“Evolution is not a science. It’s as much a science as Christianity is. The majority of America is Christian, and we should acknowledge that in school,” said Sam Huff, LSU geography freshman.

Louisiana's top school board accepted a bill on January 15 allowing the school system to bring in outside materials to" promote 'students’ critical thinking skills and open discussion of scientific theories.'" (randazza) How will they respond to parents? By handling each individual concern as it arises. There is no date to be found of when this practice will begin.

Distress in Dover

IN 2004, Dover Area High School, in Dover, PA, added Intelligent Design to their curriculum with a vote by the school board of 6-3. According to MSNBC. com, it was the first district in the nation to take this step. This topic created so much controversy, two members of the school board decided to resign. How did the board come to consider this option? It was seriously pursued by school board member William Buckingham, who heads the board’s curriculum committee. He stated:

“I think it’s a downright fraud to perpetrate on the students of this district, to portray one theory over and over,” said Buckingham. “What we wanted was a balanced presentation.”

Just one year after this victory, the school district was taken to court to fight the decision, losing the battle. For the court records of this case, you can visit the following site.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dover/kitzmiller_v_dover.html

Teaching of Evolution in Schools: The Evolving Debate

Much controversy has arose from the idea of whether evolution or intelligent design should be taught in our schools. On one hand, lower courts have ruled the teaching of intelligent design to be unconstitutional in the United States of America. However, up until just before the 20th century, theories involving the concept of intelligent design were being taught in most of American Schools.

According to a 2000 poll among Americans,

• 20% of Americans believed schools should ONLY teach evolution
• 16% of Americans believed schools should ONLY teach intelligent design

The other remaining percentages suggested that public schools teach evolution in a science class, while talking about intelligent design as a belief. Thirteen percent of Americans offered the idea of teaching both ideas in public schools.

Recently, the number of discrepancies about what concept to teach has elevated drastically. There have been numerous legal actions and court cases over this controversy. It is certain that some people have strong and personal feelings about this subject. This battle is not only being fought in America. Areas in the United Kingdom, Russia, Pakistan, and Brazil (to name a few) are also dealing with this debate.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Below are some links to sites whos purpose is to inform readers about the teaching of evolution and intelligent design in schools:

PBS Online NewsHour: Intelligent Design
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/july-dec05/evolution_8-05.html

All About Science: Teaching Intelligent Design
http://www.allaboutscience.org/teaching-intelligent-design-faq.htm

Teaching Evolution: A State-by-State Debate
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4630737

Introduction to Intelligent Design

Intelligent design is a theory that believes certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process as such as natural selection. It is a modern form of the old teleological argument for the existence of God. However intelligent design avoids specifying the nature or identity of the designer.

The Scopes Trial of 1925

The Scopes Trial is a famous American trial that took place in Tennessee in 1925. John Scopes, a high school teacher, refused to acknowledge and follow the rules of the Butler Act. The Butler Act made it illegal for evolution to be taught in any state-funded school in the state of Tennessee.

Mr. Scopes was accused on May 5, 1925 of teaching evolution to his class. A defense team was collected and the trial lasted eight days. After this long trial, Scopes was found guilty of illegally teaching evolution in the classroom.



This trial sparked debate about the teaching of intelligent design vs. evolution. It is only one of many instances of conflicts between both views on this issue. The controversy on whether intelligent design or evolution should be taught in schools is still lingering in today's society.

The picture below is of Clarence Darrow raising his fist and making a speech at the Scopes Trial in 1925.

Introduction to Evolution

Evolution is a theory used in biology to describe the change in traits that are passed down from generation to generation in different organisms. Evolutionist believe changes over time are caused by three main processes: variation, reproduction and selection. The one major idea that drives the belief of evolution is natural selection.

Natural selection is the idea that heritable traits that contribute to the survival of species will become more common in a population and thus more likely to be passed along to future generations.