OHIO REPUBLICANS SAYALTERNATIVES TO EVOLUTION SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOL

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Two Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, John A. Boehner and Steve Chabot, are pressing for the adoption of a school science curriculum in their home state of Ohio that includes the teaching of alternatives to Darwinian evolution theory, such as intelligent design.  Predictably, critics are calling the idea “religious fundamentalism” by stealth. Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Democratic Senator, among other liberals, opposes the teaching of intelligent design, asserting that it “is not a genuine scientific theory.” In fact, intelligent design has a small following among scientists. To teach only evolution, say Republicans, excludes credible alternative theories that allow for the possibility that a Creator might have been involved in some way.  According to the Washington Post, leading U.S. science organizations view intelligent-design theory “as a pseudo-scientific way to teach creationism,” the “latest front in a battle that dates to the well-known 1925 conviction of Tennessee science teacher John T. Scopes for teaching evolution.”  For Washington Post coverage see:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23887-2002May28.html