Evolution has become a highly endangered species in the U.S.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Embryonic stem cell research and evolution share something in common. Both fields of science in someway tug at the religious sentiments of Americans. And when it does, the result is the same — opposition, even if the promise the science holds out is enormous.
Americans, unlike the Europeans have not evolved much. Only about 40 per cent of American adults accept the basic idea of evolution. The rest believe in creationism.
The worst part is that creationists in many States have found devious ways to get their religious ideas to be taught as scientific facts in schools. Even if they do not succeed at that, they at least want evolution to be open for critical and open discussion.
The signing of the Louisiana Science Education Act into law on June 26, 2008 marked a major step in letting the creationists get a handle on the way evolution was taught. Creationists have come up with many innovative legislation during the last few decades that would either discredit evolution or teach the “science” of creationism.
“Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution,’ said Theodosius Dobzhansky, a geneticist who contributed to the foundations of modern evolutionary biology. Creationists are little concerned about that, though.
Even as evolutionary biologists are using modern tools to fill the gaps and redraw Charles Darwin’s tree of life, many American students are learning only little or nothing about evolution or learning distorted versions. The Twenty first Century surely does not augur well for American children.
Facing extinction
2009, the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s “On the origins of life,” may see evolution facing extinction in some States.
According to the Scientific American (December 16, 2008), a recent national survey revealed that one in eight U.S. high school biology teachers already present creationism as a “valid scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species.” One in three teachers in the U.S. has reported pressure to present creationism or downplay evolution.
According to the National Center for Science Education, Oklahoma has been the first State to come out with a strong anti-evolution bill. Mississippi has a bill that mandates warning labels on textbooks. Michigan, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, and South Carolina are considering introducing similar legislation.
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