Debate over evolution has not evolved

It has been 75 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial lifted
the debate over teaching evolution out of the primordial
educational soup and into the American courtroom. All of
the intervening years, however, have not yet produced a
consensus on how to teach science in public schools.

This is especially (but not uniquely) the case in Kansas,
where last year, the state Board of Education chose to
de-emphasize evolution, thus inviting local school
districts to replace the science of Darwin with the faith
of Creation.

This week, Kansas voters refused to re-elect several
champions of last year's decision, which had placed
Kansas at the forefront of an emboldened creationist
movement. Wise move: Now, Kansans can start contemplating
solutions that accommodate faith without compromising
science.

That's not easy, but a model exists. In 1995, a coalition
of groups ranging from the National Association of
Evangelicals to the American Humanist Association wrote
guidelines for handling religion in public schools, which
was broadly adopted by the U.S. Department of Education.

Those guidelines may not directly address the teaching of
science, but they establish a model for shared purpose
that is notably balanced. Most U.S. religious
denominations do not believe evolution is at odds with
their convictions. But there is a time and place for
everything, and a science class is the place for science,
not faith.

The distinction is key. In Kansas, the school board had
ruled that the state's standardized tests would not cover
evolution. But what would have happened to a Kansas
student who went to college without a full understanding
of the theory upon which the science of biology is
ultimately constructed, and which supports related
sciences?

Kansas isn't unique. Since January, the National Center
for Science Education, an activist group that monitors
creationism in classrooms, has received 55 complaints -
nearly double the pace of previous years. In the most
egregious cases, the entire state is involved. Alabama
schoolbooks carry a warning label that states: "This
textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some
scientists present as a scientific explanation for the
origin of living things." Evolution is a theory, not a
fact, but it is so widely endorsed that no competing
scientific theory rivals it.

The continuing ruckus is consistent with the public's
conflicted views. Most Americans believe evolution should
be taught. But they also think that, one way or the
other, creationism should not be excluded, according to
polling by People for the American Way, a liberal
advocacy group.

That's reasonable. It's impossible to imagine a social
studies course on ancient Greece that did not contain
information about the prevailing beliefs about creation.
If students can handle the idea that Athena jumped fully
grown from the head of Zeus, they surely can handle a
discussion about Judeo-Christian theories of the creation
of life.

Questions about creationism deserve to be answered
respectfully wherever they are asked. And in a perfect
world, every school would offer a comparative religion
course in which creationism could be studied cleanly.
Absent that, the solution is to find a balance that
teaches science first. The education of faith, after all,
is best delivered in the home or the church.

Patrz odpowiedz: Tom Willis, Evolution is religion

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