Listen up...I am only going to post this message. The battle has persisted since the publication of Darwin's
Origin of Species in 1859. Along the way, the battle field has migrated from the Ivory Towers of late 19th century English universities to a small courtroom in Dayton, Tennessee (sight of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial). From movie theaters throughout the USA which presented the Scopes Monkey Trial story in the film
Inherit The Wind in 1960 to contemporary Kansas and Ohio state school boards. The battle has raged.
Let us step back for a moment to examine the facts. In America of 2002, many Americans still espouse the biblical literalism as the basis of all "scientific" pursuits - there is no denying this. However, as in any war...the outcome of hostilities are not determined by shouting matches between opposing civilians...which this debate boils down to. The battle is won in the trenches. Where are the trenches? The high schools and universities which are educating the next generation of Americans.
Let's look at some numbers for enrolled students:
US private school (elementary and secondary) enrollment: ~6 million students (~11% of total US students)*
US Public school (elementary and secondary) enrollment: ~55 million students (~86% of total US students)*
Home Schooled (elementary and secondary) enrollment: ~ 1.5 million (~2.5%)*
Of these private schools, the ~70%* are Catholic and do not espouse the biblical literalism that serves as a breeding ground for the instruction of pseudoscience in the form of creationism. In fact, the science and math instruction in many Catholic secondary schools and universities is excellent in terms of scope and rigor. Of those students being home schooled, ~53%* are subjected to an "incomplete" science education lacking in a comprehensive treatment of the biological sciences.
The bulk of US Public schools incorporate the theory of evolution into their science curricula while excluding the pseudoscience of creationism. Of those that have decided to allow equal treatment for the pseudoscience of creationism (Kansas and Ohio), Kansas has already restored the theory of evolution as the basis for their treatment of the biological sciences after a 7-3 decision by the (
Kansas state school board ).
The implication is that ~3 million students out of a total of ~62 million are being exposed to only the pseudoscience of creationism and not the theory of evolution. With the current increase in
secularism in the US, the number of students not receiving proper instruction will likely diminish as the biblical literalism of the evangelical and protestant denominations no longer hold sway with a better educated public.
In a nutshell, the theory of evolution has already won the war in this context. What is left is a mopping-up operation akin the final stages of Operation Anaconda. There may be some fanatical fundamentalist holdouts that still pose a threat to certain weak-minded midwestern school boards but the days of Anti-evolution legistlation such as the
Butler Act are long gone.
Does this mean that all reasonable persons should let their guard down when it comes to the education of their children now that the pseudoscience of creationism poses little threat to the integrity of science curricula? Of course not! If anything, our vigilance needs to increase - complacency yields indifference and indifference will ultimately yield regret.
As far as addressing specific points concerning perceived shortcomings in the theory of evolution or in other fields of scientific inquiry - I will not. By doing so, I elevate the pseudoscience of creation to a position that it does not deserve. Nothing satisfies creationists more than having their claims considered by legitimate scientists - it gives them the impression that their flawed scientific methodology can stand on equal footing with real science. It cannot and never will because "creation science" cannot and never will be real science.
I once had a harsh physics professor as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland. He was exceedingly tough in terms of grading. He gave no credit for mathematical derivations which began with a single erroneous expression even though the rest of the derivation followed all of the necessary steps that would have yielded the correct answer otherwise. He called it "the rat in the pickle barrel" i.e. even though the pickles one obtains from a barrel may look good to eat, normal people would throw out the entire barrel of pickles if a dead rat was discovered inside.
Thus it is with "creation science". You begin with an assumption which cannot be supported explicitly i.e. the Judeo-Christian god created the cosmos and all life there in and this being occasionally interferes with human affairs. This is the rat and the pickle barrel of "creation science" must be thown out.
-Edward Colón, Ph.D.
Computational Physics, Inc./Naval Research Lab
*National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 1999 survey
