Kansas evolution hearings
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The Kansas evolution hearings were a series of hearings held in Topeka,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
from May 5 to 12, 2005 by the Kansas State Board of Education and its State Board Science Hearing Committee to change how
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
and the origin of life would be taught in the state's public high school science classes. The hearings were arranged by the
Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
with the intent of introducing
intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
into science classes via the
Teach the Controversy The "teach the controversy" campaign of the Discovery Institute seeks to promote the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design (a variant of traditional creationism) as part of its attempts to discredit the teaching of evolution in Unit ...
method. The hearings raised the issues of
creation and evolution in public education The status of creation and evolution in public education has been the subject of substantial debate and conflict in legal, political, and religious circles. Globally, there is a wide variety of views on the topic. Most western countries have leg ...
and were attended by all the major participants in the intelligent design movement but were ultimately boycotted by the scientific community over concern of lending credibility to the claim, made by proponents of intelligent design, that evolution is the subject of wide dispute within the scientific and science education communities. The
Discovery Institute The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle, Washington, that advocates the pseudoscientific concept Article available froUniversiteit Gent/ref> of intelligent design (ID). It was founded ...
, hub of the intelligent design movement, played a central role in starting the hearings by promoting its
Critical Analysis of Evolution The Discovery Institute has conducted a series of related public relations campaigns which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute prom ...
lesson plan which the Kansas State Board of Education eventually adopted over objections of the State Board Science Hearing Committee, and campaigning on behalf of conservative Republican candidates for the Board. Local science advocacy group
Kansas Citizens for Science {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2020 Kansas Citizens for Science (KCFS) is a science advocacy organization, incorporated as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3), that "promotes a better understanding of what science is, and does, by: advocating for science educa ...
organized a
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
of the hearings by mainstream scientists, who accused it of being a kangaroo court and argued that their participation would lend an undeserved air of legitimacy to the hearings. Kansas Board of Education member Kathy Martin declared at the beginning of the hearings, "Evolution has been proven false. ID (
Intelligent Design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
) is science-based and strong in facts." At their conclusion she proclaimed that evolution is "an unproven, often disproven" theory. "ID has theological implications. ID is not strictly Christian, but it is theistic," asserted Martin. The
scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are als ...
rejects teaching intelligent design as science; a leading example being the
United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, which issued a policy statement saying "Creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science." (See also
List of scientific societies explicitly rejecting intelligent design This article lists those scientific organisations and other nationally or internationally recognised groups that specifically reject intelligent design as a valid alternative to evolutionary theory. United States National *The American Associa ...
) On February 13, 2007, the Board voted 6 to 4 to reject the amended science standards enacted in 2005.


Background

The hearings were one of a number of
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns The Discovery Institute has conducted a series of related public relations campaigns which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute prom ...
that sought to establish new science education standards consistent with conservative Christian beliefs, both in the state and nationwide, and reverse what they saw as a domination in science education by actual science, specifically the
scientific theory A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluatio ...
of
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
, which they viewed as atheistic, in direct conflict to their religious beliefs. Kansas Board of Education elections in 2004 gave religious conservatives a 6-4 majority. In 2005, prompted by the Kansas
Intelligent Design Network The Intelligent Design network, inc. (commonly IDnet or Intelligent Design Network) is a nonprofit organization formed in Kansas to promote the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design. It is based in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. The Intelligen ...
and the
Discovery Institute The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle, Washington, that advocates the pseudoscientific concept Article available froUniversiteit Gent/ref> of intelligent design (ID). It was founded ...
, the board sought new high school science standards. The revisions did not entirely eliminate evolution from instruction, but presented it as a theory greatly challenged and disputed, in line with the Discovery Institute's
Teach the Controversy The "teach the controversy" campaign of the Discovery Institute seeks to promote the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design (a variant of traditional creationism) as part of its attempts to discredit the teaching of evolution in Unit ...
campaign. The new standards presented intelligent design as an alternative to evolution through the Institute's ''Critical Analysis of Evolution''. Board member Connie Morris sent a taxpayer-funded newsletter to constituents calling evolution an "age-old fairy tale" that was defended with "anti-God contempt and arrogance." Describing herself as a Christian who believes in a literal interpretation of Genesis, Morris wrote that evolution was "biologically, genetically, mathematically, chemically, metaphysically and etc. wildly and utterly impossible." The Intelligent Design Network originally proposed over 20 pages of revisions to the science standards. Their proposals were rejected by the science standards committee (made up of Kansas scientists and educators) appointed by the Board of Education, and were also rejected by 12 independent scientists who reviewed the proposed revisions. Each side was invited to provide witnesses to testify before the board for intelligent design or evolution, with the taxpayers of Kansas covering the travel expenses. The scientific community refused to participate ''en masse''. The pro-intelligent design group, the Intelligent Design Network, invited 22 witnesses. Among these were a number of non-scientists, and a number of scientists with no professional experience in biology.


