EDUCATION
Intelligent design vs. evolution in the public schools
A decades-long
conversation about the origins of the world has escalated into a roaring debate
about how science should be taught in public schools. Should evolution be taught
alone in science classes, or should it be accompanied by alternate theories
such as "intelligent design," the belief that the Earth and its life
forms were guided in their development by some unidentified higher intelligence?
Across the country, school systems are facing an increasing number of contentious
lawsuits, textbook battles and votes over science education standards.
Debate intensified
on Nov. 8, 2005, when proponents of intelligent design and evolution each scored
one loss and one victory. The Kansas School Board voted to adopt new science
standards that cast doubt on evolution theory. Meanwhile, voters in Dover, Pa.,
turned out eight of the nine school board members who backed a statement requiring
intelligent design to be taught in classrooms. A high-profile trial challenging
the requirement ended Friday, and the U.S. District judge says he plans to issue
a ruling late this year or January.
Earlier this year
President Bush said he favored the teaching of Intelligent Design in public
schools and Catholic Cardinal Christoph Schonborn wrote that Darwinism was "an
abdication of human intelligence" in a column in The New York Times.
On one side, most
scientists and many educators and parents say intelligent design, or ID, is
not legitimate science; they say it is creationism in disguise, a way for religious
conservatives to sneak God into the classroom. On the other side, ID supporters
say there is no consensus on evolution, so alternative theories like theirs
should be part of the curricula. Meanwhile, polls show that most Americans believe
God was involved in the creation of Earth and the universe. When specific questions
are asked about teaching public school children about the origins of life, opinions
vary according to how the questions are phrased. (See Polls.)
Why it Matters
The outcome of the tug-of-war between evolution and intelligent design will
affect the way science is taught to children through at least the next generation.
Questions for
reporters
• How is the debate playing out in your community and state? Is the debate
scientific, as ID proponents say, or religious, as many evolutionists believe?
• Is evolution "controversial," as many ID supporters state,
or is it a tried-and-true scientific theory?
• How do people - scientists, educators, parents, students, clergy and
theologians - balance belief in evolution and belief in God as the creator of
all living things?
• If, as many evolutionists say, there is little or no evidence to support
intelligent design, why has it not simply gone away?
Definitions CREATIONISM: In the United States,
creationism usually refers to the belief that the Bible's account of creation
is literally true and accurate. That generally means Genesis
1:1-2:4a, where God creates the Earth and all its life forms in six consecutive
24-hour days less than 10,000 years ago. (Genesis also tells a second creation
story, in 2:4b-24,
in which man is created before the Earth's vegetation, and specific days are
not described.)
Creationism is
sometimes called "Young Earth" or "Creation Science." Similarly,
"Old Earth Creationism" is the belief that the Earth and all its life
forms were created by God, but that the "days" may have been longer
than 24 hours and there may have been gaps between days. However, there are
as many creation stories as there are religions. The Talk.Origins Archive includes
a page
that describes the variety of Christian and non-Christian views of creationism.
EVOLUTION:
The theory that all living things share a common ancestry. Evolutionists hold
that the complex life forms we know today evolved from single-celled organisms
over millions of years. There is also "theistic evolution," which
is the belief that God guided evolution, causing both the first life forms to
appear as well as the eventual development of higher forms of life.
DARWINISM:
A theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin in the 19th century. Darwinism
is the theory that natural selection drives evolution: Life forms that most
successfully adapt are those that survive. Darwinism is not the equivalent of
evolution, but a theory for explaining how evolution occurred.
INTELLIGENT
DESIGN:
The belief that some aspects of life forms are so complex that they must reflect the design of a conscious, rational intelligence. ID proponents do not identify the designer. Many Intelligent Design supporters do not believe that life forms share a common ancestor, although some do.
Click
the map for interview sources
in your state and region
National
sources
INTELLIGENT-DESIGN
PROPONENTS
• Phillip
Johnson is a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley. After
converting to Christianity, he wrote Darwin on Trial (InterVarsity Press,
1993), which is largely credited as founding the idea of intelligent design. Contact
510-642-5370, johnsonp@law.berkeley.edu.
