Recovering Evangelicals #185 – Science education / science denial
The anniversaries of two pivotal legal cases brought by evolution deniers got us talking to the National Center for Science Education about their work
2025 is the 100th anniversary of the infamous Scopes Trial (aka, the “Monkey Trial”), in which a high school teacher in Tennessee was convicted of violating a law that banned teaching human evolution. 2025 is also the 20th anniversary of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Trial which ruled that a school board in Pennsylvania had violated the Establishment Clause by requiring teachers to present Intelligent Design as an alternative to evolutionary theory.
To commemorate these pivotal events, we reached out to the National Center for Science Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to pushing back on the efforts of Creationists and Intelligent Design proponents in promoting science denial. Deputy Director Glenn Branch and science education specialist Wendy Johnson gave us a quick overview of the history of anti-evolutionism and the mission, scope, and activities of the NCSE:
- although science deniers come in all shapes and forms — anti-vaxers, Flat Earthers, conspiracy theorists, the Apollo moon landings ….. even the “Birds aren’t real” movement — the NCSE focuses its resources on the two primary forms of science denial in elementary and high schools: Creationism and climate change denial;
- most of their efforts pertain to development of school curricula, although they also collaborate in important ways with legal teams litigating lawsuits in the courts and debating bills submitted to federal and state governments;
- anti-evolutionist strategies tend to fall into three main categories:
- ban the teaching of evolution altogether (as was the case in the 1925 Scopes trial);
- balance the teaching of evolution with an equal admixture of Creationist teaching (as was the case in Kitzmiller v Dover);
- blunt the teaching of evolution with “free speech” aimed at undermining confidence in the theory and its underlying data and sowing suspicion against evolution proponents (as is the case of many more recent cases).
- we looked at the American education system (a complex choreography between federal, state, and district bodies, although ultimately the actual teaching is done by individual teachers who comply to varying extents), and made comparisons with education in other countries (Canada; the United Kingdom; Australia);
- we also compared science denial in Christians with that in Muslims …. in the US versus Britain;
- finally, we talked about high profile Creationist organizations like Answers-in-Genesis and the Discovery Institute, and what motivates them: is it ignorance (of science), religious zeal, or fear?
As always, tell us what YOU think …
Find more information about our guests and the National Center for Science Education at their homepage. And if you like what they’re doing, you can make a donation there!
If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like our interview with Dr. Janet Ray Kellogg (#138) who’s actively pushing back on science denial, or our two mini-series on Young Earth Creationism and Intelligent Design.
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