Do you believe in the Wall of Separation between Church and State or do you believe in the 1st Amendment or are they the same thing?

 

It is not a short hand version of the 1st Amendment; it is just the opposite. 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  Who is the subject of this law – pastors, school boards, students?  One court said that it was unconstitutional for a student to say a blessing before his meal.  The student was in the second grade.  The subject is Congress – the 1st amendment is a one-way street.  It says nothing about what churches, schools, or students can do, but rather, what the government cannot do.  George Washington and Patrick Henry demanded the Bill of Rights was added to protect the people from the newly formed Federal Government.  The next part of the 1st Amendment is the freedom of the Press.  “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press.”  If you imply the wall of separation, the press could never say half the things that they do about the State.  A wall of separation impedes people on both sides equally.

 

“The so-called wall of separation between Church and State is bad history, bad law, has made a perfect chaos of rulings on the subject and quite frankly, should be explicitly abandoned.”  What would the ACLU say about that statement?  Those words were written in 1994 by William Renquist, chief justice of the US Supreme Court. 

 

Did the first Congress that gave us the 1st Amendment intend for religion to be taught in schools?

Right in the middle of the first Congress giving us the 1st Amendment, they gave us the Northwest Ordinance.  This prescribed the way that the Northwest Territories could become apart of this nation.  One of the four principle documents that this nation is built upon; the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Northwest Ordinance.  Stated in the enabling act, no state hereafter can be received into this union which contains in its constitution any language contrary to which is contained in the Northwest Ordinance.  “Religion, morality and knowledge, being essential to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools shall forever be encouraged in the Northwest Territories.” 

 

Creation – then - Evolution and Creation – then - Evolution

 

The first courtroom clash between science and religion took place 74 years ago (1925) in Dayton, Tenn.  At issue was a state law making it illegal “to teach any theory that denies the story of divine creation as taught by the Bible.”  The American Civil Liberties Union offered to help anyone who would challenge the law.  John Scopes, a 24-year-old science teacher and part-time football coach, answered the call.  Clarence Darrow, who championed civil liberties, free speech and academic freedom, represented Scopes.  The jury of 12 men found Scopes guilty and he was fined $100 for the misdemeanor.  Tennessee’s law stood unchallenged for 33 years (1958) until the US Supreme Court ruled in Epperson vs. Arkansas that states cannot ban the teaching of evolution on religious grounds.  In 1987 the Supreme Court ruled that “creation science” is a religious concept and thus cannot be taught in public schools (1st Amendment). 

 

Swaying School Boards

 

Countless challenges have been brought up in school boards everywhere across the Nation.  In Arizona, the Board of Education dropped the word “evolution” from its 1996 science standards.  In North Carolina and Tennessee, the legislatures mulled bills requiring that evolution be presented as theory, not fact.  Kentucky’s Education Department deleted the word “evolution” from its standards, replacing it with “change over time”.   The New Mexico Board of Education went the opposite way when it said teachers no longer have to teach creationism alongside evolution.  The state education standards had required teachers to “present the evidence for and against” evolution.  Now teachers do not have to care about evidence disproving evolution.  Other recent disputes have arisen in Iowa, Illinois, Washington, California, Nebraska, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado.

 

 

The disclaimer – What Do People Think About It?

 

