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:	post by y_ddraig_goch at 2007-04-06 12:40:15

The Kansas Board of Education approved a controversial measure yesterday that will ban all Pokemon video games, trading cards, and related merchandise because of the franchise’s blatant promotion of evolution. The vote, which passed by a narrow margin after weeks of debate amongst members of the board, is being hailed as a victory by conservatives and religious groups.

Teachers will now be required to search their students at the beginning of the school day to make sure that they aren’t carrying any copies of the game. Any copies that are found will be immediately and permanently confiscated, and the student may be subject to punishments ranging from a temporary suspension to outright expulsion for repeat violators.

Pokemon is a popular children’s game that first gained popularity in the United States in 1996 with the release of the Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue roleplaying games for the Nintendo Gameboy. Players capture the “pocket monsters” and train them to fight other monsters in the game world. With enough training, a monster will eventually “evolve” into a more powerful monster.

The controversy first started when religious groups discovered the prominent role that evolution plays as a gameplay mechanic in the Pokemon games. Several prominent churches in the Topeka area started distributing pamphlets to parents warning of “the subversive content” in the Pokemon games, and then turned their eyes to the school system, which has long been a hotbed of Pokemon activity.

Soon religious groups were organizing protests outside their local school systems and flooding politicians, and especially the board of education, with angry letters demanding that Pokemon be permanently banned from the schools. Many Kansas churches also held events geared towards encouraging children to drop the game, ranging from several “Pokemon burnings” where copies of the games were thrown into large bonfires, to programs that provided students with a free Bible for every game they turned in to church authorities.

Above: Protestors from the Calvary Glorious Christ Church Militant and Triumphant Baptist Temple gather singing hymns and burning Pokemon games.

Still other church groups, recognizing the addictive nature of video games, have started voluntary support groups for children where they can admit to their video game addiction and give over their life to a higher power in order to remain Pokemon free for the rest of their lives.

This isn’t the first time that Kansas schools have been involved in a controversy over evolution’s place in science education. The Board of Education received national attention in 2005 when they added Intelligent Design theory, an idea that many alarmed citizens likened to teaching religion in the schools, to the curriculum.

Evolution the scientific theory that living organisms adapt to their environment over time and has been subjected to rigorous testing with overwhelming amount of empirical evidence showing that it does in fact happen. Intelligent Design theorists believe that the world is only six thousand years old, that a supreme being designed the entire Universe but somehow remains outside the universe to avoid the pesky question of who designed the creator, and that rampant homosexuality amongst dinosaurs is what led to their fiery destruction at the hand of God.

The ACLU has promised to take the Board of Education to court over the decision, claiming that the state shouldn’t make sweeping changes to the school system based on religious belief. It is unknown as of press time how the Board of Education will respond to another long and drawn-out court battle over the evolution issue, but Daily Gaming News will keep readers informed as the story develops.""

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