In the News

The press release below will likely spark a big fight over the issue of Kansas' institutionalization of materialism.

January 30, 2007

NEWS RELEASE:
John Calvert, 913-268-0852

KANSANS FIGHT AGAINST STATE MATERIALISM

The debate about evolution actually hinges on a deeper issue - materialism, also known as naturalism.

Materialism and naturalism are philosophies that claim that natural phenomena, including humans, derive simply from the interactions of matter, energy and the physical forces - by material or natural causes. Materialists reject any creative force or cause.

Many Kansans are concerned that proposed changes to Kansas Science Standards will cause Kansas Public Education to indoctrinate young children in Materialism, the philosophy that dominates Russian culture. This teaching model permits only material or natural causes to explain where we come from. It systematically excludes legitimate scientific controversies about materialistic theories of the origin of life (chemical evolution) and the origin of large scale changes in bio-diversity (macro-evolution).

Kansans are voicing their concerns in a variety of ways. A petition urging the Board to reject the materialistic proposals is circulating throughout Kansas. Over 2500 signatures were delivered to the State Board at its meeting on Jan 9. Yesterday the team that proposed the objective teaching model in the current standards posted the petition on their web site. This will allow people from all over the state to voice their concerns electronically.

http://www.KansasScience2005.com/petition.html

Kansans are concerned because Materialism is the origins story that is the foundation for a variety of non-theistic religions and religious beliefs. Atheism and Humanism depend on a purposeless self-existing universe with life being the product of unguided evolutionary change.

In response to the Petition one Board member has asked the Board’s legal counsel whether it is appropriate for State Schools to promote materialism and to systematically exclude scientific information relevant to evolution that is critical of the theory.

"We believe the State should be scrupulously objective when it engages children in a discussion of the origin of life," Said Bill Harris, PhD, a research biochemist. Dr. Harris led the Team of scientists and educators who proposed the current model for teaching evolution.

"The current objective standards were scientifically and educationally validated by extensive hearings in May 2005," said Greg Lassey, a biology teacher who helped with the project.

A new movie about the hearings and the testimony of the 23 experts will be shown at the Glenwood theater on January 12, 2007 in Kansas City: Kansas Science Hearings: Exposing the Evolution Controversy.

For information about "Materialism" go to this Web site and click on "What is Materialism? Click here and find out!"

For information about the proposal that will import materialism into the standards, click on the first item on the top left of the side bar for that Web page which is titled: "Proposed Changes which Substitute Materialism for Objective Origins Science." The provisions that mandate materialism are in red. The provisions being systematically excluded by the red are in blue.

The problem is not with evolution as a theory, it is with a construct that does not tolerate any critical analysis of it. That construct is called Methodological Naturalism or Scientific Materialism. It is actually worse than a philosophy because, its tenets can’t be questioned. They must be accepted. It converts evolution into a religious dogma.