paleonet Creationism in the UK

["Dr. Lisa E. Park" <lepark@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Paleonetters--


FYI: This was in The Scientist last week......


The Scientist, Volume 19 | Issue 4 | 12 | Feb. 28, 2005	Previous | Issue
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Creationism: from the US, with love
By Stephen Pincock

The pressure from US religious groups to unseat the teaching of evolution as
the sole construct in public schools shows no sign of slowing. In Georgia,
Alabama, and Pennsylvania, as well as other states, individual school
districts and state governments are grappling with suggestions that
creationism be taught along with evolution. And the movement appears to be a
new US export.

Across the Atlantic, those in charge of Britain's education system have been
facing their own version of the God versus Darwin debate, albeit on a much
smaller scale. For the past three years, a small group of schools in
northeast England have been at the center of the controversy about teaching
creationism. The schools, established under a government scheme that allows
private benefactors to operate state schools, are run by the Emmanuel
Schools Foundation, which is backed by the millionaire car dealer Peter
Vardy.

For its part, the foundation says on its Web site that it "encourages an
academic and inquisitive approach to spiritual matters including, amongst
others, creation and the origins of life on earth." In 2002, Prime Minister
Tony Blair said in Parliament he was happy about creationism being taught
alongside evolution in state schools. Others, such as Oxford biologist
Richard Dawkins, are not so happy. Dawkins, eight other leading scientists,
and six top clergy wrote to Blair in 2002, pointing out that "Evolution is
not, as spokesmen for the college maintain, a 'faith position' in the same
category as the biblical account of creation.... It is a scientific theory
of great explanatory power, able to account for a wide range of phenomena in
a number of disciplines."

"It's important to get across that respectable church men are all supporters
of evolution," Dawkins told The Scientist recently.This year, a third school
run by the Emmanuel Schools Foundation, Trinity College in Doncaster, is due
to open. Plans for a fourth college were abandoned late last year after
vocal opposition by a group of teachers and local parents.

Meanwhile, politicians are still debating the issue. On Jan. 31, 2005, in
the House of Lords, Dick Taverne, of the Liberal Democrat party, asked the
government whether the national curriculum will exclude the teaching of
creationism in schools. Junior education minister Geoffrey Filkin replied
that the curriculum for 14- to 16-year-old students calls for the teaching
of evolution, variation, and selection. "They also consider different
theories on the origin of the universe," Filkin said. "In all aspects of the
national curriculum, we encourage pupils to consider different ideas and
beliefs, and how scientific controversies can arise from different ways of
interpreting evidence. That is the core of scientific inquiry."Taverne shot
back: "Since the Government is in favor of allowing choice between sense and
nonsense, will it also allow children to be taught that the earth is flat
and that the sun goes around the earth? Since there is a crisis in math
teaching in schools, and some university chemistry departments are closing
down, will the Government also offer as an alternative the teaching of
astrology and alchemy?"

"It is extraordinary," Taverne went on, "that a Government and a Prime
Minister who say they are in favor of science have allowed the introduction
into our schools of the worst features of American fundamentalist,
antiscience, pseudoscience nonsense."In Dawkins' view, however, the
situation in the United Kingdom isn't comparable to the United States.
"We're not in the same dire straits as they are over there," he says. "I
don't think it's a problem yet, but one must always be vigilant."

Sincerely,
Lisa Park