Coalition NewsBlog

McDonald also said the hearings amounted to nothing more than "three days of ID [Intelligent Design] infomercials." "The BOE has once again succeeded in embarrassing Kansas in the eyes of the entire world," wrote McDonald.

Other concerns brought forward by KCFS were that:

ID proponents repeatedly misrepresented science as promoting atheism, a false claim that denigrates other religious traditions, including most Christian denominations that find no conflict with evolution science; and

ID presented no scientific basis for their alternatives to evolution science.

The letter described the hearings as an affront to Kansans, leaving the Board with "no alternative but to reject the overt political manipulation of the education curriculum." To do otherwise, McDonald said, amounts to the BOE calling for a "dumbing-down" of the state's educational standards.

Kansas Citizens for Science is a not-for-profit educational organization that promotes a better understanding of what science is, and does, by advocating for science education , educating the public about the nature and value of science, and serving as an information resource. For more information about KCFS, visit www.kcfs.org.

The Coalition for Science gives scientists and citizens a much needed voice before the public and national and local media, as the Kansas State Board of Education attempts to replace science standards carefully developed by a committee appointed by the board with a showcase for a theology known as Intelligent Design creationism. For more information about the Coalition for Science, visit www.coalitionforscience.org.

Here is the Letter to Chairman Abrams referenced in the news release above:

May 11, 2005

Steve Abrams, Chair

State Board of Education

120 SE 10th Ave
Topeka, Kansas 6661

Dear Chairman Abrams:

Last week's hearings demonstrated unequivocally that the opposition to excellent curriculum science standards is politically motivated and without merit. We urge the Board of Education to adopt the science standards formally endorsed by the Board's Science Standards Writing Committee.

The three days of hearings were a sham. Claims that evolution is a science in crisis were shown to be nothing more than empty rhetoric. It is evident to all that the Hearing Committee made up their minds before it started and did not even know the details of the issues being debated. The Board wasted thousands of Kansas taxpayer's dollars for a hearing which did nothing to "inform" the Board. The BOE has once again succeeded in embarrassing Kansas in the eyes of the entire world.

Witness after witness admitted to not having read (and some having not even seen) the standards submitted by the appointed committee but only the Minority Report. The great majority of the Minority Report witnesses also did not have training in areas directly related to evolutionary biology.

ID proponents repeatedly misrepresented the nature of science, and were befuddled even about such well established facts as the age of the earth.

Clearly the BOE brought these ID advocates to Kansas not to evaluate the standards or inform the Board, but simply to provide a taxpayer supported public forum for their personal views. Their testimony was completely irrelevant to the standards. They criticized a trumped-up definition of science as an atheistic belief that was nowhere present in the standards, and they could only reply that they were reading their own views into the standards "between the lines."

In fact, the practice of science studiously avoids advocating any particular religious belief. We strenuously object to evolutionary science being misrepresented as endorsing an atheistic viewpoint. This ID claim denigrates other religious traditions, including most Christian denominations that find no conflict with evolution science.

You have said this hearing has nothing to do with Intelligent Design, yet the citizens of Kansas paid for and endured three days of ID infomercials. Virtually all of the witnesses were intelligent design advocates and their talking points were all taken directly from ID literature. It is these arguments that the writers of the Minority Report want included. To say they are not asking that ID be taught is disingenuous. Mr. Calvert's concluding remarks explicitly argued that Design must be included to "balance" evolution.

The Hearings gave every evidence of having been rigged in advance. There was no need for the Hearing Committee to read the science standards when the verdict was predetermined. This blatant bias demonstrated clearly why the scientific community rightly refused to participate in the kangaroo court. The hearings thus far are an affront to science, to mainstream religions, and to Kansans truly concerned about quality education.

The three days of hearings leave no alternative but to reject the overt political manipulation of the education curriculum for Kansas students. To accept anything less than the outstanding science standards that lie unopened in front of you, is to call for a dumbing-down of our entire educational standards.

With deep disappointment,

Harry McDonald
President