give up.  We intend to expose the untruths
they espouse, as well as to explain their tactics to the public as they
unfold."

FLAT includes scientists and religious scholars from the University of Kansas
as well as parents and students.  They have received enquiries about
starting new chapters in Connecticut and New Mexico.

"We got some hate mail", Melott said, adding that most of it came from
"humor-impaired irate atheists", rather than religious fundamentalists.

Even some of the group's friends criticized the hoax as rude, but Melott
defended the approach:

"Seventy-odd years
of reasonable discussion, since the Scopes trial, has led the public to
the idea there are two equal sides to this story.  Creationists change the
subject very rapidly so that it's impossible to correct their distortions.
We do not intend to play on that field."

"In doing so we do not intend to ridicule religion or the Bible, but
draw attention to the kind of Bible-abuse performed by such creationists."

The group believes it had some impact on local school board elections.
POSH endorsed three candidates, but the only one of these elected
had disavowed "so-called creation science".

Melott said that when it comes to cosmic origins, "the Big Bang model for
the universe and evolution for the development of life on Earth are now
the only scientific game in town."

"This does not mean we know how the universe
began or life began.  There are some guesses. But we know as confidently
as anything is ever known in science the broad features of their
development. Not to teach this to our children, beginning at the earliest
age, is a crime."

For more information, contact Philip Kimball at 749-5795 or
[log in to unmask]  The FLAT website is at http://flat.findhere.com.  The
organizations's email address is [log in to unmask]