Creationist pressure groups and Texas State Board of Education members who oppose teaching public school students the sound science behind evolution make, strangely enough, a lot of claims about what scientists think. We’re told that there is a raging controversy among scientists about whether evolution is really supported by strong scientific evidence. We’re told that scientists have plenty of evidence for alternative ideas, like “intelligent design” (which is, essentially, creationism dressed up in a lab coat). And we’re told that it’s only “fair” to teach both sides of the “controversy.” But no one, it turns out, has actually asked scientists in any systematic way what they really think about these claims.
Until now.
A new report from the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund explodes those and other myths promoted by evolution opponents. The report, authored by Dr. Raymond Eve of the University of Texas at Arlington, details results from a statewide survey of biologists and biological anthropoligists at all 35 public and the 15 largest private colleges and universities in Texas. The survey’s results clearly reveal that claims of “controversy” among mainstream scientists are simply a fiction. In addition, university science faculty overwhelmingly reject claims that “intelligent design” and so-called “weaknesses” of evolution are based on science evidence.
You can read about those and other findings in this groundbreaking report here. (A press release about the report is available here.)
This timely report comes as the State Board of Education continues work revising science curriculum standards for Texas public schools. Moreover, the Texas textbook market is so large that publishers will create new science textbooks based on those standards and then sell their books to schools across the country.
You can help ensure that students get a 21st-century science education by signing on to the Stand Up for Science petition and campaign here.
