A national campaign to defend evolution lessons in public school science classes was launched Thursday, and it already is zeroing in on 10 states, including Utah.
The Campaign to Defend the Constitution calls itself an "online grass-roots movement to combat the threat posed by the religious right to American democracy, public education and scientific leadership."
Its launch coincides with a Dover, Pa., court battle over so-called "intelligent design" making its way into school discussions about life's origins.
The campaign, whose launch included former American Civil Liberties Union executive director Ira Glasser and National Center for Science Education executive director Eugenie Scott, is asking all 50 governors to ensure "science classes teach evolution and base curricula on established science, not ideology."
"Not all religious leaders in America are interested in fusing . . . their doctrines with science," the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., senior minister at The Riverside Church in New York City, said in a teleconference launching the campaign.
"We can do better when we let science do its job, and let religion do its job, and if there is reason for conversation (between the two) . . . let's have arenas where we discuss this," he said. "But to interject into the science curriculum a theological ideology with a controversial dynamic is not likely to increase the effectiveness of our science teaching."
The campaign also highlights the nation's top 10 "Islands of Ignorance," where science education is threatened. Utah is among them due to efforts of Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, to include so-called intelligent design into human evolution discussions, the group reports.
The moniker bothers Utah curriculum director Brett Moulding.
"We're very clear in our position," Moulding said of a State Board of Education statement approved unanimously this month. "We will teach evolution."
Buttars shrugs off the campaign altogether.
"Consider the source: ACLU, the devil's law firm, struck again," Buttars said. "Anything that could involve God, they panic about. I wonder why they're so terrified of someone questioning Darwin's evolution? That's going to continue to grow, those (questions). "
Intelligent design holds that life is so complex it can't be explained by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection alone. It does not name the designer. But critics call intelligent design a thinly veiled reference to creationism, which the Supreme Court barred from public school lessons in 1987. Intelligent design has led to controversy and lawsuits in a handful of school boards — one trial is playing out now over a Dover, Pa., board decision — that have adopted it nationwide.
Buttars, however, believes intelligent design should be taught in Utah public schools — perhaps in a required philosophy or humanities class — if students must learn humans evolved from lesser species. He says barring such discussions is akin to censorship.
But the State Board of Education unanimously supported teaching evolution in high school biology, where it is a central part of the state core curriculum. The move was supported by several university professors and scientists from institutions including Brigham Young University.
Buttars believes legislation is his only recourse. But the Dover trial could determine whether it comes in the 2006 session, or later.
Buttars has not requested a bill file. He says he is working on four or five drafts — without help from the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel — to see which might have a chance of "passing and being constitutional," he said.
"I have a number of colleagues that sure like the idea . . . (but) right now, Pennsylvania is a big piece," he said.
"Passing it is one thing; having it pass constitutional muster is another in a day when we've allowed the people determined to have thrown God thrown out of everything. . . . I think you'll see that pendulum tip the other way in the next few years."
The Campaign to Defend the Constitution hopes to prevent the changes that Buttars predicts.
In a letter signed by scientists, clergy and Nobel laureates, the group asks governors to ensure science teachers remain nonjudgmental about students' personal beliefs but also not be pressured to "promote nonscientific views or to diminish or eliminate the study of evolution."
That's basically the position statement of the State Board of Education.
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has said he opposes teaching intelligent design in science class. "If it comes up in sociology or philosophy as differing views on creation, I think that's appropriate," Huntsman said last August. "But that doesn't happen until college or maybe later in high school."
Aside from Utah, also included on the group's watch list are:
Dover, Pa., where a federal court battle unfolds over requiring biology teachers to read an intelligent design statement before teaching evolution.
Kansas, where intelligent design has been incorporated into the state science curriculum.
Cobb County, Ga., due to court battles over disclaimer labels on books containing the theory of evolution.
Blount County, Tenn., where school leaders have proposed similar labels.
Ohio, where the group says creationists are behind a model lesson plan for teaching life's origins.
Grantsburg, Wis., where the group describes policy as implicitly allowing for discussion of creationism or intelligent design in science classes.
Alabama, where the State Board of Education weighs whether to continue the state's textbook "Evolution Disclaimers."
South Carolina, where a state senator has repeatedly carried legislation questioning teaching the theory of evolution in public schools.
Florida, where legislation spurred discussion about college classroom bias toward the theory of evolution and no other ideas of life's origins.
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com