Tag Archives: Topic: Evolution

Pittsbugh Post-Gazette: Some 20 percent of science teachers in survey say they believe in creationism

Topeka Capitol-Journal: A civil liberties group says a southwest Kansas school district is planning mandatory student assemblies with a creationist organization next week, something the district called a misunderstanding.

NewsTimes.com: The American Civil Liberties Union is objecting to a southwest Kansas district’s plans to allow a pro-creationism group into its schools to talk to students about dinosaurs.

Religion Clause Blog: The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments (video of full arguments) in Freshwater v. Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education. In the case, a state appeals court upheld the firing of John Freshwater, a middle school school science teacher

This casebook explores fundamental legal issues relating to how scientific and religious concepts of biological origins should be presented in public-school biology courses. Although numerous legal arguments are invoked, the Establishment Clause typically stands at or near the center of most disputes: Does teaching Darwinism or creationism, or disparaging them, in public schools promote or hinder religious belief in violation of the First Amendment? In grappling with this question in various forms as presented in differing fact situations over the past half century, American courts have examined the meaning of the Establishment Clause and sharpened their interpretation of it. This is the first and only casebook devoted to this topic, and it is ideal for use in education law programs, constitutional law seminars, and legal history courses.

Independent: Organisers behind a British conference on Islam and evolution say they nearly had to cancel the event after receiving a torrent of opposition from Muslim students at one of the country’s top scientific universities, The Independent has leanred.

Religion Clause Blog: In Indiana, state senator Dennis Kruse, chairman of the Senate Education and Career Development Committee, says he will try a new approach now that he failed last session to get legislation to allow the teaching of creationism along with evolution in the public schools.

Religion Clause Blog: In Britain, Free Schools are alternative state-funded schools set up in response to local demands. Thefirst Free Schools opened in 2011. In January of this year, Britain’s Department for Education revised its funding agreement for Free Schools to prevent the teaching of creationism in science classes, allowing it to be taught only in religious education classes.

Ed News: If Clayton Fiscus, a new Republican member of the Montana House of Representatives, has his way, intelligent designwill soon be taught alongside evolution across the state.

Washington Post: I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States,” Rubio told GQ. “I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that.”

Telegraph: Fame Daddy will offer would-be-mothers “top quality celebrity surrogate fathers” when it launches next February, according to Dan Richards, its chief executive . . . To be able to harvest potential from the global gene pool, rather than from the more limited selection of the men she comes into direct contact with, is a major evolutionary leap for women.

Steven Douglas at MinnPost: The argument over same-sex marriage does not start in the political realm but in the philosophical. Many of the proponents of same-sex marriage with whom I speak assume that we agree on who we are on a basic level and therefore the way we should plot our political course forward. That’s where they’re wrong. Many Christians still hold to the truth of Scripture, often called inerrancy, and believe that God created humanity in his image (Genesis 1:27). These Christians reject the theory of macro evolution as an explanation of human origins. We see the role of image-bearing, generally called imago Dei, to be what defines us.

Washington Post: “There is no difference in what we can learn genetically about a person that lived 50,000 years ago and from a person today,” Paabo said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters.

Religion Clause Blog: In the case, a state appeals court upheld the firing of John Freshwater, a middle school school science teacher. The school board based the firing on Freshwater’s injecting his religious views, including belief in Creationism, into the classroom and for insubordination in failing to remove certain religious materials from the classroom after being ordered to do so by the school board.

LA Times: Coppedge found his lawyer, William Becker, through the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian group that’s also helping fund Coppedge’s defense. Becker has also worked with the Discovery Institute, a prominent intelligent design group based in Seattle and a key force in helping portray Coppedge as a victim of religious bigotry. “There is a worldview war in this country,” Becker said in an interview. “There’s a battle between people who think religious people are trying to disrupt the integrity of the scientific method and those who know we’re not.”

AP: David Coppedge, a former computer specialist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, spent much of his free time advocating for the idea that a higher intelligence must have had a hand in creation. Now, a judge will decide if his commitment to that belief has also cost him his job.

International Business Times: Soon Tennessee classrooms wilI be able to debate the merits of creationism and evolution side-by-side, after Gov. Bill Haslam on Tuesday refused to sign a controversial proposal dubbed the “Monkey Bill”, but allowed it to become law anyway.

WBIR.com: The Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Gov. Bill Haslam to veto the evolution bill, saying it would “subvert scientific principle to religious ideology.”

The Boston Globe reports the bill would allow criticism of evolution in schools.

Religion Clause Blog: The Tennessee legislature this week gave final passage to HB 368, on the teaching of scientific subjects such as biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning that may cause debate and disputation.

