William Jennings Brian made a stand for literal bible believers in the
early part of this century. Apparently the battle continues today.
Should those who interpret the bible literally have their views taught
to children in public schools? Or should the concept of evolution be
discredited because it discredits their views on the origin of life and man?
------------------------------
Anti-evolution teachings gain foothold in U.S. schools
Evangelicals see flaws in Darwinism
Anna Badkhen, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Dover, Pa. -- The way they used to teach the origin of the species to
high school students in this sleepy town of 1,800 people in southern
Pennsylvania, said local school board member Angie Yingling
disapprovingly, was that "we come from chimpanzees and apes."
Not anymore.
The school board has ordered that biology teachers at Dover Area High
School make students "aware of gaps/problems" in the theory of
evolution. Their ninth-grade curriculum now must include the theory of
"intelligent design," which posits that life is so complex and elaborate
that some greater wisdom has to be behind it.
The decision, passed last month by a 6-to-3 vote, makes the
3,600-student school district about 20 miles south of Harrisburg the
first in the United States to mandate the teaching of "intelligent
design" in public schools, putting it on the front line of the growing
national debate over the role of religion in public life.
The new curriculum, which prompted two school board members to resign,
is expected to take effect in January. The school principal, Joel
Riedel, and teachers contacted by The Chronicle refused to comment on
the changes.
The idea of intelligent design was initiated by a small group of
scientists to explain what they believe to be gaps in Charles Darwin's
theory of evolution, which they say is "not adequate to explain all
natural phenomena. "
On an intelligent-design Web site, the theory is described as "a
scientific disagreement with the claim of evolutionary theory that
natural phenomena are not designed.''
Critics such as Eugenie Scott, director of the Oakland-based National
Center for Science Education, say the Dover school board's decision is
part of a growing trend. Religious conservatives, critics say, have been
waging a war against Darwin in classrooms since the Scopes "Monkey
Trial" of 1925. Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes was convicted of
illegally teaching evolution, but his conviction later was thrown out on
a technicality by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
"There's a constant impetus by conservative evangelical Christians to
bring religion back into the public schools," said Witold Walczak, legal
director of the Pennsylvania branch of the American Civil Liberties
Union. "The end goal is to get rid of evolution. They view it as a
threat to their religion."
The intelligent-design theory makes no reference to the Bible, and its
proponents do not say who or what the greater force is behind the
design. But Yingling, 46, who graduated from Dover High School in 1976,
and other supporters of the new curriculum in this religiously
conservative slice of rural Pennsylvania say they know exactly who the
intelligent designer is.
"There's only one creator, and it has to be God," said Rebecca Cashman,
16, a sophomore at Dover High. She frowned when asked to recollect what
she learned about evolution at school last year.
"Evolution -- is that the Darwin theory?" Cashman shook her head. "I
don't know just what he was thinking!"
Patricia Nason at the Institute for Creation Research, the world leader
in creation science, said her organization and other activist groups are
encouraging people who share conservative religious beliefs to seek
positions on local school boards.
"The movement is to get the truth out," Nason said by telephone from El
Cajon (San Diego County). "We Christians have as much right to be
involved in politics as evolutionists. We've been asleep for two
generations, and it's time for us to come back."
Emboldened by their contribution to President Bush's re-election,
conservative religious activists are using intelligent design as a new
strategy of attacking evolution without mentioning God, Scott said.
"There is a new energy as a result of the last election, and I
anticipate an even busier couple of years coming on," Scott said.
She called intelligent design "creationism lite" masquerading as
science. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 banned the teaching of
creationism -- which holds that God created the world about 6,000 years
ago -- in public schools on the grounds of separation of church and state.
John West of the Discovery Institute in Seattle, the main sponsor and
promoter of intelligent design, defended the theory he says addresses
"evolution follies."
"Mainstream criticism should be raised in classrooms," West said.
The Dover school district's challenge to the primacy of evolution is not
isolated. In Cobb County, Ga., parents sued a local school board for
mandating that biology textbooks prominently display disclaimers stating
that evolution is "not a fact." A federal court is expected to rule next
month.
In Grantsburg, Wis., a school board revised its science curriculum to
teach "various scientific models of theories of origin." In Charles
County, Md. , the school board is considering a proposal to eliminate
textbooks "biased toward evolution" from classrooms. Similar proposals
have been considered this year in Missouri, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
"There is nothing random about this," said Barry Lynn, executive
director of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"You might say it's a planned evolution of an attack on the science of
evolution."