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a state committee has voted to require that all new biology textbooks carry a disclaimer saying evolution is a “controversial theory” that can refer to “the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produced a world of living things.”  This comes after one member said not enough attention is paid to alternate explanations of how life began.  The Oklahoma panel is charged with screening textbooks for the state’s 540 public school districts.  Districts may purchase only books approved by the committee. Open any biology textbook used in Alabama’s public schools and you’ll find pasted to the front cover a disclaimer casting doubt on the words within.  The disclaimer, required by the state Board of Education, makes kids question the science that shows humans evolved over millions of years, and to consider instead that they were created by God, as the Bible says.  “I believe that the Lord God created everything, just like the Bible says, “ said Gary Corwin, 48.  “I don’t think we came from apes.”  Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in El Cerrito, California says, “A student is not educated if he doesn’t understand the importance of evolution.  It’s a matter of science literacy.  It goes to the meaning and purpose of life.  I think many Americans believe that somehow they are less special to God if they evolved from nonhuman animals.”  Donald Kennedy of Stanford University says, “A failure to teach effectively about evolution will rob students of a precious opportunity – to understand how life on Earth has developed and to appreciate their own place in the world.”  Victor Calcote, pastor of Epworth United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas, sees no conflict between religion and evolution.  “I believe there is a God that’s in control of creation.  I’ve never gotten hung up on how he did it.” John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research in Santee, California has blamed recent schoolyard shootings on the teaching of evolution.  He said, “The teaching of evolution is doing damage.  A major textbook says students descended from flatworms… What does that do to a person’s self worth?  If you have animal instincts and animal desires, why not have sex, or give in to any other desire?”

 

 

New Science Standards Approved

 

In August of 1999, The Kansas Board of Education approved new controversial science standards with a vote of six to four.  It was debated for nearly two hours before the votes were cast.  Board member Val DeFever says, “I’m very saddened.  I want the best possible science education for our students and I don’t feel this is leading us in that direction.”  Co-chair of the writing committee, John Staver, says, “ I think it’s a travesty to science education in the state of Kansas.”  The new standards delete most references to macro evolution, the evolution of man.  The state will no longer mandate the subject be taught, and there will be no statewide testing of evolution.  Because there’s no testing, some districts may decide to avoid teaching the subject entirely.  One supporter, Nancy Hanahan, says, “Evolution is a theory and so is creationism.  But why is it one sided?  That’s my issue.  Teach both if you’re going to teach theories.”  “Creationists won in Kansas, and they are likely to win elsewhere, simply because they care enough to get elected to school boards,” said Fred Spilhaus, executive director of the American Geophysical Union.  He was shocked that the Kansas science standards diluted not only evolution but also left out any mention of the Earth’s age.  “Boy, if you start talking about the age of the Earth, you’re talking about going away from something that science considers pretty solid ground.  There’s very little doubt in our minds that the Earth is 4 ½ billion years old.  There is no credible evidence that supports a young Earth of that supports the so-called creationist science.”

The Polls Our In – (by the Gallop Organization in 1997 & presented by ABC News)

 

The question of human origin:

                44% - God created humans in the last 10,000 years.

                39% - Evolution occurred, but God guided it.

                10% - Evolution occurred without God’s help.

                07% - No Opinion.

 

 

Should Creationism be taught alongwith evolution in public schools:

                68% - In Favor

                29% - Opposed

                03% - No Opinion

 

 

Should Creationism be taught instead of evolution in public schools:

                55% - Opposed

                40% - In Favor

                05% - No Opinion

 

 

 

How Are Science Teachers and Related Groups Reacting

 

Rodney LeVake is a science teacher and football coach at Faribault Senior High School in Minnesota.  He leads players in a moment of silence before a game and feels the district violated his religious and academic freedom by preventing him from teaching Creationism.  He says that believing in evolution is as absurd as thinking the Earth is the center of the universe.  Without conveying his own religious views of creation he says that he hoped to point out what he calls overwhelming scientific evidence against evolution.  He was assigned instead to teach freshman science which does not take up the theory.

 

Ken Bingman is a science teacher at Shawnee Mission High School in Kansas.  He is pleased that his district has decided not to follow state guidelines that disregard the science of evolution.

 

Three national science groups are refusing to let the Kansas School Board use their copyrighted materials, which are part of the state’s current testing standards because of the board’s stance.  The National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science said the board couldn’t use their materials because Kansas’ new standards don’t reflect their goal of advancing science education.

