The Crafty Attacks on Evolution

The New York Slimes ^ | 23 January 2005 | EDITORIAL

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January 23, 2005

EDITORIAL

The Crafty Attacks on Evolution

ritics of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution become more wily with each passing year. Creationists who believe that God made the world and everything in it pretty much as described in the Bible were frustrated when their efforts to ban the teaching of evolution in the public schools or inject the teaching of creationism were judged unconstitutional by the courts. But over the past decade or more a new generation of critics has emerged with a softer, more roundabout approach that they hope can pass constitutional muster.

One line of attack - on display in Cobb County, Ga., in recent weeks - is to discredit evolution as little more than a theory that is open to question. Another strategy - now playing out in Dover, Pa. - is to make students aware of an alternative theory called "intelligent design," which infers the existence of an intelligent agent without any specific reference to God. These new approaches may seem harmless to a casual observer, but they still constitute an improper effort by religious advocates to impose their own slant on the teaching of evolution.•

The Cobb County fight centers on a sticker that the board inserted into a new biology textbook to placate opponents of evolution. The school board, to its credit, was trying to strengthen the teaching of evolution after years in which it banned study of human origins in the elementary and middle schools and sidelined the topic as an elective in high school, in apparent violation of state curriculum standards. When the new course of study raised hackles among parents and citizens (more than 2,300 signed a petition), the board sought to quiet the controversy by placing a three-sentence sticker in the 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."

Although the board clearly thought this was a reasonable compromise, and many readers might think it unexceptional, it is actually an insidious effort to undermine the science curriculum. The first sentence sounds like a warning to parents that the film they are about to watch with their children contains pornography. Evolution is so awful that the reader must be warned that it is discussed inside the textbook. The second sentence makes it sound as though evolution is little more than a hunch, the popular understanding of the word "theory," whereas theories in science are carefully constructed frameworks for understanding a vast array of facts. The National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific organization, has declared evolution "one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have" and says it is supported by an overwhelming scientific consensus.

The third sentence, urging that evolution be studied carefully and critically, seems like a fine idea. The only problem is, it singles out evolution as the only subject so shaky it needs critical judgment. Every subject in the curriculum should be studied carefully and critically. Indeed, the interpretations taught in history, economics, sociology, political science, literature and other fields of study are far less grounded in fact and professional consensus than is evolutionary biology.

A more honest sticker would describe evolution as the dominant theory in the field and an extremely fruitful scientific tool. The sad fact is, the school board, in its zeal to be accommodating, swallowed the language of the anti-evolution crowd. Although the sticker makes no mention of religion and the school board as a whole was not trying to advance religion, a federal judge in Georgia ruled that the sticker amounted to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion because it was rooted in long-running religious challenges to evolution. In particular, the sticker's assertion that "evolution is a theory, not a fact" adopted the latest tactical language used by anti-evolutionists to dilute Darwinism, thereby putting the school board on the side of religious critics of evolution. That court decision is being appealed. Supporters of sound science education can only hope that the courts, and school districts, find a way to repel this latest assault on the most well-grounded theory in modern biology.•

In the Pennsylvania case, the school board went further and became the first in the nation to require, albeit somewhat circuitously, that attention be paid in school to "intelligent design." This is the notion that some things in nature, such as the workings of the cell and intricate organs like the eye, are so complex that they could not have developed gradually through the force of Darwinian natural selection acting on genetic variations. Instead, it is argued, they must have been designed by some sort of higher intelligence. Leading expositors of intelligent design accept that the theory of evolution can explain what they consider small changes in a species over time, but they infer a designer's hand at work in what they consider big evolutionary jumps.

The Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania became the first in the country to place intelligent design before its students, albeit mostly one step removed from the classroom. Last week school administrators read a brief statement to ninth-grade biology classes (the teachers refused to do it) asserting that evolution was a theory, not a fact, that it had gaps for which there was no evidence, that intelligent design was a differing explanation of the origin of life, and that a book on intelligent design was available for interested students, who were, of course, encouraged to keep an open mind. That policy, which is being challenged in the courts, suffers from some of the same defects found in the Georgia sticker. It denigrates evolution as a theory, not a fact, and adds weight to that message by having administrators deliver it aloud. •

Districts around the country are pondering whether to inject intelligent design into science classes, and the constitutional problems are underscored by practical issues. There is little enough time to discuss mainstream evolution in most schools; the Dover students get two 90-minute classes devoted to the subject. Before installing intelligent design in the already jam-packed science curriculum, school boards and citizens need to be aware that it is not a recognized field of science. There is no body of research to support its claims nor even a real plan to conduct such research. In 2002, more than a decade after the movement began, a pioneer of intelligent design lamented that the movement had many sympathizers but few research workers, no biology texts and no sustained curriculum to offer educators. Another leading expositor told a Christian magazine last year that the field had no theory of biological design to guide research, just "a bag of powerful intuitions, and a handful of notions." If evolution is derided as "only a theory," intelligent design needs to be recognized as "not even a theory" or "not yet a theory." It should not be taught or even described as a scientific alternative to one of the crowning theories of modern science.

That said, in districts where evolution is a burning issue, there ought to be some place in school where the religious and cultural criticisms of evolution can be discussed, perhaps in a comparative religion class or a history or current events course. But school boards need to recognize that neither creationism nor intelligent design is an alternative to Darwinism as a scientific explanation of the evolution of life.

[narby]

My research? It is other peoples' pretended research that presents conjecture as fact.

And it's your magic "Conjecture Sensor" that is able to tell the difference.

