Media Misinformation Campaign Continues over Evolution in Kansas Schools!

One of the hometown newspapers of AiG-US, “The Cincinnati Post,” printed an editorial on February 19 that praised the state of Kansas (USA) for adopting new pro-evolution science standards for its public schools. “The Post” editorial claimed that

1. “the state Board of Education has reinstated the teaching of evolution” in schools and
2. the “basics of modern science” such as plate tectonics were also restored to the science curriculum despite the efforts of “religious fundamentalists.”

The following is the response we sent to the editors of “The Cincinnati Post” on February 20 to correct their misreporting…..

Dear editor,

When it comes to the creation/evolution controversy, the editors of “The Post” often get the facts wrong. Remember pro-evolutionary articles on “feathered” dinosaurs, life on a Martian meteorite, etc., stories that “Post” editors chose to print and were later shown to be wrong? Now comes the “Post” editorial (February 19) praising Kansas for “reinstating” evolution in its science classrooms.

The truth is, evolution had never been omitted from the Kansas science standards approved in 1999! “Biological evolution” was clearly listed as a topic that students should study. (Evolution was actually found in a few places in the just-replaced science guidelines.)

Furthermore, evolution could never have been taken out of the classrooms in Kansas anyway! The science standards are merely guidelines or suggestions for teachers to follow. Kansas papers reported that if anything, many evolutionary science teachers have promoted their evolution beliefs even more since 1999.

It was also stated in the editorial that “religious fundamentalists” removed “plate tectonics” from the 1999 standards, as if creationists do not believe in it. Actually, the concept of separation of continents was first proposed by creationists; furthermore, one of the world’s three leading experts in this field is a creationist (Dr. John Baumgardner, who will be speaking on this very topic of plate tectonics at AiG’s science conference near Cincinnati over Labor Day weekend.)

On the positive side, we should mention that the beat reporters at “The Post” have generally been accurate and balanced when covering our future Creation Museum to be built near the Cincinnati Airport. It is unfortunate that their editors have not been as careful in their coverage of creation/evolution issues.

Sincerely,

Mark Looy

Director, Ministry Relations Division