And then god created Kansas? The evolution/creationism debate in America's public schools.

AuthorGeorge, Marjorie
PositionConstitutionality of Kansas science curriculum

"For most Kansans, there really is no conflict between science and religion. Our churches have helped us search for spiritual truth, and our schools have helped us understand the natural world."

--Brad Williamson, biology teacher at Olathe East High School in Olathe, Kansas.(1)

INTRODUCTION

Kansas has recently become embroiled in a fierce debate over the minds of the state's children, specifically regarding what those children will learn in their public school science classrooms. At first glance, a science curriculum does not seem like a subject of great controversy, but it continues to be one in Kansas and other communities across the country. The controversy hinges specifically on the role evolution should play in science classrooms, but also reflects the broader debate over what role schools should play in students' moral development.

Today many parents are worried about sending their children to public schools.(2) In addition to being concerned about their childrens' classroom education, parents are also concerned about violence, premarital sex, and drug use. Increasingly, a variety of people are suggesting that problems outside the classroom are due to a lack of morality among young people and communities are turning to religion to provide a solution.(3)

The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution, however, begins: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."(4) The Supreme Court has made it clear that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution erects a high "wall between church and state."(5) The Court has also emphasized that the law itself need not "establish" religion in order to violate the Clause, but may "be one `respecting' the forbidden objective while falling short of its total realization."(6)

The Court has created a large barrier preventing the inclusion of religion in government, in theory making the government entirely separate from religious institutions. In public schools, however, the two have coexisted in a variety of ways, including recitation of prayers before and after football games and graduation ceremonies, the posting of the Ten Commandments on school walls, the recital of the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of the day, and the teaching of creationism in science classes.

The inclusion or exclusion of religion from public education introduces unique difficulties and often calls for a delicate balancing of interests. This is due to the school's role as both educator and guardian during school hours, the involuntary nature of students' attendance at school, and the students impressionability.(7) The Court keeps these concerns in mind as it monitors compliance with the Establishment Clause in public elementary and secondary schools.(8) Given that public schools are under the control of state and local governments, the Court cautions that "[c]ourts do not and cannot intervene in the resolution of conflicts which arise in the daily operation of school systems and which do not directly and sharply implicate basic constitutional values."(9) At the same time, the Court reiterated that the protection of the fundamental rights guaranteed in the First Amendment within the confines of the public school is essential and that it will not hesitate to protect them when necessary.(10) Schools must avoid not only being a source of indoctrination, but also destroying the students' private beliefs.(11)

While religion in public schools has generally been the subject of public attention and legal action in the United States, the feud regarding creationism and evolution began when Charles Darwin published his theories of evolution in 1859.(12) The debate soon moved into the classroom and first caught the attention of the public in 1927 in the famous Scopes "Monkey Thai" in Tennessee.(13) In the aftermath of the Monkey Thai, fourteen states considered anti-evolution statutes in 1927, but only two, Mississippi and Arkansas, enacted such statutes.(14) Since that time, additional statutes attempting to limit the discussion of evolution in public school classrooms have been introduced and enacted.(15) The two challenges to these laws that reached the Supreme Court were both successful, with the Court in each case finding a violation of the Establishment Clause because the statute at issue constituted a prohibited establishment of religion.(16) As laws limiting the teaching of evolution in school or requiring the teaching of creationism in school have been struck down, proponents of creationism have looked for new and original ways to circumvent these decisions. Efforts to come up with new methods to fight the teaching of evolution in public schools are receiving additional attention since many school boards are now controlled by Christian conservatives who generally favor the teaching of creationism in public schools.(17)

This Comment focuses on the efforts of states to navigate Supreme Court decisions when defining the parameters for teaching evolution and creationism in public schools. Part I provides a brief overview of the history of the evolution/creationism debate. Part II specifically addresses Supreme Court jurisprudence in this area. Part III shifts to discuss the various approaches to introducing creationism or limiting evolution within the confines of Supreme Court decisions. The final Part considers the 1999 Kansas Board of Education's announcement that it will change the state science curriculum, decreasing the reliance on evolution.(18) This Comment concludes that Kansas has failed to satisfy the Establishment Clause requirements set forth by the Supreme Court.

  1. HOW THE CREATIONISM DEBATE EVOLVED

    The teaching of creationism is unique from most other issues involving religion in public schools because it combines the individual's religious beliefs with classroom education. Science teachers are often told to instruct students on subjects which conflict with either their scholarly understanding of evolution or their personal religious beliefs.

    The debate to some extent is about the reliability of science itself. In many respects, science is the study of hypotheses and theories--trying to develop explanations for what is not understood.(19) The theory of evolution explains changes in living things over time. The National Academy of Sciences explains that "[t]he concept of biological evolution is one of the most important ideas ever generated by the application of scientific methods to the natural world."(20) Scientists rely on a wide range of scientific evidence, including the fossil record, common structures, the distribution of species, and similarities in development, to support the theory of evolution and simultaneously debunk the creationists' theory of the relatively short history of the earth.(21)

    Creationists, on the other hand, believe that God created Earth and the living things on it, as explained in the Bible. Specific views vary--some creationists agree that the Earth is indeed very old, while others claim that the Earth and universe are relatively young and that a catastrophic event, such as a great flood, led to many of the changes on Earth.(22) Many "old Earth" creationists believe that evolution may have played a role in the development of living things since their creation, whereas most "young Earth" creationists believe that God created living things basically in their current form.(23)

    In their ongoing battle against evolution, creationists argue that because there are no eyewitnesses regarding what occurred at the beginning of time and at every stage since, creationism is just as likely an explanation as evolution.(24) In fact, creationists argue that there is written evidence supporting their position--the Bible.(25) Scientists counter that failure to physically see a scientific phenomenon does not make it unfounded. Many generally accepted scientific theories cannot be witnessed, such as the existence of atoms and the Earth's movement around the sun, yet scientists infer their existence through the use of "extensive observation and experimentation."(26)

    The public school debate regarding evolution and creationism did not begin in earnest until the early 1920s when Christian conservatives, led by William Jennings Bryan, began a crusade against the teaching of evolution."(27) As a result of their efforts, by 1930 twenty state legislatures had debated anti-evolution laws, and three (Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas) had passed laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools.(28)

    The establishment of anti-evolution laws quickly led to a battle for popular opinion between the American Civil Liberties Union, which was recruiting a volunteer teacher to test the Tennessee law, and the World's Christian Fundamentalist Association, whose goal was to restore traditional religious values.(29) John T. Scopes, a high school science teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, came forward to be the defendant in the case.(30) He was charged with violating the Tennessee Anti-Evolution Act of 1925, which made it unlawful to teach any scientific theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man taught in the Bible, and instead posits that man evolved from animals.(31) In creating the legislation, the lawmakers attempted to counteract the increased emphasis on evolution that arose in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a result of scientists' increasing reliance on Darwin's theory of natural selection.(32)

    The stage was then set for the great debate that would ultimately be known as the Monkey Trial. Two of the greatest orators of the time were pitted against one another: Clarence Darrow on behalf of John T. Scopes and William Jennings Bryan on behalf of the prosecution. Due to the throngs of curious spectators, the trial was conducted outside; the very unusual proceeding even included Darrow calling opposing counsel Bryan as an expert witness on...

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