There were a couple of news items I ran across last week regarding creationism. First, Texas is apparently the new Kansas. Last month, Governor Perry appointed Don McLeroy, board member of 8 years and social conservative, as Chairman of the State Board of Education. In 2003, after conducting his own “analysis” on the veracity of evolution, he concluded:
The entire crux of the evolution debate hinges on whether “descent from a common ancestor”, like the heliocentric theory of Copernicus, is accepted as a[n] historical reality, or as only a hypothesis.
This analysis has argued that it is only a hypothesis, and a shaky one at that. Therefore,
- I urge board members to carefully consider the argument of this analysis and in spite of the overwhelming scientific experts’ opinions, consider what the overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates, and insist that “common descent” be portrayed as a hypothesis in the textbooks.
- I also urge the board to reject any book that portrays descent with modification from a common ancestor as a fact.
- I also appeal to the publishers to incorporate in the texts the many reasons for the distinction.
He also participated in a series of lessons on intelligent design at Grace Bible Church in 2005, where he admitted:
…the most important thing I can tell you right now is the only, uh, no arguments on behalf of intelligent design can succeed against naturalism on it’s own terms….
No kidding, but that doesn’t stop him from encouraging teaching the “weaknesses” of evolution. And he’s the one now in control of recommending textbooks for one of the largest markets in the country , and making revisions to the Texas education standards.
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The second story is more amusing, or at least less potentially disasterous. There’s a guerilla faction in this culture war. A new blog, Biologists Helping Bookstores notes:
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but some bookstores seem to have a little problem discerning science from non-science. I’m specifically talking about biology books vs. creationist books. Sometimes, you will find psuedo-scientific rubbish such as “intelligent design” books next to such authors as Darwin, Mayr, Gould, et al.
Now, before you get all worked-up and charge into your local bookstore demanding to see the manager, pause to realise just how successful creationism has been in blurring the lines of what science actually is in the public’s eye. So successful, in fact, that books whose main argument is that “God did it” enjoy shelf-space with some of the finest minds ever to grace humanity.
This is unacceptable, and something must be done. Booksellers are not scientists, maybe we shouldn’t expect them to be able to discern between science and books desperately trying to wrap themselves in scientific credibility. I, however, am a scientist – and I can clearly see when an error has been made when stocking the shelves of the science section.
It always ticks me off a little to see non-science in the science section of my local bookstores, but I’d never been brave enough to actually reshelve it. It’s very tempting….
Tags: Evolution, Religion and Society
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