New science standards

On November 8, 2005, the Kansas Board of Education approved the following changes to its science standards: # Add to the mission statement a goal that science education should seek to help students make "informed" decisions. # Provide a definition of science that is not strictly limited to natural explanations. We also emphasize that the Science Curriculum Standards do not include Intelligent Design, the scientific disagreement with the claim of many evolutionary biologists that the apparent design of living systems is an illusion. While the testimony presented at the science hearings included many advocates of Intelligent Design, these standards neither mandate nor prohibit teaching about this scientific disagreement. # Allow intelligent design to be presented as an alternative explanation to evolution as presented in mainstream biology textbooks, without endorsing it. # State that evolution is a theory and not a fact. # Require informing students of purported scientific controversies regarding evolution.


Opposition to new standards

In addition to the over 70 scientific societies, institutions and other scientific professional groups that have issued statements supporting evolution education and opposing intelligent design, the Kansas Board of Education was presented a letter from 38 Nobel laureates, the ''Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Nobel Laureates Initiative'', calling upon the Board of Education to reject intelligent design and support the teaching of evolution. It stated:
Logically derived from confirmable evidence, evolution is understood to be the result of an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection. As the foundation of modern biology, its indispensable role has been further strengthened by the capacity to study DNA. In contrast, intelligent design is fundamentally unscientific; it cannot be tested as scientific theory because its central conclusion is based on belief in the intervention of a supernatural agent.
The Discovery Institute has consistently insisted that its ''Critical Analysis of Evolution'' lesson plan is not another attempt to open the door of public high school science classrooms for intelligent design, and hence
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
explanations. Discovery Institute spokesman Casey Luskin in February 2006 coined the term "false fear syndrome" of those who said it was, and said:
This is simply another instance of Darwinists attempting to oppose critical analysis of evolution by pretending that it is equivalent to teaching intelligent design. This is a political tactic based upon misinformation, misrepresentation, emotions, and false fears.
In response,
Nick Matzke Nicholas J. Matzke is the former Public Information Project Director at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and served an instrumental role in NCSE's preparation for the 2005 ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'' trial. One of h ...
says that it has proved that ''Critical Analysis of Evolution'' is a means of teaching all the intelligent design arguments without using the intelligent design label. The Kansas science standards as proposed by the Discovery Institute and adopted by the state were said to be "ID in disguise" by an assistant of a Discovery Institute Fellow, confirming the criticisms of opponents to the standards. In discussing Discovery Institute radio commercials supporting their campaign airing in Kansas on the blog of
William A. Dembski William Albert Dembski (born July 18, 1960) is an American mathematician, philosopher and theologian. He was a proponent of intelligent design (ID) pseudoscience, specifically the concept of specified complexity, and was a senior fellow of the ...
, Dembski's research assistant and co-moderator of the site, Joel Borofsky, said: To the statement that the Kansas science standards had nothing to do with intelligent design but were only about teaching evolution in a "balanced" way, Borofsky responded:
It really is ID in disguise. The entire purpose behind all of this is to shift it into schools ... at least that is the hope/fear among some science teachers in the area. The problem is, if you are not going to be dogmatic in Darwinism that means you inevitably have to point out a fault or at least an alternative to Darwinism. So far, the only plausible theory is ID. If one is to challenge Darwin, then one must use ID. To challenge Darwin is to challenge natural selection/spontaneous first cause ... which is what the Kansas board is attempting to do. When you do that, you have to invoke the idea of ID.
In response to the reception to his comments, Dembski's research assistant issued a clarification, stating that he was only voicing his personal opinion, not that of others in the movement, and that he is Dembski's "assistant on theological work, not necessarily the ID movement." The Discovery Institute continues to deny allegations that its true agenda is religious, and downplays the religious source of much of its funding. In an interview of Stephen C. Meyer when ABC News asked about the Discovery Institute's many evangelical Christian donors the institute's public relations representative stopped the interview saying "I don't think we want to go down that path." Both the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
and the National Science Teachers Association spoke out against the new science standards; in addition to separate statements from each opposing the standards, the two groups issued a joint statement that the new Kansas standards are improved, but as currently written, they overemphasize controversy in the theory of evolution and distort the definition of science. The National Academy of Sciences and National Science Teachers Association offered to work with the board to resolve these issues so the state standards could use text from the National Research Council's ''National Science Education Standards'' and National Science Teachers Association's ''Pathways to Science Standards'', though they ultimately declined to grant use of the text due to Kansas State Board of Education members insisting on language "emphasizing controversy in the theory of evolution" and "distorting the definition of science." The position of the scientific community is that there is no controversy to teach, that evolution is widely accepted within the scientific community as a valid, well-supported theory and that such disagreements that do exist are about the details of evolution's mechanisms, not the validity of evolution itself. For example, the
National Association of Biology Teachers The National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) is an incorporated association of biology educators in the United States. It was initially founded in response to the poor understanding of biology and the decline in the teaching of the subject ...
in a statement endorsing evolution as noncontroversial quoted
Theodosius Dobzhansky Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (russian: Феодо́сий Григо́рьевич Добржа́нский; uk, Теодо́сій Григо́рович Добржа́нський; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a prominent ...
"
nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" is a 1973 essay by the evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky, criticising anti-evolution creationism and espousing theistic evolution. The essay was first published in ''Am ...
" and went on to state that the quote "accurately reflects the central, unifying role of evolution in biology. The theory of evolution provides a framework that explains both the history of life and the ongoing adaptation of organisms to environmental challenges and changes." They emphasized that "Scientists have firmly established evolution as an important natural process" and that "The selection of topics covered in a biology curriculum should accurately reflect the principles of biological science. Teaching biology in an effective and scientifically honest manner requires that evolution be taught in a standards-based instructional framework with effective classroom discussions and laboratory experiences."


