UPDATED: Alt-Ctrl-Scopes or How the Newshour Repeated Every Other Story on the Debate Over Evolution

Last year the producers of The Newshour with Jim Lehrer were seeking out the people hunkered down at ground zero in the debate over evolution: the National Center for Science Education.As soon as the call to the Darwin defenders at the NCSE was placed and the interviews booked the Newshour turned their sites on the NCSE’s counterparts, the anti-Darwin scientists at the Center for Science Culture. But not without scheduling a lot of interviews and camera time with biblical creationists — and their dinosaur theme parks — in between. After months of discussion with the producers of the Newshour about whether or not they would fairly represent the theory of intelligent design, and the larger debate over how to teach Read More ›

Dr. Stephen Meyer on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer Monday, March 28

The Newshour with Jim Lehrer will have Stephen Meyer as one of several taped guests during their story on the evolution debate tonight on PBS. In most markets The Newshour is aired at 6pm on the local PBS affiliate. You can check stations and schedules at www.pbs.org/newshour/. Already the Newshour is off to a rock start focusing on the media’s threadbare creation vs. evolution storyline. It will be interesting to see if reporter Jeffrey Brown is as “straightforward” with the viewers as he presented himself to us more than a month ago when he taped his interview with Dr. Meyer. Creation ConflictCorrespondent Jeffrey Brown investigates how some biology teachers are handling the hot button debate over the theory of evolution, Read More ›

Silliest Item of the Month

CSC senior fellow Jonathan Wells e-mailed me to point out that in the March issue of BioScience (the magazine of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, not available without subscription), a pro-Darwin/anti-ID article by Oksana Hlodan has provided us with the silliest item of the month. Well’s writes:

Pacific Justice Insitute Supports Persecuted Parent in California Lawsuit

The Pacific Justice Institute has announced that it has joined (as co-counsel) Sacramento-area parent Larry Caldwell’s federal lawsuit against the Roseville Joint Union High School District for the violation of Caldwell’s civil rights. This welcomed news is discussed further in Pacific Justice Insitute’s press release (found here). As we have previously blogged about (here and elsewhere), Caldwell had presented to RJUHSD School Board a Quality Science Education Policy, which simply stated that teachers should “help students analyze the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific theories, including the theory of evolution.” The policy proposal included the supplementing of existing curricula with scientific materials that included some of the scientific criticisms that have been raised against aspects of chemical and biological Read More ›

UPDATED: Evolution under siege! Day 54 or “an alarmed science establishment is striking back ”

The USA Today has published an article about the chicken littles at the National Academy of Sciences. Apparently, their pet theory hasn’t been faring so well of late, and they’ve decided to circle the wagons. The article itself isn’t so bad. It’s the comments from the desperate Darwinists that provide any real entertainment. The story opens with this not so stupendous news: “Nearly one-third of science teachers who participated in a national survey say they feel pressured to include creationism-related ideas in the classroom.” Never mind that they’ve mucked up the differences between creationism and other science based theories, and lumped them all together, this is hardly news. What is interesting is the way they interpret these numbers. Typically, a Read More ›