:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 ::

More Thoughts On The Matter

Kevin Drum weighs in on Darwinism as a belief system.

I myself would not argue that Darwinism in biology classes is protected by the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. Rather, I would argue more narrowly that everything else is forbidden. If a school district decides not to teach biology at all, that's fine. But if they do teach it, they aren't allowed to include religious proselytizing in the curriculum.

The distinction here is this: creationism is Christian proselytizing, a no-no for government bureaucrats. Intelligent Design is so clearly a thinly veiled version of creationism that it's forbidden too. Darwinism, however, is simply science. School districts are free to stop teaching science if they want, but if they do teach it, they have to teach Darwinism just as much as they have to teach Newtonian mechanics, Boyle's law, and the theory of relativity.

My own take on the issue is that schools, public or private, can teach creationism if they want, but only as long as it's done, oh, in Social Studies. Do it in Science class and they'll be defeating the point of the class, as they'll be promoting an idea with no empirical evidence to back it up and saying it's just as good as Newton or Copernicus.

I've also noted that it's mainly rural districts that try passing such Intelligent Design nonsense. These districts then wonder why their students don't do as well in college and the like, even though they'd had their heads filled with crap and weren't taught to reason.

:: The Squire 9:55 PM :: email this post :: ::
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