Support for new standards

The hub of the intelligent design movement, the
Discovery Institute The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle, Washington, that advocates the pseudoscientific concept Article available froUniversiteit Gent/ref> of intelligent design (ID). It was founded ...
and its
Center for Science and Culture The Center for Science and Culture (CSC), formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CRSC), is part of the Discovery Institute (DI), a conservative Christian think tank in the United States. The CSC lobbies for the in ...
, played a central role in bringing about the Kansas evolution hearings, first by supporting ID proponents in their bids for seats on the board, and later in aggressively lobbying for a "
Teach the Controversy The "teach the controversy" campaign of the Discovery Institute seeks to promote the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design (a variant of traditional creationism) as part of its attempts to discredit the teaching of evolution in Unit ...
" solution. Teach the Controversy is a controversial political-action campaign originating from the Discovery Institute that seeks to advance an education policy for US public schools that introduces intelligent design to public school science curricula and seeks to redefine science to allow for supernatural explanations by eliminating "
methodological naturalism In philosophy, naturalism is the idea or belief that only natural laws and forces (as opposed to supernatural ones) operate in the universe. According to philosopher Steven Lockwood, naturalism can be separated into an ontological sense and a me ...
" from science and replacing it with "
theistic realism Theistic science, also referred to as theistic realism, is the pseudoscientific proposal that the central scientific method of requiring testability, known as methodological naturalism, should be replaced by a philosophy of science that allows occa ...
". Teach the Controversy proponents portray evolution as a "theory in crisis." As well as proposing its own draft science standards to the Kansas State Board of Education and ''Critical Analysis of Evolution'' high school lesson plan, the Discovery Institute participated in presenting a letter to the Kansas State Board of Education from Institute associate, Dr. Philip S. Skell. A notable intelligent design proponent, Dr. Skell's letter to the board touts the alleged benefits of the Teach the Controversy approach, as well his credentials as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, despite the fact the National Academy of Sciences issued a policy statement against the Teach the Controversy solution and intelligent design as a concept. Two intelligent design proponents, John H. Calvert, a lawyer and a Managing Director of Intelligent Design Network, Inc., and William S. Harris, Ph.D., co-author with Calvert of ''Intelligent Design: The Scientific Alternative to Evolution'' (National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Autumn 2003) were instrumental in pushing for the successful adoption of the new standards, including submitting a ''Suggested Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law'' and numerous other documents. Both are active participants in the intelligent design movement. Discovery Institute fellows used the media coverage of the hearings to take their message to the public. The Institute's vice president and program director, Stephen C. Meyer, appeared on the
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
show '' The Big Story'' with John Gibson, where he debated Eugenie Scott, executive director of the
National Center for Science Education The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit membership organization in the United States whose stated mission is to educate the press and the public on the scientific and educational aspects of controversies surrounding t ...
. There Meyer sought to convey the Institute's message that debate over evolution is not a ploy to get religious ideas into public schools, that evolution is a theory in crisis, and that students were currently being taught in error there was no scientific controversy over evolution. The proposed changes were not supported by most of the 26 members of the panel that reviews state science curriculum.


Decision

On November 8, 2005, the Board of Education voted to instruct science students along the lines of the Discovery Institute, that evolution could not rule out a supernatural or theistic source, that evolution itself was not fact but only a theory and one in crisis, and that ID must be considered a viable alternative to evolution.