The Tenneessean: Senate Bill 893, sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, protects teachers who want to debate evolution, climate change and other widely accepted science in the classroom.

Glendale News-Press: William Becker, an attorney with the nonprofit Alliance Defense Fund who is representing Coppedge, said his client was disciplined for his Christian beliefs. “They don’t have a policy against discussing religion and politics, so they essentially singled him out. He was forbidden from doing something everybody else was allowed to do,” Becker said . . . “Throughout the scientific and academic worlds in this country, if you dare insert what somebody perceives to be your evangelical Christian values — if they think you’re doing that — heads roll,” Becker said.

Education News: The often-charged debate about the origin of life pitting the science community against doctrinal conservatives is not just a U.S. phenomenon but one the Muslim world is increasingly engaged in, a visiting professor said Thursday evening at Trinity University.

ChicagoTribune.com: The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana’s top lawyer said Thursday that a bill pending that would allow schools to teach creationism in science classes clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and invites legal challenges.

Religion Clause: The National Center for Science Education reported last week that so far this year, six separate anti-evolution bills have been introduced . . .

CNN.com Blogs: America’s Protestant pastors overwhelmingly reject the theory of evolution and are evenly split on whether the earth is 6,000 years old, according to a survey released Monday by the Southern Baptist Convention.

OneNewsNow.com: The Rutherford Institute is preparing to appeal a recent court decision against an Ohio science teacher who tried to teach his student to think critically about evolution

Education News: A group of 30 scientists have signed a statement saying it is “unacceptable” to teach creationism and intelligent design, whether it happens in science lessons or not. The statement claims two organisations, Truth in Science and Creation Ministries International are “touring the UK and presenting themselves as scientists and their creationist views as science”.

William Carroll at Public Discourse: On the basis of hasty scientific judgment, the Inquisition insisted that the Bible be interpreted in a way that confirmed this conclusion. The Inquisition did not subordinate science to the Bible; rather, it subordinated the interpretation of the Bible to a scientific view that eventually would be shown false . . . Views about science and religion, for example, which see them as fundamentally incompatible, appear to be almost self-evidently true so that anyone who challenges this truth is summarily dismissed. Such smug dismissal of what is seen as obviously false is reminiscent of the Inquisition’s insistence that Galileo affirm that the earth does not move. | Related: ADF-allied attorney rebukes Colorado professor, a high priest of Darwin, with Galileo primer

StarNewsOnline.com: The debate over teaching creationism in public schools has resurfaced in Brunswick County. But despite public officials’ desire to teach the religion-themed alternative to evolution, the school board’s legal team once again determined that it is not possible under the law.

Robert Knight at Townhall: But I’m not here to poke holes in evolutionary theory. I have a larger ambition, which is to expose the misuse of science as a false religion.

Ann Coulter at Townhall: Intelligent design scientists look at the evidence and develop their theories; Darwinists start with a theory and then rearrange the evidence. These aren’t scientists. They are religious fanatics for whom evolution must be true so that they can explain to themselves why they are here, without God. (It’s an accident!) Any evidence contradicting the primitive religion of Darwinism — including, for example, the entire fossil record — they explain away with non-scientific excuses like “the dog ate our fossils.”

The state-run California Science Center has agreed to pay $110,000 to settle a lawsuit by American Freedom Alliance against the center for violating AFA’s First Amendment protected free speech right to advocate intelligent design.

Religion Clause: Film maker Greta Schiller, working with the National Center for Science Education and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is launching the “Celebrate Science” campaign beginning Aug. 28 in Tallahassee, Florida. A press release issued Monday announced that the Campaign will feature a new film, “No Dinosaurs In Heaven,” in cities around the country.

Dayton Daily News: The debate over bringing creationism into Springboro classrooms ended after a shift in viewpoint by the school board member who started the discussion, which prompted a national response, including threats of legal action.

A public high school teacher in California may not be sued for making hostile remarks about religion in his classroom, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The Hill: Republican presidential candidate and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman on Thursday took to Twitter to offer his support for the theory of evolution.

The Hill (includes video): Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) told a young boy on the campaign trail Thursday that he thinks the theory of evolution “has some gaps” in it. “It’s a theory that’s out there. It’s got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both creationism and evolution, because I figure you’re smart enough to figure out which one’s right,” Perry said during a meet and greet in Portsmouth, N.H.

The Transformation of Michele Bachmann : The New Yorker: Bachmann belongs to a generation of Christian conservatives whose views have been shaped by institutions, tracts, and leaders not commonly known to secular Americans, or even to most Christians.

Religion Clause: The Florida Independent reports that a group known as Citizens for National Security announced that they were filing suit yesterday in Florida state court to enjoin the effectiveness of Florida S.B. 2120 which, among other things (Sec. 21), calls for two state or national experts to review instructional materials that are up for adoption each year.

