The Creation Controversy: Science or Scripture in the Schools

by Dorothy Nelkin

Overview

In 1999, the Kansas Board of Education voted to delete all mention of evolution from the state's recommended science curriculum and also from its educational assessment tests. This decision, and similar decisions in other states, suggest the growing influence of creationists on American educational policies -- particularly in science curriculums.

In this science-dominated age, how have religious fundamentalists gained such a pervasive influence? The Creation Controversy asks how a group of religious fundamentalists defining themselves as scientists could challenge the basic assumptions of contemporary biology. Dorothy Nelkin looks at the history of this social movement, and its cast of characters. She examines the meaning of religion to a secular science public, as well as raising questions about how much trust we put in science and the moral implications of the current day creationist movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780595001941
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/01/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.53(h) x 0.72(d)

Table of Contents

	Abbreviations	7
	Preface	9
1	Introduction	17
I	The Context	23
2	A Science or a World View? Historical Notes on the Teaching of Evolution	25
	Evolution and the Nineteenth-Century Soul	26
	Antievolution in the 1920s	30
	The Legacy of the Scopes Trial	33
3	Science after Sputnik	39
	The Federal Government's Role	40
	The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study	44
	Man: A Course of Study	47
II	The Science-Textbook Watchers	55
4	Textbook Watchers and Space-Age Fundamentalism	57
	Forbidden Subjects	57
	The Conservative Ministries	59
	The New Censors	63
5	The Scientific Creationists	71
	The Bible as Science	73
	Creationist Organizations	77
	The Activists	84
6	Political Tactics	93
	In School Boards and Commissions	93
	In the Streets	95
	In State Legislatures	97
	In the Courts	100
III	Disputes	105
7	Creation versus Evolution: The California Controversy	107
	Creationist Demands	109
	The California Solution	112
8	The Proper Study of Mankind...: Evolution and the MACOS Dispute	121
	"We're all animals, kids are taught here"	122
	The Politics of Local Protest	124
	MACOS: A National Debate	127
	The Tip of the Iceberg: MACOS, Accountability, and the NSF	132
9	Legislating Science in Arkansas	137
	The Legislation	138
	The Trial	139
IV	Science and the Resistance Ideology	149
10	Censorship by Surrender	151
	Manipulated Media	151
	Publishers and Profits	153
	Conflict Avoidance in the Schools	154
	The Scientists' Response	156
11	Social Sources of Textbook Disputes	165
	Disillusion with Science and Technology	167
	Challenges to Authority	170
	The Ideology of Equal Time	173
12	Science and Personal Beliefs	185
	Images of Science	185
	Problems in the Communication of Science	189
	Appendices	199
1	Decision, The Rev. Bill McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education	199
2	Public Knowledge of Science: Report of a Survey by the National Assessment of Educational Progress	229
3	Proposed Creationist Revisions of the California Science Framework for 1976	234
	Index	237