It’s hard to imagine a more innocuous statement than the one the Cobb County, Ga., school board recently ordered pasted into their biology textbooks: “Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.” Yet this disclaimer is the subject of a nationally Read More ›
Last year, in public comments before the Cobb County Board of Education, I witnessed firsthand the danger that can come when personal opinions and philosophical or religious prejudices are allowed into the science classroom. I was shocked as Cobb County public school teachers stood at the podium and made the absurd claim that evolution is an absolute proven fact that Read More ›
More than 40 years ago, the film “Inherit the Wind” presented the controversy over the teaching of evolution as a battle between stick-figure fundamentalists who defend a literal reading of Genesis and saintly scientists who simply want to teach the facts of biology. Ever since, journalists have tended to depict almost any battle over evolution in the schools as if Read More ›
As a theorist who uses quantum mechanics to solve problems ranging from biochemistry to astrophysics, the subject of this essay is of great interest to me. It is a question that is discussed in depth in my University of Georgia freshman seminar entitled Science and Christianity: Conflict or Coherence? This autumn 18 gifted UGA students and I are spending six Read More ›
MARIETTA, GA — The Cobb County Board of Education unanimously approved an amended policy Thursday allowing “disputed views” to be taught in local classrooms. The policy allows alternate views on evolution to be discussed in science classes but included a last minute addition intended to clarify the boards position that it does not endorse the teaching of creationism Read More ›
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — A suburban Atlanta school board Thursday night voted unanimously to allow teachers to introduce students to different views about the origins of life. The Cobb County Board of Education, the state’s second-largest school board, approved the policy change after limited discussion, calling it a “necessary element of providing a balanced education.” The board’s vote drew cheers Read More ›
Praising the adoption Thursday night of a policy encouraging the “discussion of disputed views” about evolution in Cobb County, Georgia schools, Discovery Institute President Bruce Chapman called the decision “a victory for academic freedom and good science education” and faulted critics of the policy for “trying to mischaracterize the controversy as a battle over religion.” “The policy adopted by the Read More ›
MARIETTA, GA — Amid the controversy over the Cobb Board of Educations proposed policy concerning evolution, a group of scientists and professors have come forward to say that not all academics are pro-Darwinism. In an open letter sent Friday to members of the Cobb school board, a professor of medicine at Emory University said he supports the boards efforts Read More ›
I’ve never been able to fathom evolution OR the Genesis story of creation, so I am amused by the controversies that still erupt over how schools teach the origin of life on planet Earth.At the moment, attention — most of it mocking — is on Cobb County, Georgia, where the School Board wants to expose students to alternative theories of Read More ›
After months of rock ’em, sock ’em public debate followed by a quiet summer, the vote on new science standards for Ohio public schools is coming down to the wire. The fight — as in several other states — centers on what students will learn about the origins of life. On Monday, the standards committee of the Ohio Board of Read More ›