List of participants

The following is a list of those who testified in the Kansas evolution hearings (in order), most of whom are affiliated with the Discovery Institute and all of whom are
intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
advocates or other forms of creationists, or advocates of some other form of anti-evolution. ;April 19, 2005 (Prehearings Statements) # Pedro L. Irigonegaray (for mainstream
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
) ;May 5, 2005 # William S. Harris – Biochemist, Professor of Medicine, University of Missouri at Kansas City, Director of the Lipoprotein Research Laboratory, St. Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism'', and co-author, with John Calvert, of ''Intelligent Design: The Scientific Alternative to Evolution''. #
Charles Thaxton Charles B. Thaxton (born 1939) is a proponent of special creation who went on to become one of the first intelligent design authors, and Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Biography Thaxton earned a doctorate i ...
– Editor of the book '' Of Pandas and People'', Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' # Jonathan Wells – author of ''
Icons of Evolution ''Icons of Evolution'' is a book by Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate), Jonathan Wells, an advocate of the pseudoscientific intelligent design argument for the existence of God and fellow of the Discovery Institute, in which Wells criti ...
'' and Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' # Bruce Simat – Associate Professor of Biology at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' # Giuseppe Sermonti – Chief Editor of ''Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum'' and author of ''Why Is a Fly Not a Horse?'' which is published by the Discovery Institute. # Ralph Seelke – PhD Professor of Microbiology, University of Wisconsin – Superior, self-described Christian apologetist, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' ;May 6, 2005 # Edward Peltzer – Oceanographer, associate editor, ''Marine Chemistry'', senior research specialist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' # Russell Carlson – Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Georgia, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' Member of DI research fellow William Dembski's The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID) #
John C. Sanford John C. Sanford is an American geneticist and inventor. From 1980 to 1998 he was a professor at Cornell University. After retirement at Cornell, he continued as courtesy professor. He is known for advocacy of the pseudoscience of intelligent desi ...
– Cornell University Associate Professor of Horticultural Sciences, inventor of the "
gene gun In genetic engineering, a gene gun or biolistic particle delivery system is a device used to deliver exogenous DNA (transgenes), RNA, or protein to cells. By coating particles of a heavy metal with a gene of interest and firing these micro-projec ...
," intelligent design advocate. # Robert DiSilvestro – Biochemist, Professor of Nutrition, Ohio State University, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' # Bryan Leonard – High school biology teacher, involved in a doctoral thesis controversy in which he was supported by the Discovery Institute.Professors Defend Ohio Grad Student Under Attack by Darwinists
Discovery Institute News.
# Dan Ely – Professor of Biology, University of Akron in Ohio, self-described intelligent design teacher who assisted in drafting the adopted lesson plan. # Roger DeHart – High school biology teacher, Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California, who claims teaching intelligent design cost him two jobs. Author of a companion study guide ''Icons of Evolution- A Study Guide'' to Jonathan Wells' ''Icons of Evolution''.Witnesses to who testified at Hearings Conducted by the Science Committee of the Kansas State Board of Education
KansasScience2005.com
