Monkey see, monkey do

Creationism, however popular, has no place in our public schools

Seventy-five years after we thought the issue had been settled by the Scopes trial, the evolution-versus-creationism debate has returned. First there was the decision last August by the Kansas Board of Education to remove evolution from the state's science curriculum. Then a publicly financed charter school in Rochester, New York, announced that it will teach creationism and evolution as competing theories of the origins of the universe. Now the results of a poll commissioned by People for the American Way to gauge Americans' beliefs about evolution and creationism have been released -- and they should send a shudder down the spine of anyone in this country who cares about the separation of church and state.

First the good news: 83 percent of Americans think evolution should be taught in public schools. And now the bad: 79 percent of poll respondents say it would be okay to teach creationism in public schools. Perhaps the only bright spot is that most of the respondents in the 79 percent also say it should be made clear that creationism is a belief rather than a scientific theory. Previous polls have included the evolution/creationism question as one among many on religion, but the People for the American Way poll, conducted by DYG, Inc., focused solely on the issue, posing in-depth questions to 1500 Americans. (The full report can be viewed at www.pfaw.org.)

If ever there was a sign that we are in serious need of leadership in this country, this is it. The question is, where can we find it? Shortly after the Kansas school-board decision was announced, vice-president and presidential candidate Al Gore, the noted environment and science wonk, waffled on the issue: he said creationism should be taught in public schools in a religious context. George W. Bush, no surprise, said he believed creationism should be taught in public schools. Bill Bradley was the only candidate to criticize the Kansas decision. Although critics ranging from conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer to liberal scientist and writer Stephen Jay Gould railed against the decision, they apparently didn't have much influence over the way the public thinks about the issue.

Gore's hedge betrays a view of the debate as a matter of science versus religion, a view that is shared by many. And yet science and religion are not incompatible. In 1950 Pope Pius XII wrote that a belief in the theory of evolution was consistent with religious faith. Pope John Paul II, in 1996, publicly stated his support of evolutionary theory. The simple fact is that creationism -- the notion that God, or some other divine being, created the universe -- runs contrary to scientific evidence, which supports the theory of evolution. In other words, this is not Darwin versus God; it's more like Darwin versus the tooth fairy.

To be sure, evangelical Christians such as Jerry Falwell do embrace the "science" of creationism. Such conservatives are quick to dismiss evolution as "just a theory." But anyone who has spent time in a public-high-school science class (except, perhaps, those attending school in Kansas) can tell you that a scientific theory is an idea that can be tested with facts. In this case, the evidence is fossils that show species evolving from one to another and geological strata that show the age of the earth to be measured in billions, not thousands, of years.

It is distressing to think that a solid majority of the public believes it's okay for high-school teachers -- whether they specialize in science, history, philosophy, religion, or literature -- to teach that a divine being created the universe a mere 6000 years ago, even if this is taught as a "belief" and not a theory. Those who comfort themselves by thinking this sort of thing could happen only in rural America should think again. Five years ago, religious conservatives gained control of the local school board in suburban Merrimack, New Hampshire. They very nearly succeeded in bringing creationism into the high-school science curriculum. This sort of thing could happen in New England. What this poll has taught us is that we must be vigilant in keeping this voodoo science out of our classrooms.

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