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The debate over evolution grabbs political headlines every so often, but more often in Kansas than elsewhere. Evolution is unique among scientific subjects in that it seems to be the only one which people attempt to thwart politically. You never see anyone working to repeal the 'law' of gravity or eliminate teaching atomic theory - but evolution does raise some people's ire, especially when you mix that subject with public schools.
Back in August of 1999, the Kansas State Board of Education made national and even international headlines by rejecting evolution and the Big Bang theory as scientific principles. This 10-member board voted six to four to eliminate these topics from the science curriculum. Fortunately, that decision was reversed the very next year.
After the original change was made, people who supported adequate science standards mobilized across the state because in the coming elections, five of those ten positions were up for re-election, including four of those who had voted to eliminate evolution. Only one, Steve Abrams, was successful in retaining his seat.
Contrary to some reports, they did not actually ban teaching those subjects, although what they did comes very close to the same thing. By eliminating any mention of them from the required science curriculum and from tests for graduating students, they also eliminated any need to study them. Teachers would need to focus on those topics which were tested for graduation, sacrificing evolution and the Big Bang out of necessity.
Creationists, such as Board Member Abrams (a former head of the state Republican
Party) praised the decision as a victory in the 'war' against evolutionists. Why
is this described as a war? Despite numerous corrections by evolutionists, militant
creationists still try to get the public to identify evolution with Social Darwinism.
Thus, evolution is described as the source of communism, nazism, racism, and every
manner of social ill possible.
Instead of being indoctrinated into such evils, creationists want children to believe
that God made them and every other species individually for a purpose. According
to them, this is the only possible way for children to feel "special" and
feel like they are important. If they learn that the human species evolved naturally,
then the result of that will be more Columbine-like massacres of students by students.
This may sound like a bizarre conclusion, but it is precisely what some think. For
example, Tom DeLay, Majority Whip of the US House of Representaives, said this in
response to the Columbine tragedy: "Our school systems teach the children that
they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial soup
of mud."
Creationists do not want children to think that a divine power might be behind the
Big Bang or evolution of species because that opens the possibility that God might
not exist. These scientific theories, like all scientific theories today, make no
reference to God. Creationism maintains that God created everything, a belief which
leaves no room for an explanation of the existence and nature of things without reference
to God. If a child learns science the child may one day conclude that God is an unnecessary
hypothesis.
Unfortunately, Kansas is certainly not the only state to experience debates like this.
For years Alabama has required that a disclaimer be pasted inside science textbooks,
stating that evolution is "a controversial theory some scientists present as a
scientific explanation for the origin of living things. ...No one was present when
life first appeared on earth. Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be
considered as theory, not fact."
Also in 2000, that state school board has also gone back and revised the standards, coming
up with a curriculum that is very strong with evolution. In New Mexico, it took evolution
supporters almost four years to change science standards that required the teaching
of alternative theories of life's origins.
