Dover III in Texas? : Laelaps

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Laelaps is the blog of Brian Switek, a freelance science writer based in New Jersey. This blog frequently features his musings on paleontology, evolution, and the history of science. Switek also blogs for Smithsonian magazine's Dinosaur Tracking.

Switek's first book, Written in Stone, will be published next year by Bellevue Literary Press.

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Dover III in Texas?

Category: Creationism
Posted on: December 3, 2007 10:05 AM, by Brian Switek

A few weeks ago I mentioned that the school board in Polk County, Florida looked like they were going to try and get creationism into the classroom when the school science standards are revised in January of 2008, and now it looks like some of the members of the Texas Education Agency might be gearing up to try the same thing. By now I'm sure that most of you have heard of how the Texas Education Agency's director of science, Christine Comer, was forced to resign after forwarding a message about a Nov. 2 lecture by philosopher Barbara Forrest on called "Inside Creationisms Trojan Horse" to a local online community (see the article out today in the New York Times for a summary). If this seems strange to you, you're not alone; many people concerned about science have noted that a reevaluation the Texas science education standards are coming up in 2008, the state education agency suddenly pushing "neutrality" when it comes to intelligent design. As I outlined this past weekend, though, evolution is a fact supported by many theories and the overwhelming weight of scientific observation, intelligent design being an ideological perspective by contrast, so calling for "neutrality" to a religious doctrine in terms of science education immediately raises a red flag. As others have implied, it's doubtful that the creators of the upcoming creationist whine Expelled will interview Comer about losing her job because of her support for a scientific idea that is essential to biology.

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