1. Several teachers in the Dover Area School District have refused to read a statement on Intelligent Design as required by a new district policy. Intelligent Design theorists argue that evolution is not a sufficient explanation for the complex organization of living systems, and maintain that living things show great evidence of having been designed. According to the language of the curriculum, biology students in the Dover area must be "made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin's theory and other theories of evolution, including but not limited to intelligent design." A federal lawsuit has been filed over the policy, and the school district has agreed to allow teachers to opt out of reading the statement. However, administration officials will read the statement to the biology students whose teachers opt out.
The Seattle-based Discovery Institute, an Intelligent Design think tank, has commended the Dover School District for working to make sure that alternatives to evolution are taught. However, it recommends that the Dover School District reword its new policy to make it more legally defensible. "There are constitutional ways of doing this," says Dr. John West of the Discovery Institute, "and we're happy to advise districts. One of our biggest frustrations is when school districts go and do policies without consulting with the experts and others who are actually working on theories like the theory of intelligent design. They can end up doing more harm than good by having a poorly framed policy." The Discovery Institute is encouraging the school district to rewrite its policy to allow Intelligent Design to be taught without mandating it.
2. The fight in the town of Grantsburg, Wisconsin (population 1,008) continues over the School Board's decision to encourage the critical evaluation of evolutionary theory in the science classroom. While the new policy rules out explicitly teaching creationism or Intelligent Design theory, it does seek to have students understand both the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory. The school board has been flooded with letters, including one signed by 188 pastors arguing "that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth" and that to question evolutionary theory is "to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children."
Joni Burgin, superintendent in Grantsburg, responded to the letters by saying, "The amount of letters and the number of signatures does not matter... The school board feels that they must do what is right for Grantsburg students and the Grantsburg community."
Crazy Pastors' Story
Some really good radio shows concerning creation and evolution.
