Posted on 07/09/2003 12:08:32 PM PDT by PatrickHenry
FORT WORTH, Texas - (KRT) -
The long-running debate over the origins of mankind continues Wednesday before the Texas State Board of Education, and the result could change the way science is taught here and across the nation.
Local and out-of-state lobbying groups will try to convince the board that the next generation of biology books should contain new scientific evidence that reportedly pokes holes in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Many of those groups say that they are not pushing to place a divine creator back into science books, but to show that Darwin's theory is far from a perfect explanation of the origin of mankind.
"It has become a battle ground," said Eugenie Scott, executive director of theNational Center of Science Education, which is dedicated to defending the teaching of evolution in the classroom.
Almost 45 scientists, educators and special interest groups from across the state will testify at the state's first public hearing this year on the next generation of textbooks for the courses of biology, family and career studies and English as a Second Language.
Approved textbooks will be available for classrooms for the 2004-05 school year. And because Texas is the second largest textbook buyer in the nation, the outcome could affect education nationwide.
The Texas Freedom Network and a handful of educators held a conference call last week to warn that conservative Christians and special interest organizations will try to twist textbook content to further their own views.
"We are seeing the wave of the future of religious right's attack on basic scientific principles," said Samantha Smoot, executive director of the network, an anti-censorship group and opponent of the radical right.
Those named by the network disagree with the claim, including the Discovery Institute and its Science and Culture Center of Seattle.
"Instead of wasting time looking at motivations, we wish people would look at the facts," said John West, associate director of the center.
"Our goal nationally is to encourage schools and educators to include more about evolution, including controversies about various parts of Darwinian theory that exists between even evolutionary scientists," West said. "We are a secular think tank."
The institute also is perhaps the nation's leading proponent of intelligent design - the idea that life is too complex to have occurred without the help of an unknown, intelligent being.
It pushed this view through grants to teachers and scientists, including Michael J. Behe, professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. The Institute receives millions of dollars from philanthropists and foundations dedicated to discrediting Darwin's theory.
The center sent the state board a 55-page report that graded 11 high school biology textbooks submitted for adoption. None earned a grade above a C minus. The report also includes four arguments it says show that evolutionary theory is not as solid as presented in biology textbooks.
Discovery Institute Fellow Raymond Bohlin, who also is executive director of Probe Ministries, based in Richardson, Texas, will deliver that message in person Wednesday before the State Board of Education. Bohlin has a doctorate degree in molecular cell biology from the University of Texas at Dallas.
"If we can simply allow students to see that evolution is not an established fact, that leaves freedom for students to pursue other ideas," Bohlin said. "All I can do is continue to point these things out and hopefully get a group that hears and sees relevant data and insist on some changes."
The executive director of Texas Citizens for Science, Steven Schafersman, calls the institute's information "pseudoscience nonsense." Schafersman is an evolutionary scientist who, for more than two decades, taught biology, geology, paleontology and environmental science at a number of universities, including the University of Houston and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.
"It sounds plausible to people who are not scientifically informed," Schafersman said. "But they are fraudulently trying to deceive board members. They might succeed, but it will be over the public protests of scientists."
The last time Texas looked at biology books, in 1997, the State Board of Education considered replacing them all with new ones that did not mention evolution. The board voted down the proposal by a slim margin.
The state requires that evolution be in textbooks. But arguments against evolution have been successful over the last decade in other states. Alabama, New Mexico and Nebraska made changes that, to varying degrees, challenge the pre-eminence of evolution in the scientific curriculum.
In 1999, the Kansas Board of Education voted to wash the concepts of evolution from the state's science curricula. A new state board has since put evolution back in. Last year, the Cobb County school board in Georgia voted to include creationism in science classes.
Texas education requirements demand that textbooks include arguments for and against evolution, said Neal Frey, an analyst working with perhaps Texas' most famous textbook reviewers, Mel and Norma Gabler.
The Gablers, of Longview, have been reviewing Texas textbooks for almost four decades. They describe themselves as conservative Christians. Some of their priorities include making sure textbooks include scientific flaws in arguments for evolution.
"None of the texts truly conform to the state's requirements that the strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories be presented to students," Frey said.
The Texas textbook proclamation of 2001, which is part of the standard for the state's curriculum, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, requires that biology textbooks instruct students so they may "analyze, review and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weakness using scientific evidence and information."
The state board is empowered to reject books only for factual errors or for not meeting the state's curriculum requirements. If speakers convince the state board that their evidence is scientifically sound, members may see little choice but to demand its presence in schoolbooks.
Proposed books already have been reviewed and approved by Texas Tech University. After a public hearing Wednesday and another Sept. 10, the state board is scheduled to adopt the new textbooks in November.
Satisfying the state board is only half the battle for textbook publishers. Individual school districts choose which books to use and are reimbursed by the state unless they buy texts rejected by the state board.
Districts can opt not to use books with passages they find objectionable. So when speakers at the public hearings criticize what they perceived as flaws in various books - such as failing to portray the United States or Christianity in a positive light - many publishers listen.
New books will be distributed next summer.
State Board member Terri Leo said the Discovery Institute works with esteemed scientists and that their evidence should be heard.
"You cannot teach students how to think if you don't present both sides of a scientific issue," Leo said. "Wouldn't you think that the body that has the responsibility of what's in the classroom would look at all scientific arguments?"
State board member Bob Craig said he had heard of the Intelligent Design theory.
