Remarks to the Kansas State Board of Education
9 January 2001
Jody F. Sjogren, M.S., CMI

Good morning.  My name is Jody Sjogren, and I am here to urge the Board
to remove the philosophy of Naturalism from the Sixth Draft of the
Science Standards.

Intelligent Design network has published suggested revisions, and  we
ask that you take time to consider them and incorporate them into the
Sixth Draft.

Our revisions address only the issue of Naturalism, which pervades the
entire Draft.  By now you are familiar enough with Naturalism to know at
least two things about it.  First is its doctrine that "all life
processes have an entirely physical and chemical basis ... [thus] all
organisms and their characteristics are the product of
evolution."(1)     In other words, nature is all that is, ever was, or
ever will be.  Second is its censorship of any evidence which might
challenge that thesis or support a competing hypothesis.

This is why the Darwinist philosopher Michael Ruse recently complained
that evolution has become a religion.  He says, "Evolution is promoted
by its practitioners as more than mere science.  Evolution is
promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion..."(2)  And Naturalism,
with its mandatory adherence to its own creation story, is the mechanism
that enables evolution to become a religion.

The Sixth Draft fosters this naturalistic conversion of Darwinism into
religion.  It refers to humans as nothing more than "complex, soft
machines."(3)  It equates human behavior to that of animals and implies
that both are merely the products of natural selection.(4)  An entire
worldview develops out of this religion.

If you approve the Sixth Draft as it stands, you will be legislating
Naturalism into the public school curriculum.  Michael Ruse, a
Darwinist, is saying that we need to STOP making evolution into a
religion.  Rather than responding to his complaint, you will be
compounding the problem!

There are long-term consequences to this.   I urge you, please take more
time.  Don't be lulled into complacency or forced into a decision
against your better judgment.  Review our suggestions.  Get more input.
Let science be a tool in the search for truth, not a slave to
naturalistic philosophy.

Thank you.

Footnotes:
1.  Evolutionary Biology, p. xvii.  Douglas Futuyma, 1998.
2. "How Evolution Became a Religion," Michael Ruse.  The National Post, May 13, 2000.
3.  Sixth Draft.  Grades 9-12, Standard 3, Benchmark 7, Indicator 5.
4.  Sixth Draft.  Grades 9-12, Standard 3, Benchmark 6, Indicator 3.