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Bush Remarks Roil Debate Over Teaching of Evolution

 

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

Published: August 3, 2005

 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 - A sharp debate between scientists and religious

conservatives escalated Tuesday over comments by President Bush that the

theory of intelligent design should be taught with evolution in the nation's

public schools.

 

In an interview at the White House on Monday with a group of Texas newspaper

reporters, Mr. Bush appeared to endorse the push by many of his conservative

Christian supporters to give intelligent design equal treatment with the

theory of evolution.

 

Recalling his days as Texas governor, Mr. Bush said in the interview,

according to a transcript, "I felt like both sides ought to be properly

taught." Asked again by a reporter whether he believed that both sides in

the debate between evolution and intelligent design should be taught in the

schools, Mr. Bush replied that he did, "so people can understand what the

debate is about."

 

Mr. Bush was pressed as to whether he accepted the view that intelligent

design was an alternative to evolution, but he did not directly answer. "I

think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of

thought," he said, adding that "you're asking me whether or not people ought

to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes."

 

On Tuesday, the president's conservative Christian supporters and the

leading institute advancing intelligent design embraced Mr. Bush's comments

while scientists and advocates of the separation of church and state

disparaged them. At the White House, where intelligent design has been

discussed in a weekly Bible study group, Mr. Bush's science adviser, John H.

Marburger 3rd, sought to play down the president's remarks as common sense

and old news.

 

Mr. Marburger said in a telephone interview that "evolution is the

cornerstone of modern biology" and "intelligent design is not a scientific

concept." Mr. Marburger also said that Mr. Bush's remarks should be

interpreted to mean that the president believes that intelligent design

should be discussed as part of the "social context" in science classes.

 

Intelligent design, advanced by a group of academics and intellectuals and

some biblical creationists, disputes the idea that natural selection - the

force Charles Darwin suggested drove evolution - fully explains the

complexity of life. Instead, intelligent design proponents say that life is

so intricate that only a powerful guiding force, or intelligent designer,

could have created it.

 

Intelligent design does not identify the designer, but critics say the

theory is a thinly disguised argument for God and the divine creation of the

universe. Invigorated by a recent push by conservatives, the theory has been

gaining support in school districts in 20 states, with Kansas in the lead.

 

Mr. Marburger said it would be "over-interpreting" Mr. Bush's remarks to say

that the president believed that intelligent design and evolution should be

given equal treatment in schools.

 

But Mr. Bush's conservative supporters said the president had indicated

exactly that in his remarks.

 

"It's what I've been pushing, it's what a lot of us have been pushing," said

Richard Land, the president of the ethics and religious liberties commission

of the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Land, who has close ties to the

White House, said that evolution "is too often taught as fact," and that "if

you're going to teach the Darwinian theory as evolution, teach it as theory.

And then teach another theory that has the most support among scientists."

 

But critics saw Mr. Bush's comment that "both sides" should be taught as the

most troubling aspect of his remarks.

 

"It sounds like you're being fair, but creationism is a sectarian religious

viewpoint, and intelligent design is a sectarian religious viewpoint," said

Susan Spath, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Science Education, a

group that defends the teaching of evolution in public schools. "It's not

fair to privilege one religious viewpoint by calling it the other side of

evolution."

 

Ms. Spath added that intelligent design was viewed as more respectable and

sophisticated than biblical creationism, but "if you look at their

theological and scientific writings, you see that the movement is

fundamentally anti-evolution."

 

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for

Separation of Church and State, called the president's comments

irresponsible, and said that "when it comes to evolution, there is only one

school of scientific thought, and that is evolution occurred and is still

occurring." Mr. Lynn added that "when it comes to matters of religion and

philosophy, they can be discussed objectively in public schools, but not in

biology class."

 

The Discovery Institute in Seattle, a leader in developing intelligent

design, applauded the president's words on Tuesday as a defense of

scientists who have been ostracized for advancing the theory.

 

"We interpret this as the president using his bully pulpit to support

freedom of inquiry and free speech about the issue of biblical origins,"

said Stephen Meyer, the director of the institute's Center for Science and

Culture. "It's extremely timely and welcome because so many scientists are

experiencing recriminations for breaking with Darwinist orthodoxy."

 

At the White House, intelligent design was the subject of a weekly Bible

study class several years ago when Charles W. Colson, the founder and

chairman of Prison Fellowship Ministries, spoke to the group. Mr. Colson has

also written a book, "The Good Life," in which a chapter on intelligent

design features Michael Gerson, an evangelical Christian who is an assistant

to the president for policy and strategic planning.

 

"It's part of the buzz of the city among Christians," Mr. Colson said in a

telephone interview on Tuesday about intelligent design. "It wouldn't

surprise me that it got to George Bush. He reads, he picks stuff up, he

talks to people. And he's pretty serious about his own Christian beliefs."

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Sankirtan Yajna ki Jay!

 

Hare Krishna.

 

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