It's Baaaaack! Creationism Returns!!

The Texas Legislature is in session! Hold your wallet and hide your daughters! Don't let them find your books! They have torches!

And this Legislature belongs to the religious fundamentalist Republicans! It's worse than most!

State Rep. Charlie Howard, (R-Sugar Land - also Represented in the US Congress by Tom DeLay), wants to inflict his House Bill 220 on the students in Texas. The news is here in the April 23rd Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

"By R.A. Dyer
Star-Telegram Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - Biblical creationism could be taught side by side with evolution in science textbooks under legislation pending in the Texas House, according to the bill's sponsor.

State Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, said his House Bill 220 would give the elected State Board of Education more control over the content of school textbooks. Students should get information about creationism if they are being taught about evolution, and he said his legislation could lead the way.

"I don't believe in evolution -- I believe in creation," he said. "Some of our books right now only teach evolution, [but] if you're going to teach one, you ought to teach both."

The Houston-area lawmaker also said the State Board of Education, a Republican-controlled body with strong representation by social conservatives, should have the discretion to remove evolution segments from science textbooks."

This was the problem that existed prior to the change in the law in 1995. The Creationists were causing Texas students to be taught from textbooks that had no mention of Evolution.

The argument Representative Howard is that he doesn't believe in Evolution and that if Evolution is taught in science classes, Creationism should also be taught along side it.

OK. On his first point, his belief in Creationism, alien abduction, a flat Earth, Next Wednesdays' lottery number or anything else has nothing to do with what should be taught in science classes. Science classes are established to teach students about the subject of science.

The curriculum in science classes should consist of facts, theory and the forms of scientific thought. Representative Howard seems to be addressing a sense of fairness when he thinks that if the theory of Evolution is taught in science classes, then Creationism should also be taught alongside it. This is apparently because both Evolution and creationism seem to answer the same question - Where did different species come from?

What is missing is that Creationism is not science, it is not scientific, and it teaches a form of magic rather than scientific thought. Creationism does not come from a study of the facts of the various species. It is not a scientific theory because it cannot be phrased as a hypothesis that guides the search for facts that will prove it untrue.

The fact that Creationism undermines scientific forms of thought is its most significant failing - as part of a science class. Inherent in the idea of Creationism is that the human mind cannot comprehend how species were differentiated because that is something done by God.

So Creationism not only does not fit in science classes as a viable "alternative theory", it is in fact destructive to efforts to teach students how to think scientifically. So Representative Howard's argument fails on both counts.

I am not going to say that a "scientist" who believes in Creationism cannot contribute to the advancement of science, but I am certain that no Creationist has ever built a major research program on Creationism that led to any form of major scientific advancement at all.

A scientist who believes in Creationism is like a one-armed handball player. He may not be totally useless on the court, but with his disability he will never be a ranking player of the game. Do we want to try to train a generation of crippled scientists because Representative Howard does not "believe in Evolution?"

Creationism is already widely taught in the fundamentalist churches here in Texas. They don't allow Evolution as an alternate "religious" teaching. Representative Howard's effort to shoe-horn it into science classes where it does not belong really needs to be rejected.