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Post details: Teaching the Controversy - Evolution and Intelligent Design
11/21/04
Teaching the Controversy - Evolution and Intelligent Design
National Public Radio (NPR) aired a program on the controversy of a number of school districts mandating or suggesting that ID be taught along with evolution in public schools.
Dr. David K. DeWolf is an attorney and professor of law at Gonzaga University School of Law. He is also a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. In the NPR discussion DeWolf comments, "the point of the Darwinian project is to provide an explanation without the use of any sort of intelligent process, that natural processes by themselves, through random mutation and natural selection, can generate complex organisms of marvelous complexity. The question is whether--as you investigate that scientifically, does the evidence bear that out, or does the evidence point, as you would in a murder investigation, to, say, `Gee, I don't think this is likely explained by a natural cause'? Who the intelligent agent is that is responsible for the phenomenon is a separate question after you've determined whether it's more likely explained by a natural cause."
Nick Matkze is a public information project specialist at the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California. He comments, "And so you can see, you know, when you look at creationism and how it's evolved over the last 15 years--it's gone from creationism to intelligent design to evidence against evolution, and it's always the same people with the same kinds of motivations. They all think evolution is, you know, bad for society, evolution is the root of societal evils. And that's pretty much why they're going for this."
Dr. Ken Miller voiced his concern that " the most destructive part of the disclaimer that's on the textbooks in Georgia, is the last sentence. And it says something to the effect that students are urged to study this material carefully, critically examine it and consider it with an open mind. Now, think about what that means to a student. It means to a student that you're supposed to do this to evolution, but that every other topic in that book need not be critically considered or examined with an open mind. It's like telling you we're certain of everything in science except for evolution. And I can't think of a worse policy in terms of scientific education. And, unfortunately, that's what this, the intelligent design movement, has led to: a lot of bad teaching, a lot of bad ideas about science, and, as you heard from the school board members in Dover, a lot of personal conflict at a local level, which I think is needless and unnecessary if science is taught well and taught properly.
For an article and audio file of the discussion, click HERE.
A student group, inspired by Matzke and Miller, generated a few new textbook disclaimers. For the mock Darwinist disclaimers at the IDEA Center, click HERE.
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