interesting article

Court Rejects Russian Schoolgirls’ Lawsuit Against Darwin Theory


MosNews

A Russian court on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit brought by a 16-year-old student who said that being taught the theory of evolution in school violated her rights and insulted her religious beliefs, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Kirill Shreiber, whose daughter Maria’s complaint had prompted the suit in December, said he had expected the decision by the St. Petersburg’s Admiralty District Court, and promised to appeal the decision.

“Our task remains the same: to dethrone Darwin’s theory. People should not eternally believe in the complete nonsense of Darwinism,” Shreiber told The Associated Press. “Man is the result of God’s creation, and many scientists share this point of view.”

The court judge announced the verdict in a short hearing, and said an explanation for the ruling would be released later.

Maria Shreiber claimed the 10th-grade biology textbook used at the Cervantes Gymnasium was offensive to believers and that teachers should offer an alternative to Darwin’s famous theory. Her father told the AP that she dropped out of school at the beginning of January, after receiving low grades that he blamed on teachers who were prejudiced against her.

She now works in the Dominican Republic at a tourist company he declined to identify.

The suit was the first of its kind in Russia.

In the United States, several lawsuits have been filed challenging Charles Darwin’s theory that says humans descended from apes. Many anti-evolution groups have pushed an idea known as “intelligent design,” which states that living organisms are so complex they must have been created by some kind of higher force.

did you know?

Spencer asked Tom about Russian history. Tom gave Spencer the book "Russia, Belarus & Ukraine" which is an Insight Guide from the Discovery Channel, and a second book “Midnight Diaries” by Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin was the first president immediately after the fall of communism in 1991.

Yesterday, Spencer was coming up to us and saying things like “did you know that Gagarin went into space in 1961? Since we have been here in Russia and have traveled to Ukraine his fascination with history has grown.

Nathan went over to pick up our mail from Olya’s and we got three movies from Marge and Del. Thanks so much for the treat! We truly appreciate you thinking of us.


Class today was just me. Judi H. was ill. I spent and hour and a half being drilled non-stop by Madina. She was very excited at one point during the class. She looked at me and said “Alida! That was 10 minutes! You just talked about your faith and spirituality for ten whole minutes.” It is amazing that we have learned enough spiritual vocabulary to give a testimony about why we go to church or what we believe.

The joys from yesterday:
Hearing Stuart Briscoe speak for 3 hours on Titus 1:1-6. (it was amazing!)
Talking with Erin on the phone.
Receiving an email from my cousin Hilary.

who killed???

We found a few documentaries from BBC Timewatch:

Who Killed Rasputin?
Who Killed Stalin?
Who Killed Ivan the Terrible?

If you enjoy "who dunnits" and history you will enjoy these shows!http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273026/episodes#season-2