Glad to know about the level of confidence I can have about your research into the issue.

[Fester Chugabrew]

And it's your magic "Conjecture Sensor" . . .

Nothing "magic" about it. The only way one can speak of "billions of years" of history is to offer up conjecture. Otherwise, if they/you know these things to be factual from experience and expiriment in the science lab, it would indeed be "magic." In fact, that may be a better way for schools to understand and present the Theory of Evolution.

[Doctor Stochastic]

There's a chemistry one that's pretty funny. Analogous to having Seven Spanish Angels pushing the Planets around the Earth. I did find it though.

[shubi]

"I frankly would not be surprised if you believed me when I tell you the moon really was made of green cheese, billions of years ago, anyway."

I guess you didn't hear we went to the moon and brought back some rocks.

[Thatcherite]

I have friends who've taught biology at the university level and they all all view evolution as a sort of a joke.

Please name these people, and the institutions at which they teach.

[Fester Chugabrew]

. . . that old Goebels line about repeating a lie.

Well, for nearly 150 years the Theory of Evolution has been repeated in the clasroom as if it were an established fact. Goebels might be pleased with the intent and tenacity, but sorely disappointed that so few swallow the story.

[narby]

I just love that, where you can just write off the studies of nuclear measurement, fossilized layer analysis, DNA mutation rates. The work of thousands of people very smart folks, and you can just write it off as "conjecture" and wash your hands. You know better than all of them.

The ability to see yourself as that superior to everyone else, is ... scary.

I suppose you could be in more dangerous positions than just in the Evolution busting business.

[Thatcherite]

Well, for nearly 150 years the Theory of Evolution has been repeated in the clasroom as if it were an established fact. Goebels might be pleased with the intent and tenacity, but sorely disappointed that so few swallow the story.

"So few" as in "virtually everybody in the Western World who is not a religious fundamentalist". That kind of "so few"?

[Thatcherite]

Ok, Ok, I will untwist them. You did not admit you guys don't care about morals. You sort of admitted it.

I'll twist your words to take that as what passes for an apology in gobucks land.

[muleskinner]

I guess you didn't hear we went to the moon and brought back some rocks

Mr. Chugabrew believes the moon missions were a hoax, but that's conjecture.

[TeaDumper]

Isn't it interesting that the evolutionists have to enlist the US court system to defend their theory. Genuine science doesn't have to resort to a judicial system to defend itself. If this evolutionary fiction were real science they could go right to nature - current even - and drag in data to prove it. The fact that they are resorting to the law is prima facia evidence that there is no science behind it.

But ain't it fun to watch them self-destruct when faced with a competing thought?

[Fester Chugabrew]

I guess you didn't hear we went to the moon and brought back some rocks.

Oh sure, I heard about that. It's what's on the other side of the moon and deep underneath. The residual elements give a strong indication that indeed, billions of years ago, green cheese RULED.

[iconoclast]

The Darwinists will never win out because their (religious) argument is baseless and pointless.

[narby]

Goebels might be pleased with the intent and tenacity, but sorely disappointed that so few swallow the story.

Your point being that scientists have been telling a deliberate lie in order to accomplish some agenda.

On the other hand, you have been promoting the story that Evolution is increasingly being rejected by science itself.

So who is really doing the lying? Are scientists lying when they present Evolution, or are they just "wrong"? Or are the ID promoters lying when they say that Evolution is being questioned by scientists themselves?

If it were really the latter, there would be no reason for your creationism institutes, and you would be out of a job. The very fact that there needs to be institutes promoting ID is proof that they are not part of some kind of general rejection of Evolution. The day they actually succeed, is the day they will be dissolved.

[Fester Chugabrew]

. . . you can just write off the studies of nuclear measurement, fossilized layer analysis, DNA mutation rates.

None of the above gives indisputable evidence either that the universe is billions of years old, or that all the species present in today's world are derived from a common ancestral life form. To the extent these disciplines arrange the evidence to fit pre-conceived notions of history, damn straight I'll "write them off," and so should any serious student. To the extent they expose even more the order of nature as God established it from the beginning I am happy to let them carry on without even proclaiming the obvious foundation for learning: An ordered universe created by God and given to man for study.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Your point being that scientists have been telling a deliberate lie . . .

Those who foist the Theory of Evolution upon the science classroom are not to be confused with scientists. "Propagandists" would be a better word.

[narby]

The fact that they are resorting to the law is prima facia evidence that there is no science behind it.

And tens of thousands of scientists are merely co-conspirators to present this bogus science for some illicit agenda.

I'm waiting for one of them to come back from the dark side and give you folks the illicitly taped confession of the conspiracy.

You know the line about conspiracies. The only conspiracy that can be kept secret is where all but one of the co-conspirators are dead.

Or, maybe you're just imagining the whole thing.

[Fester Chugabrew]

"So few" as in "virtually everybody in the Western World who is not a religious fundamentalist". That kind of "so few"?

You do have a point. Goebels was able to convince a good many in his day. I'll amend that remark to say he would be disappointed that not everyone believes the lie.

[narby]

An ordered universe created by God and given to man for study.

And His universe has been studied. Yet you just write off the results of the study because it disagrees with your peculiar interpretation of Genesis. As it disagreed with your magic internal "Conjecture Sensor", so you just brush it off as irrelevant.

And creationists call us "arrogant".

[narby]

Those who foist the Theory of Evolution upon the science classroom are not to be confused with scientists.

So you are the sole judge as to who is, and who is not a "scientist".

And creationists call us arrogant.