# Jill Gonzalez-Bravo – eighth grade Kansas science teacher, who endorsed the Discovery Institute-promulgated science standards in her testimony and in an interview conducted by the Discovery Institute. Additionally, Gonzalez-Bravo appeared in a commercial favoring the teaching of intelligent design. # John Millam – Software developer, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism'', denier of common dissent, advocate of intelligent design. ;May 7, 2005 # Nancy Bryson – Former Division Head of the Dept of Science and Mathematics at Mississippi University for Women who claims to have lost her position over a presentation ''Critical Thinking on Evolution'' that presented alternatives to Darwinian evolution. A senior professor of biology derided the speech as "religion masquerading as science." Bryson is often cited by the Discovery Institute as one who was "demonized and blacklisted" by "Darwinian fundamentalists." # James Barham – Scholar, author, intelligent design advocate specializing in evolutionary epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and the foundations of biology, known for "Why I am not a Darwinist" in ''Debating Darwin, From Darwin to DNA'' and quoted in Dembski's ''Uncommon Dissent ... Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing''. # Stephen C. Meyer – Program Director of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute co-founder, signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.'' # Angus Menuge – philosopher of science, Dept. of Philosophy Concordia University, Mequon, Wisconsin, who participated in Discovery Institute sponsored symposia leading up to the 2006 election for seats opening in the state Board of Education. Menuge also describes himself as someone whose interests "now are in promoting Christian teaching and scholarship ...". # Warren Nord – Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'', 400 F. Supp. 2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005) was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design ...
defense witness who withdrew before testifying along with other Discovery Institute associates William Dembski, John Campbell, and Stephen C. Meyer. #
Mustafa Akyol Mustafa Akyol (born 20 February 1972) is a Turkish writer and journalist. He is the author of ''Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty'', long-listed in 2012 for the Lionel Gelber Prize, a literary award for the world's best non-ficti ...
– Columnist in the Turkish daily newspaper ''Referans'', and freelance writer in the U.S., vocal advocate of intelligent design. # Michael Behe – Biochemist at Lehigh University and prominent intelligent design proponent, Center for Science and Culture Fellow, and signer of the Discovery Institute's ''A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism'', presented irreducible complexity with the claim that it was supported by a paper he had co-authored with
David Snoke David W. Snoke is a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for his pioneering work on the experimental and theoretical unders ...
. # John Calvert – Lawyer who has worked closely with the Discovery Institute in finding constitutionally allowable ways to bring intelligent design and failing there,
Teach the Controversy The "teach the controversy" campaign of the Discovery Institute seeks to promote the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design (a variant of traditional creationism) as part of its attempts to discredit the teaching of evolution in Unit ...
, into public schools. Managing Director of Intelligent Design network, inc., an organization that seeks intelligent design taught in public education. ;May 12, 2005 (Closing Statements) # Pedro L. Irigonegaray (for mainstream
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
) # John Calvert (for intelligent design)


