Anti-Evolution Activity in Michigan

As the NCSE reports, we have a new battle that has just begun over evolution here in Michigan. House Bill 5251 has just been introduced. It would revise the current scence standards to ensure that students will be able to:

"(a) use the scientific method to critically evaluate scientific theories including, but not limited to, the theories of global warming and evolution [and] (b) Use relevant scientific data to assess the validity of those theories and to formulate arguments for or against those theories."

Sounds perfectly reasonable, doesn't it? Who could be against critical thinking and using the scientific method? Of course, that's not really the point. It's not merely a coincidence that this bill singles out evolution, as it is sponsored by state Rep. John Moolenaar, and he and many of his co-sponsors on the bill were also sponsors of two other anti-evolution bills from the last legislative session, HB 4946 and HB 5005. The first bill would have required that students be taught the "competing theories" of evolution and "the theory that life is the result of the purposeful, intelligent design of a Creator." The second one would have allowed the teaching of "the design hypothesis" in public school science classrooms. Both of those bills died in committee, never even getting a hearing or a vote.

What we are seeing here is the evolution of intelligent design creationism. They are forced by court rulings to keep making their strategy more and more vague. First they demand equal time, but they specifically mention a "Creator", and someone informs them that the courts will almost certainly strike that down. So now they're back with a new bill that targets evolution, but only to require that the "arguments for or against" it be taught. Of course, since the only thing that ID has are arguments against evolution, this is simply a backdoor way of getting ID into science classrooms. You almost have to admire the sheer tenacity of the anti-evolution crowd. They just keep coming back, again and again, with new strategies.

My organization, Michigan Citizens for Science, is of course already at work on countering this bill. I'll be meeting with 2 or 3 moderate Republican legislators next week to discuss the bill, hoping to impress upon them the importance of not getting caught up in the religious right's agenda to weaken science education by bringing in religious alternatives. The Michigan Science Teacher's Association, the largest science teacher's group in the nation, is already putting together a position paper against the bill. A science lover's work is never done.