Dayton Daily News: The Springboro school board member who raised the prospect of the district teaching creationism said this week she now wants parents of students in public schools to have options if they want their children to learn about theories like intelligent design.

Speak Up Movement University Blog: The stereotype of the arrogant, leftist professor in the ivory tower occasionally shows up in real life in a manner that shows that the truth is stranger than fiction . . . Finally, I cannot let your smug reference to Galileo go unchallenged. Firstly, as a matter of simple fact, your history is all wrong. Galileo never uttered the words you mistakenly placed in his mouth. I provide for your edification a primer on the matter under my signature.

AP: Unlike the fiery debate that erupted two years ago, an expected fight over teaching evolution in Texas public schools has likely fizzled after state education officials made only minor changes to new science materials for the coming school years.

Boston.com: The Texas State Board of Education meets this week for the first time under its conservative new chairwoman appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Religion Clause: The Texas Independent reported Friday that this week the Texas State Board of Education will again be debating evolution as it meets to select supplemental science curriculum materials for public schools.

Ralph Richard Banks at NYTimes.com: The cases against polygamy and incest are not nearly as strong as most people imagine. Yet they will not become legal anytime soon. To see why, it helps to understand the evolution of moral assessments of interracial and same-sex marriage.

CSMonitor.com: The Louisiana law allows teaching contrary to evolution on the grounds it promotes critical thinking, a proposition ridiculed by scientists. Similar legislation is being debated in other states.

EducationNews.org: England’s Department for Children, Education and Schools has issued new guidelines that specifically prohibit the teaching of creationism or intelligent design at any government-funded schools, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Telegraph: Creationism, intelligent design and other theories that contradict evolution are to be banned from being taught as science in free schools.

Daily Caller: Last week, Christie told attendees of a local town hall that he believes decisions on teaching creationism should be left to local school districts, NJ.com reports

Religion Clause Blog: Last week in Freshwater v. Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education, (SD OH, April 5, 2011), an Ohio federal district court invoked the Younger abstention doctrine and remanded the case to state court.

Guardian: “Government spokesman says the education secretary is ‘crystal clear’ that teaching creationism is at odds with scientific fact.”

TNReport.com: “HB 0368, the anti-evolution bill that was supposed to be up last week, was rolled to the House General Subcommittee of Education meeting on Wednesday, 3/2/11. The bill promotes creationism in the science classroom under the guise of encouraging critical thinking, stating that teachers will not be disciplined for encouraging students to examine the “weaknesses” of proven scientific theories such as evolution.”

Americans United Wall of Separation Blog: Zachary Kopplin, a senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, wants to see the 2008 Louisiana Science Education Act repealed, and he’s working with state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans) to garner support for a bill she plans to introduce in April that will do just that . . . When Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the measure back in 2008, Americans United warned that it was merely another attempt by creationists to slip fundamentalist religion into biology classes . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of appeals yesterday heard oral arguments (recording of full arguments) in in C.F. v. Capistrano Unified High School. In the case, the district court found that an in-class comment by high school history teacher James Corbett which characterized creationism as “superstitious nonsense” violated the Establishment Clause . . . ”

AP: A Christian astronomer who sued the University of Kentucky for religious discrimination says the perceived divide between faith and science is an “illusion.”

Julie Duin writes at the Washington Post: “Can you maintain a traditional Judeo-Christian view of how the Earth was created and still remain a science teacher in public schools? About one in eight high school biology teachers do, according to a new article in the magazine Science.”

Deutsche Welle: “The reprimanding of a teacher for advocating evolution has prompted a political row in Turkey, as teachers and academics worry that the Islamic-rooted government is trying to undermine science education.”

First Amendment Center (AP): “Republican state Rep. Andrew Koenig and several other co-sponsors introduced H.B. 195, which would allow educators to teach and guide students in thinking critically about scientific theories and discuss ‘differences of opinion about controversial issues, including biological and chemical evolution.’”

ChristianNewsWire: “Tom Ritter, who taught physics and chemistry for over a decade, has filed a federal lawsuit against The Blue Mountain School District in the Middle District of Pennsylvania . . . If evolution is unscientific, why teach it? Because no Creator means no God. In other words, evolution taught without a possible alternative is Atheism.” | Complaint is here (via Religion Clause).

