Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Darwin's Foes: Their Own Worst Enemy?
Writing a post mortem on the El Tejon "Philosophy of Design" fiasco, Charles C. Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, observes that Darwin's foes may have become their own worst enemy.
The month-long "Philosophy of Design," course, writes Haynes, is nothing but a "thinly disguised attempt to challenge evolution by promoting intelligent design and creationism."
A wide variety of philosophical and religious views are currently discussed in social studies classes nationwide, and Haynes observes that "some public schools have offered electives in world religions and philosophy for years without controversy."
To pass constitutional muster in a public school, a philosophy or religion course must be done right, notes Haynes, unfortunately, El Tejon got it wrong.
Haynes lists a number of indicators that set off alarms that the class was not intended to be objective:
The month-long "Philosophy of Design," course, writes Haynes, is nothing but a "thinly disguised attempt to challenge evolution by promoting intelligent design and creationism."
A wide variety of philosophical and religious views are currently discussed in social studies classes nationwide, and Haynes observes that "some public schools have offered electives in world religions and philosophy for years without controversy."
To pass constitutional muster in a public school, a philosophy or religion course must be done right, notes Haynes, unfortunately, El Tejon got it wrong.
Haynes lists a number of indicators that set off alarms that the class was not intended to be objective:
- The teacher had no training or certification for teaching of religion, philosophy or science.
- Guest speakers slated to appear were all advocates of ID.
- Two evolutionists were on a list to be invited: One said he opposed the course; the other died in 2004.
- With one exception, the long list of videos to be shown in class advocated ID or creationism.
"Since the teacher has no academic preparation in the topics covered, students wouldn't get any critical analysis of these presentations," writes Haynes, viewing one-sided videos in an intellectual vacuum is propaganda, not education.
