Governor of Florida and brother of President George W. Bush, Jeb Bush may be contemplating a presidential run at some point. Because of that, he has to be careful about what he says. I wonder what it means when he says that he accepts evolution personally, but doesn't think that it should be taught in public schools.

The Miami Herald reports:

The Watchdog Report asked a follow-up question: Does the governor believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution?

Bush said: ``Yeah, but I don’t think it should actually be part of the curriculum, to be honest with you. And people have different points of view and they can be discussed at school, but it does not need to be in the curriculum.’’

The fact that he doesn’t reject evolution as some sort of atheistic conspiracy against Christianity is definitely a step in the right direction and a big step ahead of many in the Republican Party, but why doesn’t he think that valid, genuine science should be taught in science classes? Would he say the same about astronomy or meteorology?

Probably not. It’s more likely that Bush’s position is based on the idea that if people disagree with evolution, even if it is true and genuine science, then it shouldn’t be taught. Bush is giving veto power over what is taught to local hecklers.

This is wrong because the public education of everyone cannot be limited to just those ideas that are completely inoffensive to everyone’s religion. If anything can be eliminated, watered-down, or misrepresented in order to avoid hurting people’s feelings and avoid creating a religious confrontation, then it wouldn’t be possible to teach much of anything at all.

 

Read More:

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