Thursday, May 12, 2005
KCFS Calls Hearing a Sham
In a letter today to State Board of Education chair Steve Abrams, Kansas Citizens for Science denounced last week's hearings on evolution as a "sham" and a "kangaroo court," and urged the Board to adopt the science standards endorsed by the Board's Science Standards Writing Committee.
The letter, signed by KCFS president Harry McDonald, said it was evident to all that the Hearing Committee made up their minds before the hearings started and had not even bothered to read the science standards they were debating. The boycott of the hearings by scientists was amply justified. "There is no scientific controversy over evolution," said McDonald.
"Evolution is a fact and evolutionary theory is one of the best-documented concepts in modern science."
McDonald also said the hearings amounted to nothing more than "three days of ID [Intelligent Design] infomercials." "The BOE has once again succeeded in embarrassing Kansas in the eyes of the entire world," wrote McDonald.
Other concerns brought forward by KCFS were that:
ID proponents repeatedly misrepresented science as promoting atheism, a false claim that denigrates other religious traditions, including most Christian denominations that find no conflict with evolution science; and ID presented no scientific basis for their alternatives to evolution science.
The letter described the hearings as an affront to Kansans, leaving the Board with "no alternative but to reject the overt political manipulation of the education curriculum." To do otherwise, McDonald said, amounts to the BOE calling for a "dumbing-down" of the state's educational standards.
Kansas Citizens for Science is a not-for-profit educational organization that promotes a better understanding of what science is, and does, by advocating for science education , educating the public about the nature and value of science, and serving as an information resource. For more information about KCFS, visit www.kcfs.org.
The Coalition for Science gives scientists and citizens a much needed voice before the public and national and local media, as the Kansas State Board of Education attempts to replace science standards carefully developed by a committee appointed by the board with a showcase for a theology known as Intelligent Design creationism. For more information about the Coalition for Science, visit http://www.coalitionforscience.org/.
The letter, signed by KCFS president Harry McDonald, said it was evident to all that the Hearing Committee made up their minds before the hearings started and had not even bothered to read the science standards they were debating. The boycott of the hearings by scientists was amply justified. "There is no scientific controversy over evolution," said McDonald.
"Evolution is a fact and evolutionary theory is one of the best-documented concepts in modern science."
McDonald also said the hearings amounted to nothing more than "three days of ID [Intelligent Design] infomercials." "The BOE has once again succeeded in embarrassing Kansas in the eyes of the entire world," wrote McDonald.
Other concerns brought forward by KCFS were that:
ID proponents repeatedly misrepresented science as promoting atheism, a false claim that denigrates other religious traditions, including most Christian denominations that find no conflict with evolution science; and ID presented no scientific basis for their alternatives to evolution science.
The letter described the hearings as an affront to Kansans, leaving the Board with "no alternative but to reject the overt political manipulation of the education curriculum." To do otherwise, McDonald said, amounts to the BOE calling for a "dumbing-down" of the state's educational standards.
Kansas Citizens for Science is a not-for-profit educational organization that promotes a better understanding of what science is, and does, by advocating for science education , educating the public about the nature and value of science, and serving as an information resource. For more information about KCFS, visit www.kcfs.org.
The Coalition for Science gives scientists and citizens a much needed voice before the public and national and local media, as the Kansas State Board of Education attempts to replace science standards carefully developed by a committee appointed by the board with a showcase for a theology known as Intelligent Design creationism. For more information about the Coalition for Science, visit http://www.coalitionforscience.org/.
