40 Days and 40 nights - Book Review

40 Days and 40 Nights
By Matthew Chapman
Harper Collins 2007

When you think of 40 days and 40 nights, I'll bet your first thought is Noah's Ark and the Flood, right? Well in this case, you would be wrong. In this book the title refers to a court case - about creationism and evolution.



The USA has a Consitution on which most of its laws are based on. One of the most important amendments (or additions) to the Constitution is the first one.

It says - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Source - Wikipedia.

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion by Congress or the preference of one religion over another, or religion over non-religion.
Source - Wikipedia.

This is why America has had Freedom from Religion for the last 200 years. Anyone can decide for themselves whether or not to beleive, and everyone has the right to not be harrased because of whatever they do decide to beleive.

But in 2004 the Dover Area School Board decided that the students needed to learn a balance about how the universe was formed. Up until then, there was only one accepted theory of the origins of life - Evolution. That is what the students were taught in school. The School board decided that their students needed to learn a balanced view so they started planning to teach their students about Intelligent Design.

Until now, if religions wished to teach their students another version of the origins of life - they were free to do so outside of school. Most of this learning was done at church, sunday school and at home by the parents.

When some of the parents found out what the school board was planning, they were horrified. Not only was this bringing religion into the classroom, this was also breaking the First Amendment of keeping the church and the state seperate.

So eleven parents filed a lawsuit against the school board and the case came to trial in Dover, Pennsylvania, in late 2005. The case went on to have national repercussions, all the way up to President Bush, who said he believed intelligent design should be taught as "an alternative theory" to evolution.

Matthew Chapman (a film writer and author), spent several months covering the trial from beginning to end. Through his in-depth encounters with the participants, [creationists, preachers, teachers, scientists on both sides of the issue, lawyers, theologians, the judge, and the eleven parents who resisted the fundamentalist proponents of intelligent design] Chapman tells an interesting, horrifying, and moving story of ordinary people doing battle in America over the place of religion and science in modern life.

Transcripts and Trial Documents.

And just to make things more interesting, Matthew Chapman is the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin.

On the last day of the trial, someone stood and asked the Judge this question.
"Your Honor, I have one question and it's this. By my reckoning, this is the fortieth day since this trial began and tonight will be the fortieth night, and I would like to know if you did that on purpose?"
The Judge's reply was instant - That is an interesting coincidence, but it was not by design.

Chapman also included a few timely paragraphs from the Scopes trial of 1925 which was essentially the exact same battle. This was a very interesting book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Education Challenge and Consolation Part 2

I forgot to mention the newspaper article about Michael Redhill's book Consolation in the Toronto Star last week.

I also forgot to mention that I have started a new reading Challenge. The Striving for an Education Challenge is to read four (4) NON-fiction books about Education starting now and going through to Xmas day (Dec 25) this year. Books about students struggling in school, about schools being underfunded, and about people going against the system to get an education. If you would like to join the blog, please email me and I will send you an invite.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson - Book Review

Three Cups of Tea
One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time
By Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
Penguin 2006
Book Website
Foundation website
Greg Mortenson Website
Northern Area of Pakistan
Parade Magazine Article 2003


Here (in Pakistan & Afghanistan) we drink three cups of tea to do business. The first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend and the third, you join our family. And for our family, we are prepared to do anything - even die.
Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan.

This is a really good book. It tells the story of how ONE American climber in the Karakoram Mountains, has made a difference in a remote and very poor area. You learn the REAL details of how the poor Muslims live - especially those in the mountains. How they are usually neglected by their governments. And you also learn that they are simple people, with families, children, and desires, just like you and me. They are not terrorists. The biggest thing they want (for the most part) is an education.

In 1993, Greg Mortenson and his team had attempted to climb K2. Due to circumstances beyond their control (one of the team members becoming ill) it was imperative that the team return to a lower altitude ASAP if the ill member was to survive.

As the team descended down a glacier, Mortenson somehow made a wrong turn, found himself separated from his party, and in unfamiliar territory. After 24 hours of wandering, and avoiding the glacier crevasses, Mortenson was found by a Balti porter and taken to a nearby village (Korphe), where the village chief's family nursed him back to health.

While he was recovering, the chief showed him around the village. Mortenson saw the area of grass where the village children (mostly boys) sat on the dirt and tried to do their lessons, with no teacher. The village could not even afford $1 per day for a teacher. When he left the village, he promised that he would return to build them a school.

Mortenson spent several years trying to raise money in America, and eventually after selling his own belongings, and having an article written in a mountaineering newsletter, he received a large check from an elderly and wealthy industralist who wanted to leave a lasting legacy before he died. The industrialist willed one million dollars to a new foundation (Central Asia Institute) and named Mortenson as the Executive Director. The centre of operations for the CAI in the Baltistan area is the town of Skardu. The American headquarters is in Bozeman, Montana.

In the last 12 years (from 1994 to 2006) the Central Asia Institute have built 58 schools and 14 Women's Vocational Centres. The schools are currently educating a total of 24,000 children, of which 14,000 are girls. The area is constantly in a state of war - with the Taliban, with China, and most especially with India.

This success has not been without danger. Mortenson was kidnapped for 8 days, by the Waziri (an Eastern Pakistan tribal group associated with the Taliban). He has had several fatwas issued against him by enraged mullahs (who did not agree with girls being educated) and must endure constant separations from his wife and children who live in Montana.

The enemy is ignorance

As the US confronts Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, Greg Mortenson is quietly waging his own campaign against Islamic fundamentalists, who often recruit members through religious schools called madrassas. Mortenson's approach hinges on a simple idea: that by building secular schools and helping to promote education - particularly for girls - in the world's most volatile war zone, support for the Taliban and other extremist sects will eventually dry up.
Kevin Ferko, Parade Cover Story, April 6, 2003

Mortenson was in Pakistan in 2001, when he was told "...the village of New York was bombed." He has since had to endure several interrogations by the American authorities for entering Pakistan and Afghanistan. All he wants to do is build schools for the children. The US Military requested that he write down locations of Wahabi madrassas. Madrassas are the Muslim schools that educate the boys and train them to be fanatic anti-western muslims. Most of the Madrassas are being built with Saudi money.

CAI schools are built entirely with donated funds, and teach only the basic education - the three Rs, science, history, geography and languages - with NO religion of any kind at all. The US Military also tried bribe him to build schools next to the madrassas, offering $2 million to do so. Mortenson refused on the grounds that he would either be killed or worse if the locals ever found out that the money came from the military. They may even destroy the CAI schools, and send their boys back to the madrassas. The only reason Mortenson is trusted, and can continue his work, is because he is NOT affiliated with any government, nor any religion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. And I read it for the Memoirs (In their Shoes) Challenge.