Florida's battle of science versus religion is not over. It's been to court, it's been made into law that teachers now will teach only evolution in science classes. But the religious right is not going to accept it, and the battle continues.
Evolution Debate Starts Again In River CityThe evolution versus intelligent design debate comes back to Jacksonville. Florida State professor Dr. Michael Ruse has made a career studying the history of evolution.
"In particularly in recent years, I have been very much interested in the relationship between science and religion," Ruse said that his studies have focused on the history of the evolution debate.
He is the main guest at a round table discussion about the two subjects tonight. He said he knows that State Senator Steven Wise is pushing a new intelligent design bill in the state legislature and thinks now is a great time to be talking about the two subjects.
"I realize the kinds of issues I am dealing with are issues that intelligent grownups are going to differ about," Ruse said. But he said that evolution should not be competing with intelligent design.
"There's two separate answer about what you are doing which just aren't answers of the same kind, they are dealing with different issues," Ruse said that science and religion are not necessarily at odds. He does have his view, "I happen to think that intelligent design theory is religion by another name," Ruse said.
Florida legislator to start the battle between science and religion all over again, though it has been decided already.
Evolution vs. intelligent design: The Tallahassee battle returnsJust in case you missed it over the weekend, state Sen. Stephen Wise has decided to run the intelligent design issue back through the Legislature this spring.
"If you're going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking," Wise, A Republican and the powerful Senate Education Appropriations chairman, told the Florida Times-Union. News of the pending bill filings drew nearly universal groans from Democratic lawmakers this morning. Several said that if the proposed legislation echoes last year's so-called academic freedom bills, which most Democrats opposed, then it's wrong in both substance and timing.
"It's time the other side joined us in the 21st century, whether it's this issue or global climate change and global warming," Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, told the Gradebook. "This bill, if it's filed again, will give voters a chance to see which political party has evolved.""The Florida public wants us to try to fix this economy, create jobs, fund important programs like education and health care," said Rep. Marty Kiar, D-Davie, the Democrats' go-to guy on education in the House. "They don't want to see us debating things like evolution and creationism … and like last year,
the truck testicle bill. Those are things we should not be focused on right now."
One of our Florida Democrats is willing to go along with Wise, thinking it might be a fair bill. Frankly we need Democrats to stand up here and say enough is enough...science is science, religion is religion. I don't like seeing a Florida Democrat go along with this bill.
"My first impression is that on its face it sounds fair, if all it's saying is if you teach one theory, then another theory ought to be taught so that people have informed choice," said Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg. "But without really studying it more, I can't say I have a position on that."
Darryl Rouson, take a stand and quit being so wishy washy.
Teachers in some areas have not been comfortable using the word evolution, or even teaching it. From February last year:
Sometimes, Allyn Sue Baylor doesn't teach evolution in her science class, even though the state requires it. She knows of other teachers who duck the issue, too. They fear a backlash.
"There are cases when parents have gotten really upset," said Baylor, who teaches at Palm Harbor Middle School in Pinellas County. "It's scary. You can lose your job."Meanwhile, David Campbell, a science teacher at Ridgeview High in Clay County, near Jacksonville, heads off conflict by telling students what may seem obvious: There's a big difference between science and faith.
As an emotional debate continues to unfold over Florida's proposed new science standards - standards that students will be tested on next year - it's surprisingly unclear how often kids raise concerns about evolution, how teachers respond, and how many avoid the topic altogether. To answer those questions, the St. Petersburg Times attempted to contact more than 50 science teachers in the Tampa Bay area and beyond. Most did not respond.
Florida teachers leery about subject of evolution The David Campbell mentioned above recently spoke to Cornell University about the difficulties of teaching evolution in Florida.
Campbell, a Cornell alumnus, said he has been very vocal in the battle in Florida over teaching evolution in the classroom.
Until last February, teachers could not use the word 'evolution' in class, only the phrase "change over time," Campbell said. Campbell helped in the most recent rewriting of Florida's state education standards.
"People in the North don't understand what the climate is like down where I live," Campbell said Tuesday. His lecture will explain how it is to teach a concept that seems to attack the very foundations of his students' faith, who can sometimes be openly hostile to it."To say that man descended from an ape-like creature goes right back to Genesis, where it says, 'God created man in his own image,'" he said. Many of the children who enter his classroom firmly believe in creationism by the time they are 12 or 13, said Campbell, who is Anglican.
FL teacher to speak at CornellIt is true it is a difficult subject. In our county we have a school board in which most members do not approve of teaching evolution. They prefer intelligent design. But that's not all. There's a county superintendent in North Florida who totally debunks evolution. He stated that
there are holes big enough to drive trucks through in the theory of evolution.
A growing number of North Florida superintendents and school boards are objecting to the state's proposed new science standards, saying the standards give too much credence to evolution and leave no room for alternative theories.
Evolution is "going to be taught as fact, and everyone knows it's not fact," said Dennis Bennett, the superintendent in Dixie County, west of Gainesville. "There's holes in it you can drive a truck through."
At least seven of Florida's 67 school boards, all north of Ocala, have passed opposition resolutions, according to the Florida Citizens for Science, a group that supports the standards and has been methodically searching board minutes.
That number could double by the time the state Board of Education votes on the standards Feb. 19, said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.
"It just shows the nature of Florida," Blanton said.
Yes, it does show the nature of Florida. I can see that teachers in Bennett's county might not feel comfortable teaching what the law tells them to teach. What a commentary.