The latest issue of Nature has two interesting reports related to creationism: an Editorial on the application by the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to grant online master’s degrees in science education, the other on the recent vote by the Florida State Board of Education to include the theory of evolution in its teaching standards.
The headline on the ICR’s website for their news article relating to the Florida vote: Florida schools must teach evolution, despite public opinion. As though public opinion was the best point of reference.
As the ICR article states (in support of its headline),
According to a recent poll by the St. Petersburg Times, almost two thirds of 702 registered voters surveyed in Florida were unconvinced of evolution.
Of those two thirds, “|29| percent said evolution is one of several valid theories. Another 16 percent said evolution is not backed up by enough evidence. And 19 percent said evolution is not valid because it is at odds with the Bible,” the report stated.
It is this body of constituents that proponents of evolutionary theory apparently fear most and have tried to discredit by casting the debate as “science versus faith” and “scientists versus everyone else.”
And on the issue of their application for granting higher degrees in Texas, the ICR writes,
According to the media and blogs, evolutionists highly favor citing politics (i.e., Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District) rather than research to defend their views. If science is truly the double-blind body of inquiry by which we understand the world around us, then Darwinism should support itself without the aid of political crutches.
Hmmm.
If science is truly the double-blind body of inquiry…
Double-blind? Let’s think about what that means for a moment.
For the science, TalkOrigins has a nice Index to Creationist Claims for your pleasure. Only, because this is science, you have to work double-blind. I think this means you’re not allowed to download the page to see what’s there, and you have to keep your eyes closed whilst reading it.
Pots and kettles.