• William Dembski
is an associate research professor in the conceptual foundations of science at
Baylor University, a Southern Baptist school in Waco, Texas, and a senior fellow
at the Discovery Center for Science and Culture. He is author and/or editor of
numerous books supporting the theory of intelligent design, including No Free
Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased Without Intelligence (Rowman
and Littlefield, 2001) and Signs of Intelligence: Understanding Intelligent
Design (Brazos Press, 2001). Contact 254-710-4928, william_dembski@baylor.edu.
• Richard Thompson is president and chief counsel of The
Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., which is defending the Dover,
Pa., district in a lawsuit challenging its rules requiring the teaching of intelligent
design in public schools. It is believed to be the only district in the country
which requires the teaching of intelligent design. Contact 734-827-2001.
• Michael J. Behe is a professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University
in West Bethlehem, Pa., and author of Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge
to Evolution (Free Press, 1998). He says he believes that life forms share
a common ancestor. He is a senior fellow at the Discovery Center for Science and
Culture. Contact through Kurt Pfitzer, 610-758-3017, kap4@lehigh.edu
or via Robert Crowther, director of communications, Discovery Institute's Center
for Science and Culture, 206-292-0401 ext.107, rob@discovery.org.
• John Calvert is managing director of Intelligent
Design Network. He is a lawyer whose legal practice has focused on constitutional
requirements for teaching origins science in public schools. He has been actively
involved in the science education debate in his home state of Kansas, as well
as in Ohio, Georgia, California, Missouri, Minnesota, North Carolina, West Virginia,
Montana and New Mexico. He is the co-author of "Intelligent Design: The Scientific
Alternative to Evolution" (National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, autumn
2003). Contact 913-268-0852.
• Stephen Meyer is an associate professor of philosophy at Whitworth College
in Spokane, Wash. He is co-author of Intelligent Design in Public School Science
Curricula: A Legal Guidebook (Foundation for Thought and Ethics, 1999) and
director and senior fellow of the Center for the Renewal Science and Culture at
the Discovery Institute in Seattle. Contact via Robert Crowther, director of communications,
Discovery Center for Science and Culture, 206-292-0401 ext.107, rob@discovery.org.
• David DeWolf is a professor of law at Gonzaga University School of Law
in Spokane, Wash. He is a fellow of the Discovery Institute and co-author of its
Intelligent Design in Public School Science Curricula: A Legal Guidebook
(Foundation for Thought and Ethics, 1999). Contact 509-323-3767, ddewolf@lawschool.gonzaga.edu.
• Denyse O'Leary is the faith and science columnist for ChristianWeek
magazine and author of By Design or By Chance? The Growing Controversy On the
Origins of Life in the Universe (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2004). She
lives in Toronto, Canada. Contact via Bob Todd, senior publicist, Augsburg Fortress
Publishers, toddb@augsburgfortressorg,
612-330,3234.
INTELLIGENT-DESIGN
OPPONENTS
• Eugenie Scott is the executive director of the National
Center for Science Education in Oakland, Calif. She is a longtime supporter
of the teaching of evolution in the public schools and a frequent critic of
intelligent design. Contact 510-601-7203.
• Lawrence Lerner is a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at California
State University-Long Beach. He is the author of the Fordham Foundation's report
on science education in the United States, "Good
Science, Bad Science: Teaching Evolution in the States," and has served
as a consultant on science education standards. Contact lslerner@csulb.edu.
• Ronald
Numbers is a professor of the history of science and medicine at the University
of Wisconsin in Madison. He is author of several works on Darwinism, creationism
and the conflict between science and Christianity, including The Creationists:
The Evolution of Scientific Creationism (University of California Press,
1993). Contact 608-262-3701, rnumbers@med.wisc.edu.
• Anne Tweed is president of the National
Science Teachers Association. She is based in Aurora, Colo. Contact 303-632-5528.
• Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic
magazine, director of the Skeptics Society and host of the Skeptics Lecture
Series at Caltech. He has written several books, including How We Believe:
Science, Skepticism and the Search for God (Owl Books, 2003). He is based
in Altadena, Calif., and can discuss the tenacity of creationism. Contact 626-794-3119,
drmichaelshermer@aol.com.
• Kenneth
Miller
is a biology professor at Brown University and author of Finding Darwin's
God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution (Perennial,
2000). He says the debate over intelligent design and evolution is both religious
and political in that ID proponents want to enlist the government to ensure
their ideas are taught in public schools under the banner of First Amendment
protection. Contact 401-863-3410, kenneth_miller@brown.edu.
EXPERTS
ON THE SIDELINES
• William
Grassie is executive director of the Metanexus
Institute, an organization that seeks to promote dialogue between the fields
of religion and science. He says that within the current debate there is a need
to distinguish between the "what" and "when" of evolution, which he says is
well supported by scientific evidence, as opposed to the "how" and "why", which
is another, open matter. He also says the ID camp includes many Young Earth
creationists, and that hurts the chance of ID being taken seriously by unconvinced
scientists. Contact 215-789-2200, grassie@metanexus.net.
• Planetary scientist Charles
Harper is senior vice president and executive director of the John Templeton
Foundation. He is co-editor of Science & Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory,
Cosmology and Complexity (Cambridge University Press, 2004). Contact charper@templeton.org
or jwankmiller@templeton.org,
or through Pamela Thompson, 610-941-5194, pthompson@templeton.org.
• The American
Scientific Affiliation is an organization of scientists who are also Christian.
The group maintains no official position on the intelligent design-evolution
debate but tries to strike a balance between the two. It maintains a page
of papers, articles, definitions and positions on the debate.
• Francisco
J. Ayala is professor of biological sciences and of philosophy at the University
of California, Irvine. His research focuses on population and evolutionary genetics
and the interface between religion and science. He was part of a roundtable
discussion on religion and evolution as part of the PBS series Evolution
in which he stated there was no conflict between Catholicism and Darwinism.
Contact 949-824-6006, fjayala@uci.edu.
Background
On the Internet INTELLIGENT
DESIGN ORGANIZATIONS
• The
Discovery Institute
describes its mission as "to make a positive vision of the future practical."
It is one of the main proponents of intelligent-design theory in education.
• The Intelligent
Design Network is a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote objectivity
in origins education in public schools.
• The Institute for Creation
Research is a Christian-based creation ministry.
• Access Research Network
is a nonprofit that provides information on science, technology and social issues
and includes descriptions and discussions of intelligent design.
• The Alpha
Omega Institute promotes the teaching of creationism.
• Reasons
to Believe is a Christian ministry that supports people who want to find
scientific proof of biblical events.
• Answers in
Genesis is a Christian group that promotes creationism.
• The International Society
for Complexity, Information and Design is a nonprofit that proposes to "retrain
the scientific imagination to see purpose in nature."
EVOLUTION
ORGANIZATIONS
• The National Association
of Biology Teachers promotes biology and life science education. Its members
have made a statement in favor of the teaching of evolution theory.
• The National Science Teachers
Association has made an organizational statement that recommends "emphasizing"
the theory of evolution in the classroom.
• The National
Center for Science Education defends the teaching of evolution.
• The National
Academy of Sciences is an organization of scientists and engineers who advise
the U.S. government on scientific matters. In 2002, it issued a statement
asking members to battle intelligent design education in the public school science
classroom.
• The American Association
for the Advancement of Science is a nonprofit organization that publishes
the journal Science.
It has issued a resolution
on intelligent design, which it calls a challenge to science education.
• The Talk.Origins
Archive explores the creationism/evolution controversy in support of mainstream
scientific thought, but it includes many links to creationist and intelligent
design networks and articles.
NEWS
ARTICLES
• Read
"State school board won't reopen evolution debate, by narrow vote,"
a Jan.
