Alabama BOE Rules Textbooks Can Keep Evolution 'Warning Stickers'
by Jim Brown
November 17, 2005
(AgapePress) - - Science textbooks in Alabama public schools will continue to warn students that controversy surrounds the theory of evolution. The Alabama Board of Education recently agreed unanimously to retain an evolution disclaimer that has been in state biology textbooks for four years. The insert refers to evolution as a "controversial theory" on the origins of life.Margaret Brown with the Eagle Forum of Alabama says although similar evolution disclaimers have been challenged in other states, that has not been the case in Alabama. "We have kept the battle focused on teaching science," she notes.
"We just have tried to promote not excluding science," Brown further explains. "For the purpose of seeing that it would not be challenged, we've tried to keep the debate on science itself and the teaching of scientific information in science classes."
Nevertheless, supporters of the disclaimer being used in the Alabama public school biology textbooks realize the insert is likely to rankle neo-Darwinian evolutionists. A federal court declared a similar evolution disclaimer in Cobb County (Georgia) schools unconstitutional.
However, Brown says such disclaimers are not as contentious in her state. And, she asserts, "We have also seen improvements in the textbooks because of this -- slight improvements. They still have an evolutionary bias, but we're finding them not as bad as they were ten years ago when we achieved getting the first sticker in the biology books."
The Eagle Forum supports an academic freedom bill in the Alabama legislature that would remove penalties from teachers who teach scientific criticisms of the theory of evolution. Brown says she would like to see Alabama teachers allowed to discuss with students the strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution, as well as scientific alternatives to that theory.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
