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Nick News tackles God and science
“Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” was created to help young viewers understand important issues swirling around them. But the programs are terrific for all ages.
Do you really understand the difference between creationism, intelligent design and evolution? Do your children? Have you asked them what they’ve been taught in school about how the world and the people in it came to be?
Sunday night’s program, “God, Science, Politics and Your School” (7:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon) is a smart, thoughtful look at the controversy affecting public schools all over the country.
Ellerbee has never been one to dumb down a subject for kids, whether it’s the Iraq war, racism or the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. She presents facts, perspectives and context.
“The goal of this show is not to debate the issues of evolution, intelligent design or creationism,” Ellerbee explains to viewers young and old. “We just want to give kids a better understanding of what all the shouting is about.”
The program traces the current front-page controversy back to the 1987 Supreme Court ruling that outlawed teaching creationism in science classes. Supporters of intelligent design say their theory, which springs from creationism, is really a science-based challenge to evolution.
Schools in Kansas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Alabama — to name a few — have wrestled with what should be taught in science classes, and “Nick News” reports on several legal cases. The program concludes, as “Nick News” usually does, with kids from different religions talking about the controversy and their own beliefs.
Ellerbee and “Nick News” raise the level of discourse, and, thanks to serious journalism, present complex issues in engaging, clear-headed ways. Wouldn’t it be nice if grown-up newscasts did the same?
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