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It's Not About Evolution: The Debate About Intelligent Design

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

"This isn't really, and never has been, a debate about science. It's about religion and philosophy."—Phillip E. Johnson (author of Darwin on Trial, cited in Belz, 1996, p. 18)

As many may have noticed, the theory of evolution has been under direct and unprecedented attack across the United States in the last few years. These attacks have been and are occurring on many different fronts within our society, weaving their way through education, the media, and the courts. While the most obvious assault has been from the growing number of state and local school boards that are considering allowing the teaching of alternative theories to evolution in the classroom (Branch, 2005), there also are areas outside of K–12 education that have been witnessing the promotion of religious creationism, in the form of Intelligent Design, and the denigration of science in the form of attacks on evolution. All of which have left scientists, particularly evolutionary biologists and paleobiologists, alarmed and concerned about the integrity of science, particularly evolution.

Editorials in the New York Times from a prominent Catholic bishop suggesting that the Church should consider altering or clarifying its position on evolution (Schönborn, 2005); films that contain creationist perspectives being shown at the Smithsonian; IMAX films containing evolution being banned from public showings in Arkansas (Dean, 2005); creationist-themed museums opening up in various states (Bloom, 2005; Johnston 2005; Pierce, 2005); the rise of the home-schooling movement, often with a Bible-based curricula (Hill, 2000; Davis and Kenyon, 2004); and President Bush voicing his advocacy for teaching the controversy [between creationism and evolution] because he feels "like both sides ought to be properly taught" (Baker and Slevin, 2005)—are all examples of the encroachment of creationism into the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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