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21st Century Science Coalition Pushes 19th Century Science

SEATTLE — Texas Darwinists are concerned that students might learn too much about evolution.
Facing the possibility that students might actually be given a complete picture of both the strengths and weaknesses of Darwin’s theory, a group of Darwinists has joined together to oppose teaching more evolution in Texas, where the State Board of Education is considering new science curriculum standards.

While they call themselves The 21st Century Science Coalition, Discovery Institute senior fellow John West says, “It should be dubbed the ‘19th Century Science Coalition’ because it wants to turn the clock back to the 19th century by suppressing recent scientific evidence challenging Darwinism from fields like biochemistry, bioinformatics, microbiology, and paleontology.”

The 21st Century Science Coalition claims that even talking about weaknesses “waters down evolution instruction,” but according to West, “Darwinists are the ones who are truly trying to undermine good science education by turning it into a form of indoctrination. Examining the strengths and weaknesses of scientific explanations and theories is a critical part of good science education. Science educators disserve students if they fail to introduce them to all of the relevant scientific evidence and help them critically analyze that evidence.”

Darwinists groups like The 21st Century Science Coalition say talking of weaknesses of evolution allows for religion-based concepts like creationism to enter the instruction, a charge that is “simply a smoke screen to cover up the effort by Darwinists to impose an ideological litmus test on science education in Texas,” according to Casey Luskin, Program Officer in Public Policy & Legal Affairs for Discovery Institute. “No one is proposing to teach religion in biology classes in Texas. What supporters of the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ language want is for students to hear about the scientific — not religious — evidence for and against Darwinism.”