Another Vote for Evolution

Vote in Texas

On 7 November the Texas Board of Education voted to approve eleven controversial biology textbooks (as expected; see Don’t Mess with Texas!). The vote came despite vigorous opposition from scientists, teachers and parents who cited numerous examples of errors and hoaxes in the textbooks that support evolution.

“The voices of the science community have been loud and unified,” crowed Samantha Smoot, executive director of what’s called The Texas Freedom Network. “This is not a theory. There’s no question about whether evolution exists at all.”1

Vote in Minnesota

Meanwhile, the science standards committee in another US State—Minnesota—is meeting on 8 November to vote on new standards that push evolution as fact.

The result is a foregone conclusion, in spite of intense efforts by concerned Minnesotans. One long-time AiG supporter, for instance, sent a box full of anti-evolutionary videos and books (some of them ordered from AiG) to all 41 committee members. But apparently to no avail.

The educators” choice to keep pushing evolution is not based on an unbiased study of both sides in the debate. They have chosen to believe in evolution and millions of years of earth history—regardless of the facts and information at their fingertips.

They know that if we accept what Genesis says about a creation, then we are accountable to the Creator who made us.

Some Christians appear to believe that the root problem is “misinformation.” That is, if the evolutionary elitists could just hear the truth, then they might believe it—or at least, they might let others believe and teach it in the classroom.

But the sad truth is that, on the whole, they willfully reject the truth. At some level at least, they know that if we accept what Genesis says about a creation, then we are accountable to the Creator who made us.

Votes elsewhere

Other American states are casting votes in a similar way (see Q&A: Education). For instance, earlier this week the school board in Washakie County, Wyoming, voted to reject an innocuous policy that would simply have questioned the “fact” of evolution and allowed teachers to examine the controversies surrounding origins. Here is what was voted down:

“It shall be the policy of the Washakie County School District No. 1 when teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution that it is only a theory and not a fact. Teachers shall be allowed in a neutral and objective manner to introduce all scientific theories of origin, and the students may be allowed to discuss all aspects of the controversy surrounding the lack of scientific evidence in support of the theory of evolution.”2

These results in the three states should tell us something. While America is one of the most “Christian” nations in the world today, with a staggering number of regular churchgoers and professed Christians, political efforts to challenge evolutionary teaching in schools consistently meet with resounding defeat.

If Christians really want to make a difference in their area, state or country, then the place to begin is in their own hearts, their families and their churches.

If Christians downplay the Bible, compromise over things like the age of the earth and reject God’s eyewitness account in Genesis, why should anyone heed their efforts to attack the prevailing “origins myth” of the day—evolution?

In the end, it’s not about: “who has the most evidence?” anyway. (See Searching for the “Magic Bullet”) Those well-intentioned people in these states who attempted to deemphasize evolutionary dogmatism through logic and evidence ran into a buzz-saw of an irrational and blinded opposition. It’s ultimately not about the evidence, but about the way that evidence is interpreted. In other words, it’s a battle between two worldviews—evolutionary humanism and biblical Christianity—with eternal consequences.