Albert Mohler writing in The Christian Post: “I am willing to accept the authority of science on any number of issues. I am fundamentally agnostic about a host of other scientific concerns – but not where the fundamental truth of the Gospel and the clear teachings of the Bible are at stake. As I have stated repeatedly, I accept without hesitation the fact that the world indeed looks old. Armed with naturalistic assumptions, I would almost assuredly come to the same conclusions as BioLogos and the evolutionary establishment, or I would at least find evolutionary arguments credible. But the most basic issue is, and has always been, that of worldview and basic presuppositions. The entire intellectual enterprise of evolution is based on naturalistic assumptions, and I do not share those presuppositions.”

Marketing Intelligent Design
Law and the Creationist Agenda
Frank S. Ravitch, Michigan State University

“Recently a new battle has emerged between science and religion. The battle has focused on intelligent design (ID) and the numerous legal, philosophical, and educational concerns surrounding it. Resolution of these concerns centers on two questions: Is ID science? And is ID religion? Despite the fact that ID does not meet the standards of scientific rigor, ID proponents have been able to create a remarkably well-designed marketing plan aimed at imposing a theistic naturalism in schools and scientific discourse. Both the ID movement and some of its most vociferous opponents have a vested interest in suggesting that science, especially evolutionary biology, and religion are incompatible. This book presents a philosophical and legal counterpoint by demonstrating the compatibility between religion and evolutionary biology and the incompatibility between ID and mainstream science.”

Gallup: “Four in 10 Americans, slightly fewer today than in years past, believe God created humans in their present form about 10,000 years ago. Thirty-eight percent believe God guided a process by which humans developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms, while 16%, up slightly from years past, believe humans developed over millions of years, without God’s involvement.”

Religion Clause: “In [Hensley v. Johnston County Board of Education, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 135926 (ED NC, Dec. 23, 2010), a North Carolina federal district court dismissed free speech, equal protection and religious discrimination claims by an 8th grade science teacher who refused to apologize to parents over her method of teaching evolution and dealing with religious objections to evolutionary theory.”

ADF Attorney Gregory S. Baylor writing at Speak Up Movement / University: Did the University of Kentucky commit religious discrimination? It sure looks that way . . . It appears as though a candidate’s unwillingness to wholeheartedly embrace absolute atheism renders him or her ineligible to do scientific work at the University of Kentucky . . . [A] member of the committee wrote: ‘Clearly this man is complex and likely fascinating to talk with — but potentially evangelical.’ Uh oh . . . not that! A potential evangelical! Can’t have any of those around here!”

Survival of the Fittest: An Examination of the Louisiana Science Education Act
Robert E. Morelli, 84 St. John’s L. Rev. 797 (2010)

“This Note asserts that the Louisiana Science Education Act is likely to be found unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. Part I will examine the progression and development of the failed creationist challenges to evolution, as well as provide the relevant framework used by the courts to evaluate Establishment Clause challenges to public school curricula. Part II will set out the social context and history of the LSEA itself. Part III will then proceed to examine the LSEA and its background under the framework established in Part I to show that it is unconstitutional.”

Fox News: “A Louisiana committee on Tuesday rejected calls by conservatives to include references to the debate over evolution and the religious-based concepts of intelligent design or creationism in state-approved biology textbooks.”

Dave Welch writing at WorldNetDaily: “In a move of stunning ignorance, the Baptist General Association of Virginia recently adopted a resolution taking a back-handed slap at the Texas State Board of Education’s vote this year to restore accurate teaching of separation of church and state to social studies curriculum.”

WWLTV (AP): “A state panel recommended Friday that Louisiana’s top education board adopt a new batch of high school biology textbooks, despite complaints that evolution is taught too matter-of-factly in the books.”

CBS (includes video): “O’Donnell said. Pressed multiple times to share her beliefs, she said that she believes local school districts should make the determination about what is taught, and that the federal government should not be mandating that schools do not teach creationism.”

“The liberal belief in Progress causes liberals to view any expression of what they regard as retrograde opinion to be a threat to the very foundations of their worldview. When such opinions begin to gain popular support, they raise the specter that History might be stopped in its benevolent course or even reversed.”

San Angelo (TX) Standard Times: “Rick Perry: ‘I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution. The State Board of Education has been charged with the task of adopting curriculum requirements for Texas public schools and recently adopted guidelines that call for the examination of all sides of a scientific theory, which will encourage critical thinking in our students, an essential learning skill.’” Via Religion Clause.

Telegraph: “Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, near Bristol, which supports the view that life was created by a divine force, is among a series of attractions to be awarded an official education kitemark. The zoo’s website says science has attempted to ‘remove any notion of God from our understanding of life’.”

Guardian: “All science teachers, whatever their specialism, have to deal with questions about God. We should be prepared.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Texas Freedom Network on Tuesday released the results of a state-wide survey conducted in May that showed most Texans want an end to the divisive curriculum battles that have been a part of the operations of the Texas State Board of Education . . . ”