My Letter to the Kansas School Board
To: pplamann@ksde.org
Subject: Science Education and the Future of the United States
Dear sir or madam,
I am writing to express my shock and distress at the recent actions of your
Board regarding science education in your state. The United States is the
world's leader in science but many other countries are catching up, and some of
these countries are not friendly to the American ideals of freedom of speech
and religion, such as for example the dictatorships of the Middle East and east
Asia.
The future of the United States is dependent on our continued free inquiry into
the nature of life and matter. Evolutionary theory is well supported and
reproducible in any laboratory in the world. It is due to the humility of
science that it is still called a theory. "Intelligent Design", by contrast,
is a completely unsupported hypothesis. By targeting an accepted theory that
is based on centuries of scholarship and evidence, you are attacking science at
its core and, therefore, the American way of life.
It is well known that you have a fundamentalist Christian constituency that is
attempting to impose its literal interpretation of the Bible upon your
children. However it should be kept in mind that your agency is not
responsible for promoting any particular religious group's agenda. Many
Christians in Kansas surely do not support this agenda, and surely the Jews and
other religious minorities feel similarly.
You should keep in mind that even if you and other education boards around the
country were to succeed at watering down science with religious interpretations
(which, you should take note, violates the Constitution's clearly mandated
separation of Church and State), the net result will be a diminished role and
respect for science in American society, with the result that the enemies of
Christianity--China, the Moslems, and other cultural groups--will prevail in
the great economic and technological competition of the 21st Century. The
United States will become a weak has-been backwater country much like Iran and
other ideology-driven regimes. Christianity itself will recede and die as
stronger cultures become predominant.
The immediate effect of your actions, which will probably be felt regardless of
the outcome of this current affair, is that Christianity will get a bad name.
Fundamentalism has long been tolerated in the United States and there is a rich
tradition of revivalism and a strong respect for the spiritual music and faith
that have been engendered by our strong protection of people's freedom to
worship. But by attacking science, you are surrendering to the naked prejudice
and ignorance that is the dangerous side effect of fundamentalism.
Fundamentalist Christians will come to be seen not as people of enlightened
faith but as ignorant fools, much like the fundamentalist Moslems who preach
hatred and death from their pulpits around the Middle East. Thinking people of
all faiths will shun you. It will become embarrassing to admit in public that
one is Christian.
Please consider these arguments in the spirit they are offered and do not go
down this path of violating the Constitution.
Sincerely yours,
Terry Traub
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