The drive to bring more religion and what have been labeled "moral
values" into the classroom goes beyond challenges to Darwin's theory,
Scott said. The Charles County school board also proposed to censor
school reading lists of "immorality" or "foul language" and to allow the
distribution of Bibles in schools. In Texas, the nation's second-biggest
school textbook market, the State Board of Education approved health
textbooks that defined abstinence as the only form of contraception and
changed the description of marriage between "two people" to "a lifelong
union between a husband and a wife."
"The religious right has a list of topics that it wants action on,"
Scott said. "Things like abortion, abstinence, gays are higher up in the
food chain of their concern, but evolution is part of the package."
This drive has found fertile ground in this part of Pennsylvania, where
billboards reading, "Many books inform but only the Bible transforms"
line the road, and family restaurants offer free booklets titled "What
the Bible says about moral purity" and "The Bible is God's word" at the
door.
"These brochures give you an idea where some people in this community
are coming from," said Jeff Brown, 54, who, along with his wife Carol,
57, resigned from the school board after they voted against changing the
biology curriculum.
Yingling, who voted in favor, said she believes God created the world in
six days and doesn't believe in evolution "at all." Another board member
who supported the measure, William Buckingham, refused to say what he
believes but has identified himself as a born-again Christian.
But religious beliefs or motivations should be beside the point, said
Richard Thompson, an attorney who represents the board members. Thompson
is the president of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., a
pro-bono firm whose Web site promises "the sword and shield for the
people of faith."
The decision was "supportive of academic freedom more than anything
else, " Thompson said.
While not talking about his own religious convictions, Thompson added,
"When you look at cell structure and you see the intricacy of the cell,
you can come to the conclusion that it doesn't happen by natural
selection, there has to be intelligent design." Thompson said he is
ready to represent the board in the Supreme Court if it comes to that.
Some parents and teachers in Dover already have asked the Pennsylvania
ACLU to sue the board on their behalf. Walczak said the organization's
legal team is studying the case before deciding whether to go to court.
Brown, the former school board member, says he is not arguing with other
people's religious beliefs.
"Don't get me wrong: I don't have a problem with having these booklets
where people can pick them up. But I do have a problem with people
shoving this down the throats of our children on taxpayers' dollars,"
Brown said.
"I happen to believe both in God and evolution," he said, and his wife
nodded: "Hear, hear."
The Browns appear to be in the minority. Although public schools have
been teaching evolution for decades, a national Gallup poll in November
2004 showed that only 35 percent of those asked believed confidently
that Darwin's theory was "supported by the evidence.'' More than
one-third of those polled by CBS News later in November said creationism
should be taught instead of evolution.
"A guy came up to me and said, 'Wait a minute, you believe in God and
evolution at the same time? Evolution isn't in the Bible!' " said Brown,
nibbling on a deep-fried mozzarella stick at the Shiloh Family
Restaurant on Route 74. As he became more agitated, his voice grew
louder, and other customers -- mostly gray-haired women and elderly men
in baseball hats -- turned their heads to look at the couple. Carol
Brown kept putting her index finger to her lips, gesturing for her
husband to be quieter.
After the Browns left the restaurant, a waitress in her 30s slipped a
note to a Chronicle reporter.
"Beware," it read. "God wrote over 2,000 years ago that there would be
false prophets and teachers. If you would like to know the truth read
the Bible."
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Recent actions in the teaching of evolution
Tennessee, April 2003: Blount County's Board of Education votes not to
adopt three high school biology textbooks because they do not present
creationism alongside evolution.
California, September 2003: The Board of Trustees of the Roseville Joint
Union High School District (Placerville County) decide not to enact a
district- wide policy on teaching evolution. Science teachers have told
the district that they do not want to add anti-evolutionist materials
that are not state- approved.
Oklahoma, April 2004: Textbook legislation passes after it is stripped
of a provision that all textbooks include a disclaimer describing
evolution as "a controversial theory which some scientists present as
scientific explanation for the origin of living things" and "the
unproven belief that random, undirected forces produced a world of
living things."
Pennsylvania, October 2004: A Dover, Pa., school board votes to include
intelligent design in the district's science curriculum, making it the
first such school district in the country.
Georgia, November 2004: A lawsuit is filed against the Cobb County
School District over this disclaimer inserted into textbooks: "This
textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a
fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be
approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."
Source: National Center for Science Education; Chronicle research
.
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