 

The National Academy of Sciences asserted in a guidebook that “Many students receive little or no exposure to the most important concept in modern biology.”  The guidebook also states that “Children should not be penalized for not believing in evolution, but they should be graded on their understanding of the basic ideas of evolution.  And to set the record straight, Humans did not evolve from modern apes, but humans and modern apes shared a common ancestor, a species that no longer exists.”

 

 

Twist to Evolution Debate

 

A Christian publisher in Richardson, Texas, says he’s been getting plenty of orders for a biology textbook, Of Pandas and People, presenting the view that the world is the way it by design – a term that critics say is a code word for creationism.  A Kansas state biologist, Chris Mammoliti, who works for the Department of Wildlife and Parks, asked two Pratt County school boards to add the theory of “intelligent design” to their science classes as a supplement to Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection.  Intelligent design suggests life is too complex to have occurred by chance and it’s more likely the result of an intelligent cause.    Critics accuse Mammoliti of trying to sneak religion into the schoolhouse through the back door, and they fear he might succeed.  The Rev. Larry A. Carver, vicar for Episcopal churches in Pratt and several other towns, said the Pandas theory suggested an “intelligent designer,” which would be interpreted by most people as God.  And that, he said, brings religion into science class, a violation of separation of church and state. 

 

 

Rhode Island’s Guideline for Evolution Taught in School

 

The origin of life is taught on the high school level and the decision of what is taught is in the hands of each individual school.  The State of Rhode Island Department of Education encourages the high schools to follow certain guidelines set forth by a national science group called the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  These guidelines are called the AAAS Benchmarks and are adhered to very closely by Rhode Island Schools.  The AAAS came out with a statement on the decision from the Kansas State Board of Education dealing with the education of students in the Science of Evolution and Cosmology.  AAAS stated that it “deplores the recent decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to remove references to evolution and cosmology from its state education standards and assessments, thereby making central principles for the scientific understanding of the universe and its history optional subjects for science education.”  AAAS also stated that “By discouraging teachers from using the best available professional knowledge about the nature and history of the universe, the Board’s decision will make it more difficult for Kansas to recruit capable and inspiring science teachers.” 

 

The Benchmarks used by AAAS were developed using school-based research and development teams.  Project 2061’s Science for All Americans (SFAA), published in 1989 after study and debate by scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and educators, specified literacy goals in science, mathematics, and technology for all high-school graduates.  After the literacy goals were specified, tools for educators to use in designing K-12 curricula needed to be developed.  This is when the Benchmarks were created.  The Project recruited teams of school teachers and administrators from six sites around the country – in rural Georgia; in suburban McFarland, Wisconsin; and in urban Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, and San Francisco.  Each team was asked to design a curriculum model that could be used by school districts to plan curricula that serve local needs and meet the goals in SFAA.

 

The following is an excerpt from the Benchmark model for the “Evolution of Life” that is used as a guideline for teaching students:

 

It is important to distinguish between evolution, the historical changes in life forms that are well substantiated and generally accepted as fact by scientists, and natural selection, the proposed mechanism for these changes.  Students should first be familiar with the evidence of evolution so that they will have an informed basis for judging different explanations.  Students may very well wonder why the fossil record has so many seeming holes in it.  If so, the opportunity should be seized to show the value of mathematics.  The probability of specimens of any species of organisms surviving is small – soft body parts are eaten or decomposed, and hard parts are crushed or dissolved.  The probability of finding a specimen is small because most are buried or otherwise inexcavable.

 

By the end of the 12th grade, students should know that

 

The basic idea of biological evolution is that the earth’s present-day species developed from earlier, distinctly different species.

 

Life on earth is thought to have begun as simple, on-celled organisms about 4 billion years ago.  During the first 2 billion years, only single-cell microorganisms existed, but once cells with nuclei developed about a billion years ago, increasingly complex multicellular organisms evolved.

 

Evolutionary changes appear to be like the growth of a bush: Some branches survive from the beginning with little of no change, many die out altogether, and others branch repeatedly, sometimes giving rise to more complex organisms.