Teach the Controversy... or Create it?

A common refrain from "Intelligent" Design supporters is that public school science classes should teach about the controversy over evolution and critics' arguments against evolution. There is no "debate" over evolution within science - any debate or controversy which exists is purely the product of "Intelligent" Design groups. Coincidence?

Linda Shaw writes about the Seattle-based Discovery Institute:

"You're lying to students if you tell them that scientists are debating whether evolution took place," said Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit group that defends teaching of evolution in school. The Discovery Institute, she said, is leading a public-relations campaign, not a scientific endeavor.

The institute's call to "teach the controversy" meets strong resistance. "There's no controversy about whether living things have common ancestors," Scott said. "There's no controversy about whether natural selection is very important in creating the variety of organisms we have today."

Calls to "teach the controversy" sound reasonable if there is a genuine controversy to teach. When the only "controversy" is one created and promoted by the groups making the call, however, we realize that it's a completely self-serving agenda that is being masked as something reasonable. What they really mean by "teach the controversy" is "teach the religious criticisms we have."

Is that still reasonable? No, not at all.

Read More:

• Evolution vs. Creationism
• Science vs. Religion
• What is Intelligent Design?
• What is Balanced Treatment?
• What is Science?