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NEWS ABOUT
EVOLUTION and
CREATION
SCIENCE DURING 2001
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Major developments during 2001:
 | 2001-JAN-12: Kansas: Board of Education to restore evolution
teaching: According to AANEWS: "The newly
elected Kansas State Board of Education announced this week that it
will give final approval to new standards which emphasize the role of
natural selection and evolutionary processes in explaining the origins
of life." Critics of evolution may be planning to promote the
teaching of "Intelligent Design." This is a belief
system that certain orderly patterns found in life and throughout the
universe prove the existence of an intelligent creator. 1 |
| 2001-FEB-14: Kansas: Board restores evolution: According to Maranatha Christian
Journal: By a vote of 7 to 3, the Kansas Board of Education reversed
its 1999 decision and reinstated the theory of evolution in the state
science curriculum. |
| 2001-FEB-15: Washington: State senate bill introduced:
Senators Harold Hochstatter (R - 13th dist.), Dan Swicker (R - 20th
dist.), & Val Stevens (R - 39th dist.) introduced bill 6058. It would
require a disclaimer to be printed in every science book purchased by
the state which discusses evolution. It would state, in part: "This
textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some scientists
present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things,
such as plants, animals and humans. No one was present when life first
appeared on earth. Therefore any statement about life's origins should
be considered as theory, not fact." 2
According to Pacific Northwest Skeptics, this bill is "an
exact clone of legislation that was successfully passed in Alabama..."
3 |
| 2001-MAR-24: Arkansas Bill to ban evolution teaching: State Rep. Jim Holt sponsored a bill
that would have banned the use of state money to teach evolution. It
would have required students to prepare lists of "false"
scientific information including the origin of life, methods of
radioisotope dating, the age of the earth, and the concept that
fossils reveal information on how life forms evolved. Books used in
schools were to be marked up with notations such as "false
evidence" or "theory." Sam Ledbetter
(D) said from the floor: "This law is clearly
unconstitutional. Folks, if we pass this, we will not be
shooting ourselves in the foot; we'll be shooting our foot off."
In the vote by the entire House, the bill received 45 affirmative
votes, 36 negative votes and 19 abstentions. Fifty one votes were
required to pass the bill. |
| 2001-MAR: Michigan: Bill to mandate creation science teaching: Bill 4382 was introduced. It would call
any references to evolution and natural selection as "unproven
theories" and tell students that life is the result of "the
purposeful intelligent design of a creator." Dr. Brian
Bodenbender from Hope College said: "I think it would do
damage to our state's reputation, and we don't want to be known as
scientifically illiterate...Our future is built on science, but [when]
businesses see something like this [bill]...they don't want to
relocate to Michigan...What we teach is science. There is no science
to introduce this intelligent design theory into education. It is
clearly and simply a religious issue that has no place in science
curriculum." |
| 2001-JUL: Hawaii: Proposal to teach evolution and creation
science as competing theories: Denise Matsumoto, chair of the
Regular Education Committee, of the Hawaii State Board of
Education has proposed that evolution and creation science be taught
as competing theories in science class. She said: "My concern was
that we were teaching this [evolution] as a fact and not a theory.
Evolution hasn't been validated by any concrete evidence. I had a
concern about it being taught as a fact and the only way the world
began. It wasn't that the department was mandating that creationism be
taught. [Evolution] needs to be a theory amongst other theories. How in
depth you go would depend on the individual teacher." Mitch Kahle,
head of the Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of Church and State
said: "Teach it [creationism] in the classrooms, and you'll make
Hawaii the laughing stock of the nation." He compared the suggestion
to events in Kansas during the year 2000. Dr. Sheila Conant, a
zoologist at the University of Hawaii warned, "There is no scientific
data to support creationism. That's my view. There isn't any question
in the minds of the greater scientific community that evolution takes
place...It would be a great disservice to the students of Hawaii to
teach, number one, that creationism is a scientific theory and number
two, that it is equally deserving of consideration in the schools." |
| 2001-AUG-5: Hawaii: Hawaii Board of Education defeats creation
science proposal: Over 100 people packed the hearing room during
three hours of testimony by dozens of citizens. The Board voted
unanimously to defeat a proposal to teach religious creationism and
evolution as competing theories. Some excerpts from their comments:
 | Mitch Kahle of Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and
Church said: "It was just awesome. The place was packed. We
arrived outside the meeting hall early and started passing out Darwin
"fish" stickers, and nearly everyone took one. The support for keeping
science in the science class was just overwhelming." Mr. Kahle,
further noted that "It's interesting that [Chairperson] Matsumoto
brought this creationism proposal up just as the science advisor to
the Board of Education went on vacation." |
| Brent White of the ACLU said that creationism "plainly
unconstitutional... Pass this and you'll face a lawsuit...And you will
lose a lawsuit. The issue before you tonight has already been decided
by the U.S. Supreme Court." |
| Hawaii State Teachers Association president Karen Ginoza
suggested that creationism could be taught in history, literature or
social science classes, not in science courses. |
| Chris Measures, Professor of Oceanography at the University of
Hawaii said: "The religious view of creation is not science and
it can never be. We do not teach alchemy alongside chemistry nor
astrology alongside physics, neither should we teach creationism in
the biology classroom" |
| Clergyman Mike Young said that, "As a pastor, I don't want your
teachers teaching my kids about religion." |
| Minister Rev. Sam Cox told the board, "Creationism and the flat
Earth is not good science, and it's not very good theology." |
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Reference:
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"Kansas board to restore evolution to curriculum,
but new fight over 'Intelligent Design' expected," AANEWS,
2001-JAN-12.
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"Senate Bill 6058," at:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2001-02/senate/6050-6074/6058_02152001.txt
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"Washington State Senate Bill 6058: The evolution
disclaimer," Pacific Northwest Skeptics, at:
http://www.eskimo.com/~pierres/6058.html
Copyright © 2001, by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Extracted from essay ev_school.htm on 2001-JAN-14
Latest update: 2002-JAN-27
Author: B.A. Robinson
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