Intelligent Design

AUSTIN, Texas - The debate over teaching evolution in public schools flared up again at the Texas State Board of Education yesterday, with supporters and opponents of the approach sparring at a meeting over supplemental science materials for the upcoming school year and beyond. The Republican-dominated board drew national attention in 2009 when it adopted science standards encouraging schools to scrutinize "all sides" of scientific theory, a move some creationists hailed as a victory.

In a May 2007 debate, the Republican presidential candidates were asked: Who on stage does not believe in evolution? Three of the 10 candidates — Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, and Tom Tancredo — raised their hands. In this election, while the issue has not been raised in debates, one candidate, Rick Santorum, actually has a history on the issue. One new Public Policy Polling poll of Republican voters in Mississippi and Alabama noted that Santorum is leading among those who "don't believe in evolution.

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- A religion professor at the University of Kansas apologized this week for an email that referred to religious conservatives as "fundies" and said that a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face. " In a written apology Monday, Paul Mirecki, chairman of the university's Religious Studies Department, said he would teach the planned class "as a serious academic subject and in a manner that respects all points of view.

LOS ANGELES - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is defending itself in a workplace lawsuit filed by a former computer specialist who argues he was dismissed for promoting his views on intelligent design, the belief that a higher power must have had a hand in creation because of its complexity. David Coppedge, who worked on the Cassini mission exploring Saturn and its moons, contends that he was discriminated against because he engaged his co-workers in conversations about intelligent design and handed out DVDs on the idea while at work.

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Kansas state Board of Education yesterday repealed science guidelines questioning evolution. The new guidelines reflect mainstream scientific views of evolution and represent a political defeat for advocates of "intelligent design," who had helped write the standards that are being jettisoned. The intelligent design concept holds that life is so complex that it must have been created by a higher authority. The state has had five sets of standards in eight years, each doomed by the seesawing fortunes of socially conservative Republicans and a coalition of...

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican newspaper has published an article saying "intelligent design" is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion. The article in Tuesday's editions of L'Osservatore Romano was the latest in a series of interventions by Vatican officials, including the pope, on the issue that has dominated headlines in the United States. The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, laid out the scientific rationale for Darwin's...

NASHVILLE -- Echoing similar comments from President Bush, Senate majority leader Bill Frist said "intelligent design" should be taught in public schools alongside evolution. Frist, Republican of Tennessee, spoke at a Rotary Club meeting yesterday and told reporters afterward that students need to be exposed to different ideas, including intelligent design. "I think today a pluralistic society should have access to a broad range of fact, of science, including faith," Frist said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Early drafts of a student biology text contained references to creationism before they were replaced with the term "intelligent design," a witness testified yesterday in a landmark trial over a school system's use of the book. Drafts of the textbook, "Of Pandas and People," written in 1987 were revised after the US Supreme Court ruled in June of that year that states could not require schools to balance evolution with creationism in the classroom, said Barbara Forrest, a philosophy professor at Southeastern Louisiana University.

LOS ANGELES - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is defending itself in a workplace lawsuit filed by a former computer specialist who argues he was dismissed for promoting his views on intelligent design, the belief that a higher power must have had a hand in creation because of its complexity. David Coppedge, who worked on the Cassini mission exploring Saturn and its moons, contends that he was discriminated against because he engaged his co-workers in conversations about intelligent design and handed out DVDs on the idea while at work.

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Students in Lisa Volland's advanced biology class examine flowers, lemons, and corn under the microscope, pondering how the plants evolved over time, increasing their chances of survival. The Topeka West High School teacher does not discuss the biblical story of creation or "intelligent design," just "the big e-word," as she jokingly calls it. "I don't think you can talk about living organisms without talking about evolution," she said. "We don't talk about religion.

AUSTIN, Texas - The debate over teaching evolution in public schools flared up again at the Texas State Board of Education yesterday, with supporters and opponents of the approach sparring at a meeting over supplemental science materials for the upcoming school year and beyond. The Republican-dominated board drew national attention in 2009 when it adopted science standards encouraging schools to scrutinize "all sides" of scientific theory, a move some creationists hailed as a victory.

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Kansas state Board of Education yesterday repealed science guidelines questioning evolution. The new guidelines reflect mainstream scientific views of evolution and represent a political defeat for advocates of "intelligent design," who had helped write the standards that are being jettisoned. The intelligent design concept holds that life is so complex that it must have been created by a higher authority. The state has had five sets of standards in eight years, each doomed by the seesawing fortunes of socially conservative...

PHILADELPHIA -- Thanks to the "intelligent design" movement, Charles Darwin's birthday is evolving into everything from a badminton party to church sermons this weekend. Defenders of Darwin's theory of natural selection are planning hundreds of events around the world Sunday, the 197th anniversary of his birth, saying recent challenges to the teaching of evolution have re-emphasized the need to promote his work. "The people who believe in evolution .. . really just sort of need to stand up and be counted," said Richard Leventhal, director of the University of...

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican newspaper has published an article saying "intelligent design" is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion. The article in Tuesday's editions of L'Osservatore Romano was the latest in a series of interventions by Vatican officials, including the pope, on the issue that has dominated headlines in the United States. The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, laid out the scientific rationale for...

DOVER, Pa. -- Dover's school policy of presenting "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution was officially relegated to the history books last night. On a voice vote, and with no discussion beforehand, the newly elected Dover Area School Board unanimously rescinded the policy. Two weeks earlier, a judge ruled the policy unconstitutional. "This is it," new school board president Bernadette Reinking said yesterday, indicating the vote was final and the case was closed.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Educated as a geologist in her native Hungary, Eniko Farkas knows, understands, and firmly believes in the science behind evolution. Still, she was caught off guard last year when a visitor to the Museum of the Earth, where she volunteers, angrily confronted her, denouncing evolution and insisting the museum teach creationism instead. "I had a difficult time getting out of the situation," said Farkas, a retired Cornell University librarian who has volunteered at the museum for the past seven years.

PHILADELPHIA -- Senator Rick Santorum yesterday withdrew his affiliation from the Christian-rights law center that defended a school district's policy mandating the teaching of "intelligent design. " Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican who is facing a tough reelection challenge next year, earlier praised the Dover Area School District for "attempting to teach the controversy of evolution. " But the day after a federal judge ruled the district's policy on intelligent design unconstitutional, Santorum told The Philadelphia Inquirer he was troubled by testimony indicating...

In a May 2007 debate, the Republican presidential candidates were asked: Who on stage does not believe in evolution? Three of the 10 candidates — Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, and Tom Tancredo — raised their hands. In this election, while the issue has not been raised in debates, one candidate, Rick Santorum, actually has a history on the issue. One new Public Policy Polling poll of Republican voters in Mississippi and Alabama noted that Santorum is leading among those who "don't believe in evolution.

PHILADELPHIA -- Senator Rick Santorum yesterday withdrew his affiliation from the Christian-rights law center that defended a school district's policy mandating the teaching of "intelligent design. " Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican who is facing a tough reelection challenge next year, earlier praised the Dover Area School District for "attempting to teach the controversy of evolution. " But the day after a federal judge ruled the district's policy on intelligent design unconstitutional, Santorum told The Philadelphia Inquirer he was troubled by testimony indicating...

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- A religion professor at the University of Kansas apologized this week for an email that referred to religious conservatives as "fundies" and said that a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face. " In a written apology Monday, Paul Mirecki, chairman of the university's Religious Studies Department, said he would teach the planned class "as a serious academic subject and in a manner that respects all points of view.