"I'm going in with an open mind about everybody's presentation," Craig said. "I need to hear their presentation before I make any decisions or comments.
State board member Mary Helen Berlanga said she wanted to hear from local scientists.
"If we are going to discuss scientific information in the textbooks, the discussion will have to remain scientific," Berlanga said. "I'd like to hear from some of our scientists in the field on the subject."
I was, for most of my life, very fundamentalist Christian and believed in Creationism...that is, until I went to college. Like you, my investigations revealed the same thing - that the evidence for evolution was well-researched and staggering not only in the sheer volume of information amassed, but in it's complexity and far-reaching implications.
At the same time, the realization that, "well, this is clearly b.s.," sort of took a literal interpretation of creation, and corresponding ideas of a tinkering, interventionist God, off the table for me. This eventually led me to think about deeper ways that God might be related to the world as its Creator. So reading creationism also (over a longer time span) did also make me more theistic, but only because it realized it was wrong!
Precisely! Any God powerful enough to will the Universe into being would not need to be tinkering about with His creation. He would have thought it all out ahead of time and known what would happen, where it would happen, and when it would happen...and herein lies the irony of the entire Christian-Creationist dogma. Christians are very big on claiming omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience as characteristics of God...but in reality, they do not believe it...for in their world, God must act directly from time-to-time to "fix" His creation, insert a species here, or take one out there.
To paraphrase Darth Vader, I find their lack of faith disturbing.
Precisely! Any God powerful enough to will the Universe into being would not need to be tinkering about with His creation. He would have thought it all out ahead of time and known what would happen, where it would happen, and when it would happen...and herein lies the irony of the entire Christian-Creationist dogma. Christians are very big on claiming omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience as characteristics of God...but in reality, they do not believe it...for in their world, God must act directly from time-to-time to "fix" His creation, insert a species here, or take one out there.PMFJI, but I couldn't agree more with that. Evolution for me was never a stumbling block to believing in God. In fact it makes much more sense to me that God would use evolution than just blink it all into existence fully-formed. (Well, it did take Him a whole week...)
My atheism came to me at age 13 when the notion of an all-powerful spirit-being, who was only able to communicate with us via telepathy, but only to those who already fervently believe in him, suddenly seemed rather silly. It got more nuanced & complex since then, but that's basically it. Evolution had never made an appearance in my deliberations about God.
New species?
until I went to college.
It is strange how colleges are run by liberal people who base their careers on the basis that there is no other wisdom than that which they can impart.
that the evidence for evolution was well-researched and staggering not only in the sheer volume of information amassed, but in it's complexity and far-reaching implications.
Have you had a chance to review the information you were fed in your youth and done an analysis of how much was considered true by scientists today?
Any God powerful enough to will the Universe into being would not need to be tinkering about with His creation.
I am not sure what tinkering you refer to. Most Creationists see the Creation as going downhill fast. Waxing old like a garment. Degrading DNA that looses information not gains. Back pain, bad knees, cancer, 35 year old heart attacks... doesn't look like tinkering on Gods part and especially not natures part.
He would have thought it all out ahead of time and known what would happen, where it would happen, and when it would happen...and herein lies the irony of the entire Christian-Creationist dogma.
That is the chance He was willing to take when He created us with free will. If He wanted robots that only followed His script it would have been very boring here. The Almighty God is BIG enough to handle a world full of free will agents and still have His sovereign will fulfilled. And He does this by using believers in Him, who respond to His love and righteousness. That is the amazing privilege He has bequeathed to us.
The U.S.A. is the best example in history of a large group of people responding to His righteous will. Not perfectly, but on a large scale. I pray He continues to use us to spread freedom and goodness to the world.
Piltdown_Woman, I hope you are well.
Not the only wisdom, but the wisdom they had aquired in their respective fields. I have never, nor would I ever consider consulting a geologist on a point of theology, just as I would not ask a theologian to classify a fossil.
Have you had a chance to review the information you were fed in your youth and done an analysis of how much was considered true by scientists today?
Non sequitur..."truth" is the realm of philosophers and theologians, "facts" are pursued by scientists. But as an aside, when you replied I was deeply engrossed in researching the differences between the Hebrew words, "sheqets" and "tow'ebah" and their usage in various Old Testament verses contrasted with the Greek equivalent used in two verses found in Matthew and Mark.
I am not sure what tinkering you refer to. Most Creationists see the Creation as going downhill fast. Waxing old like a garment. Degrading DNA that looses information not gains. Back pain, bad knees, cancer, 35 year old heart attacks... doesn't look like tinkering on Gods part and especially not natures part.
I was referring to the appearance and disappearance of species in the fossil record. IMO, the God of the Universe would not need to insert or delete species, His plans and provisions would have determined the extent of their existence long before He set His plans in motion.
As for "degrading DNA", I'm not a biologist, but the work I did during an internship in a molecular biology lab has convinced me that DNA is pretty tough stuff. Yes, deletions do occur, but so do insertions...that's the nature of genetics. Our lifestyles and the associated stresses are IMO far more responsible for "accelerated decrepitude" than the genetic package we are born with.
The Almighty God is BIG enough to handle a world full of free will agents and still have His sovereign will fulfilled. And He does this by using believers in Him, who respond to His love and righteousness.
Be careful, it's not an exclusive club. If God is intimately involved with individual human affairs, then He uses non-believers too.
Piltdown_Woman, I hope you are well.
Do I detect the faint aroma of brimstone, or are you genuinely concerned?
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