Anti-Evolution Groups Change Texas Tactics

Curriculum may allow for Darwin's 'strengths and weaknesses'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2008 2:02 PM CDT
Anti-Evolution Groups Change Texas Tactics
%u201CSerious students will not come to study in our universities if Texas is labeled scientifically backward,%u201D says one opponent of allowing creationist ideas to be taught as fact.   (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Evolution opponents are adapting. Now that “intelligent design” and “creation science” have failed in court, the new catch phrase, the New York Times reports, is “strengths and weaknesses.” It might seem innocuous, but critics say it’s yet another tactic to undermine the teaching of evolution in schools. Evolution opponents are insisting that curriculum discuss the flaws in Darwin’s theory.

Legislators in a half-dozen states have pushed bills to mandate “strengths and weaknesses” lessons, and in Texas the education board is about to rule on including them in its curriculum for the next decade. Proponents say they’re just trying to add balance to the discussion. “Very often over the last 10 years, we’ve seen anti-evolution policies in sheep’s clothing,” said one advocate. (More evolution stories.)

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