Another blow to science, and another district from which researchers and biologists did not emerge, but religious lunatics of the extreme Protestant type who see science as a threat and seek to degrade the most important technological nation of the Middle Ages.
Another blow to science, and another district from which researchers and biologists did not emerge, but religious lunatics of the extreme Protestant type who see science as a threat and seek to degrade the most important technological nation of the Middle Ages.
A Pennsylvania school district decided Friday (28/11) to defend its decision to discount Darwin's theory of evolution and take the lead in teaching what critics call a version of creationism.
Dover County in south-central Pennsylvania is apparently the first in the entire US to approve teaching the theory of intelligent design, according to a report from the National Center for the Study of Science (NCSE).
Supporters of intelligent design claim that the complexity of nature is such that it cannot have been created by chance, as Darwin's theory holds, and therefore the living world was created by a superpower. A creature about this is not particularly defined, but many of the followers of the theory, who are mostly conservative religious people, say that it is God.
NCSE is a group from Oakland, California that advocates for the teaching of evolution in schools. Spokespeople for the group say county board of education officials approved a policy that was changed just a month ago after a debate that began more than a year ago when county board members objected to the biology textbooks because of their focus on Darwinism.
The move sparked uproar in the district, with at least two members of the education committee resigning. Last Friday, the district defended the decision, saying it planned to present a balanced position and not teach religious beliefs. "Officials will make sure that no opinion is promoted nor does religion enter the schools," district officials said in a statement posted on the district's website.
"Since Darwin's theory is only a theory and is still being tested as new evidence comes to light," the statement said, "there are gaps in the theory where there is no evidence."
A long-term battle
Science educators, however, see intelligent design as a thinly disguised version of creationism, whose supporters believe that the earth was created by God as described in the book of Genesis. "Intelligent planning is creativity in a cheap tuxedo suit." said Nick Matzke, a spokesman for the NCSE. "If it was a legal discussion, he would find it against the constitution."
The challenge to study evolution in America is not new. Conservative Christians, who played an important role in President Bush's re-election, have been pushing for decades to bring creationism back into schools.
The teaching of creationism in public schools was abolished following the decision of the High Court which said that this violates the separation of religion from the state protected by the constitution. Despite this, Americans' belief in creationism remained strong. A recent public opinion poll showed that nearly half of Americans believe that God created humans as they are today, while 13 percent say that God had no role in the development of humans.
Darwin's ideas came up for discussion in the famous monkey trial of 1925, in which the state of Tennessee sued teacher John Thomas Scopes for breaking the law by teaching the theory of evolution. Although Scopes was convicted and fined one hundred dollars, the decision was overturned on a technicality by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
In 1999, a Kansas state education team rejected evolution as a scientific principle. It was a short-term victory for the religious conservatives. Anyway, science teachers in Kansas only went back to teaching evolution less than two years ago.
The second story
A physicist from Cleveland won an award for his work for the study of evolution
Lawrence Krauss, professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University, won the Joseph Burton Forum Award from the American Physical Society. The award was given to him for his work in opposing the groups that seek to prevent the study of evolution in schools. He will receive the $3,000 cash prize at the association's annual meeting in April.
For the second news from Cleveland
For the first news - from Pennsylvania
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