11, 2006, Associated Press story posted online by the Cincinnati Enquirer,
about a decision by the Ohio state school board.
• Read
a Nov.
8, 2005, Washington Post story about the Kansas School Board's vote
that doubts about evolution theory must be taught in the classroom.
• Read a Nov.
9, 2005, USA Today story about the school board election in Dover,
Pa.
• Read
an Aug.
8, 2005, Boston Globe story about a Catholic cardinal’s recent
comments on evolution and President Bush’s comments on intelligent design.
• Read an Aug.
1, 2005, Associated Press story about President Bush’s comments about
Intelligent Design. It’s posted by MSNBC.
• Read a July
29, 2005, National Catholic Reporter story, "Catholic experts urge
caution in evolution debate."
• Read Catholic Cardinal Christoph Schonborn’s July
7, 2005, column in The New York Times.
• Read
a March
7, 2005, Agence France Press article about evolution and intelligent design
in U.S. public schools, posted by Aljazeera.net.
• Read a Feb.
2, 2005, New York Times story about teachers shying away from teaching evolution
in public school classrooms because of controversy over science teachings. The
story is posted by the Common Dreams News Center.
• On Feb. 21, 2005, the Charlotte Observer published pro
(by Jay Sekulow) and con
(by Barry Lynn) commentaries about whether intelligent design should be
taught in public schools along with evolution.
• Read a Jan.
30, 2005, Newsweek article about the current debate over intelligent
design and evolution as reprinted on the Discovery Institute's web site.
• Read an October
2004 article by Evan Ratliff of Wired magazine about the intelligent
design movement.
• Read a special
report from the April 2002 issue of Natural History magazine, reprinted
on the ActionBioscience.org web site, in which three intelligent design proponents
and three evolutionists debate.
• Reasons to Believe maintains a list
of articles that support the biblical timeline of creation and another
on the debate between creationism and evolution.
• Read an article
by Donald Yerxa in Science & Spirit magazine on how the intelligent design/evolution
debate has played out in books.
POLLS
• A
2000
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation report gave science education in one-third
of the states ratings of "unsatisfactory" to "disgraceful"
based on their handling of the origins of life.
• A
November 2004 Gallup poll found that 35 percent of Americans say Darwin's theory
of evolution is supported by evidence, 35 percent say it is not, and 29 percent
say they don't know enough to have an opinion. The poll is found at the bottom
of a Nov.
30, 2004, San Francisco Chronicle article about the anti-evolution
theories being taught in public schools.
• Read
a Nov.
22, 2004, CBS News story about its poll, which found that most Americans
do not think humans evolved, and that if they did, God guided the process.
• A
Sept.
21, 2001, Zogby International poll found that 71 percent of respondents
said that Darwin's theory of evolution should be taught along with scientific
evidence against the theory. The poll is posted by the Discovery Institute.
• A
July
26, 2004, poll by the Barna Group found that almost six of every 10 adults
favor teaching creationism in the public school, while less than four of 10
do not.
• A
2000 poll
from People for the American Way found that 66 percent of respondents say
the issue of whether to teach evolution in public schools is too important to
leave to individual localities to decide and say they favor a national approach.
OTHER
BACKGROUND
• See
the Intelligent
Design resource page from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
• Read
the American
Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit filed on behalf of parents in Dover, Pa.
• The
web site Religious Tolerance maintains a list
of the beliefs of 17 religions regarding the origins of life.
• Read
the Fordham Foundation's 2000 report "Good
Science, Bad Science: Teaching Evolution in the States," which includes
a state-by-state grading of science education in the public schools.
• A
2000
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation report gave science education in one-third
of the states ratings of "unsatisfactory" to "disgraceful" based on their handling
of the origins of life.
• Feb.
11, 2005, is celebrated as Darwin Day, an international observance of Charles
Darwin's work on evolution. Visit Duquesne University's Darwin
Day web site. Darwin
Day.org maintains a list of celebrations of the naturalist's birthday around
the world, including the United States.
