Monday, February 28, 2005
May the Farce Be With You
Proponents of intelligent design often portray defenders of science as a dark force trying to prevent open discussion of the "controversy" surrounding evolution. They say teachers and scientists want to stop free and open discussion.
Take a look at what they do when they have the power, as they do now in Kansas, to control the discussion:
Take a look at what they do when they have the power, as they do now in Kansas, to control the discussion:
- The intelligent design minority on the science standards writing committee wasn't able to persuade the majority of their ideas -- so the demanded, and got, a do-over from the creationist majority on the Kansas BOE.
- The board majority held secret meetings with Attorney General Phill Kline to which the moderate board minority was not invited to discuss putting stickers on Biology textbooks in the state.
- A three member sub-committee -- composed exclusively of board conservatives -- will conduct a Scopes-style trial of evolution in the coming months, a deviation from established curriculum development policy. (Since moderates comprise 40 percent of the board, a fair-minded board might have included at least one moderate on the sub-committee.)
- Intelligent Design proponents William Harris, a science standards committe minority member, and John Calvert, who has no elected or official function on the board, have never-the-less been granted special consultative status and apparently meet privately with the sub-committee as advisors on the upcoming Kansas "Scopes" trial.
So much for free and open discussion.
