[Evolidaho] Fwd: [AIBS-Evolution-l]Evolution education update: June 8, 2007

[Resources for teaching evolution]

----- Original Message -----
From: Holly Menninger <hmenninger at aibs.org>
Date: Friday, June 8, 2007 12:08 pm
Subject: [AIBS-Evolution-l]Evolution education update:  June 8, 2007
To: evolution-l at aibs.org

>  From the National Center for Science Education:
>
> Dear Friends of NCSE,
>
> Barbara Forrest explains the "intelligent design" creationist
> movement for
> the Center for Inquiry, while Richard Milner reviews a bumper
> crop of books
> about creationism for Natural History, and the Tallahassee Scientific
> Society raises its voice for evolution.
>
> "UNDERSTANDING THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN CREATIONIST MOVEMENT"
>
> The Center for Inquiry released a new position paper,
> "Understanding the
> intelligent design creationist movement:  Its true nature
> and goals," on
> May 29, 2007.  Written by Barbara Forrest, the paper
> examines "the ID
> movement's organization, its historical and legal background,
> its strategy
> and aims, and its public policy implications," arguing that, "In
> promoting'intelligent design theory' -- a term that is
> essentially code for the
> religious belief in a supernatural creator -- as a purported
> scientificalternative to evolutionary theory, the ID movement
> continues the
> decades-long attempt by creationists either to minimize the
> teaching of
> evolution or to gain equal time for yet another form of
> creationism in
> American public schools.  Accordingly, the ID creationist
> movementthreatens both the education of the nation's children
> and the
> constitutional separation of church and state, which protects
> the religious
> freedom of every American."
>
> Barbara Forrest is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana
> University and a member of NCSE's board of directors; with Paul
> R. Gross
> she wrote Creationism's Trojan Horse:  The Wedge of
> Intelligent Design
> (Oxford University Press, 2004), the definitive chronicle of the
> "intelligent design" movement's so-called Wedge strategy, recently
> published in paperback with a new chapter about Kitzmiller v.
> Dover.  Forrest testified for the plaintiffs in the
> Kitzmiller trial, and
> Judge Jones wrote in his ruling, "Dr. Barbara Forrest ... has
> thoroughlyand exhaustively chronicled the history of ID in her
> book and other
> writings for her testimony in this case.  Her testimony,
> and the exhibits
> ... admitted with it, provide a wealth of statements by ID
> leaders that
> reveal ID's religious, philosophical, and cultural
> content."  The Center
> for Inquiry seeks "to promote and defend reason, science, and
> freedom of
> inquiry in all areas of human endeavor."
>
> For the position paper (PDF), visit:
> http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/Forrest_Paper.pdf
>
> For information about the Center for Inquiry, visit:
> http://www.centerforinquiry.net/
>
> And for information about Creationism's Trojan Horse, visit:
> http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/
>
> SUMMER READING IN NATURAL HISTORY
>
> Writing in the June 2007 issue of Natural History, Richard
> Milner reviews a
> batch of books centering on the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial, explaining,
> "Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District was the first time
> anyone had
> challenged a public school district in the federal courts about the
> teaching of ["intelligent design"], which the parents argued was
> not a
> scientific theory at all."  Among the books reviewed are
> Michael Shermer's
> Why Darwin Matters, John Brockman's anthology Intelligent
> Thought, Matthew
> Chapman's 40 Days and 40 Nights, Edward Humes's Monkey Girl, and Gordy
> Slack's The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything, as well as
> Randy Olson's
> documentary Flock of Dodos.
>
> NCSE makes its appearance, too.  Milner is enthusiastic
> about Eugenie C.
> Scott and Glenn Branch's anthology Not in Our Classrooms, which
> he says
> "features essays by biologists, educators, philosophers, and
> theologians,each approaching the subject from a distinct
> perspective.  Branch offers
> his own handbook for activists, and others attack ID not only as
> pseudoscience, but also as an exemplar of pandering politics, poor
> pedagogy, and tacky theology.  The collection gives
> teachers plenty of
> ammunition for fighting verbal battles or answering students'
> questions."
> Milner also writes, "Of all the witnesses to testify at the
> trial, the
> chroniclers agree, the hero was Barbara C. Forrest, a
> philosopher and
> historian from Southeastern Louisiana University in
> Hammond."  He praises
> Creationism's Trojan Horse, in which Forrest and her coauthor
> Paul R. Gross
> "tracked the creationist movement's history -- through the
> group's own
> internal documents [i.e., the Discovery Institute's Wedge
> document] -- and
> revealed that its objective was never scientific, but had always been
> religious."  Forrest is a member of NCSE's board of
> directors, and
> Creationism's Trojan Horse is now out in paperback, with a new
> chapter on
> Kitzmiller.
>
> For Milner's review, visit:
> http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/index_reviews.html
>
> For information about Not in Our Classrooms, visit:
> http://www.ncseweb.org/nioc
>
> For information about Creationism's Trojan Horse, visit:
> http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/
>
> And for the Seattle Weekly's story about the Wedge document, visit:
> http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-02-01/news/discovery-s-creation.php
>
> TALLAHASSEE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY ADDS ITS VOICE FOR EVOLUTION
>
> On June 4, 2007, the Tallahassee Scientific Society adopted a
> resolution(RTF) on the teaching of "intelligent design" as
> science, in response to
> the recently initiated review of Florida's state science
> standards.  Noting
> the scientific community's consensus on the evidence for and the
> importanceof evolution as well as the scientific and
> constitutional problems of
> "intelligent design" and its predecessor creation science, the
> resolutionexpresses the society's support for "the teaching of
> evolutionary theory as
> the only plausible scientific approach yet known to
> understanding the
> biological, chemical and physical underpinnings of how life
> developed and
> changed over time" and opposition to "any reference to ID in Florida
> science education textbooks or science classroom instruction as
> anythingother than a theological concept worthy of study only in
> such courses as
> religion, philosophy or history."  Established in 1989, the
> TallahasseeScientific Society is a group of laypersons,
> scientists, engineers, and
> educators dedicated to increasing scientific literacy in the Big
> Bend area
> of Florida.
>
> For the statement (RTF), visit:
> http://www.tss.eng.fsu.edu/ID_resolution.rtf
>
> For information about the Tallahassee Scientific Society, visit:
> http://www.tss.eng.fsu.edu/
>
>
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