Way To Go, Idaho!: Science Teachers Say No To ‘Intelligent Design’
Religion may have its place in the public school curriculum, but science courses are not the proper forum.
Recently the Idaho Science Teachers Association (ISTA) stood up for science education and church-state separation by declaring that “intelligent design,” the latest variant of creationism, has no place in science class.
“In a public school setting we are charged with teaching methodology that’s been approved by the scientific community,” said Rick Alm, ISTA president. “It basically would be unethical to teach creation science or intelligent design because it is not science, and it does not belong in a science classroom.”
Alm added that his group is not “taking a position against religion; it’s just under the context of the law and public school setting, religion has its place, and it’s not in our science classroom.”
The Associated Press reported that the Idaho teachers’ official position mirrors one adopted by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). The NSTA notes that “teachers are being pressured to introduce creationism, ‘creation science,’ and other nonscientific views, which are intended to weaken or eliminate the teaching of evolution.”
The NTSA calls on teachers to emphasize evolution as a “unifying concept in science and its overall explanatory power.” The policy statement reads, “Policy makers and administrators should not mandate policies requiring the teaching of ‘creation science’ or related concepts, such as so-called ‘intelligent design’….”
The science teachers associations’ statements are commendable. Supporters of creationism and intelligent design are not giving up their efforts to weasel religious indoctrination into science classes. They are bent on using the public schools to advance their fundamentalist beliefs.
In 2005, a federal district judge issued a stinging rebuke to intelligent design, calling it a religious belief and invalidating a Pennsylvania school district’s attempt to promote it in science courses.
Despite that ruling, advocates of intelligent design continue to call on public school boards to undermine evolution instruction.
The Idaho Science Teachers Association’s strong statement in favor of sound science education is a welcome one in the ongoing struggle to keep church and state separate.