Result

The Kansas Board of Education voted 6–4 August 9, 2005, to include greater criticism of evolution in its school science standards, but it decided to send the standards to an outside academic for review before taking a final vote. The standards received final approval on November 8, 2005. The new standards were approved by 6 to 4, reflecting the makeup of religious conservatives on the board. In July 2006, the Board of Standards issued a "rationale statement" which claimed that the current science curriculum standards do not include intelligent design. Members of the scientific community critical of the standards contended that the board's statement was misleading in that they contained a "significant editorializing that supports the Discovery Institute and the Intelligent Design network's campaign position that Intelligent Design is not included in the standards", the standards did "say that students should learn about ID, and that ID content ought to be in the standards", and that the standards presented the controversy over intelligent design as a scientific one, denying the mainstream scientific view. Kansas joined
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
in adopting the Discovery Institute's
Critical Analysis of Evolution The Discovery Institute has conducted a series of related public relations campaigns which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute prom ...
public school science standards during that period. While other states were backing away from teaching alternatives to evolution, the Oklahoma House passed a bill on March 2, 2006, that contained Discovery Institute language encouraging schools to expose students to alternative views about the origin of life. Popular reaction included the creation of the intelligent design parody Pastafarianism (the worship of a Flying Spaghetti Monster). Its founder insisted it should be offered as a "third" theory on origins, suggesting possible legal action if it was not included and intelligent design was. On August 1, 2006, 4 of the 6 conservative Republicans who approved the
Critical Analysis of Evolution The Discovery Institute has conducted a series of related public relations campaigns which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute prom ...
classroom standards lost their seats in a primary election. The moderate Republican and liberal Democrats gaining seats, largely supported by Governor
Kathleen Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius (; née Gilligan, born May 15, 1948) is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebeli ...
, vowed to overturn the 2005 school science standards and adopt those recommended by a State Board Science Hearing Committee that were rejected by the previous board. One of the members who lost her seat, Connie Morris, a conservative from St. Francis in the northwest corner of the state, pointed to the "liberal media" for her loss, stating that "liberal opportunists" do not mind "slandering people and harming their families and their reputation and their business and their communities and their state ... It's a shame, and I feel bad for them when they face God on Judgment Day." Although four members who claimed to be born-again Christians remained on the Board, she believed that the new board would waste no time adopting new science standards, expecting that in the following January, when the new members were sworn in, the Board would rescind existing standards and adopt new ones that "let government schools teach children that we are no more than chaotic, random mutants." On February 13, 2007, the Board voted 6 to 4 to reject the amended science standards enacted in 2005. The definition of science was once again returned to "the search for natural explanations for what is observed in the universe."


See also

* '' Kansas vs. Darwin'' (film) * Flying Spaghetti Monster, a satirical religion first described in an open letter to the Kansas School Board by Bobby Henderson


Notes


References


Further reading


National Science Education Standards
National Academy Press; 1996 (Fifth Printing February 1998); .
Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); 1993; .


External links


Summary of Key Changes to Kansas Science Standards adopted by the Kansas State Board of Education
(PDF)
Review of the Kansas Science Education Standards by the National Academy of Sciences
(PDF file)
Joint Statement from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association
(PDF file)

*
Echoes of Scopes Trial Heard in Intelligent Design Hearing
from the ''
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'' *
Evolution Hearings Open in Kansas
from
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Creationism: God's gift to the ignorant
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
,
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
, May 21, 2005 {{Creationism topics Evolution hearings Evolution hearings Intelligent design movement Intelligent design controversies Discovery Institute campaigns