Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Jack Krebs, the president of Kansas Citizens for Science, made the case Saturday in Lawrence that using the same criteria laid down in the Dover intelligent design trial, Kansas science standards would be found unconstitutional.Krebs spoke to an overflow crowd of 200 at the Intelligent Design, Kansas Science Education, and the Law forum at the Dole Center. The event was sponsored by KCFS and the National Center for Science Education.
Noting that school board chair Steve Abrams had worked behind the scenes with young earth creationists to take evolution and the age of the earth out of the standards back in 1999, Krebs pointed to four factors that make the Kansas standards unconstitutional:
- The standards change the definition of science
- The standards include discredited arguments
- The standards employ a contrived dualism -- if evolution can't explain everything, then, by default, intelligent design is correct
- The authors of the changes in the curriculum have demonstrated religious motivations
