Evolution and the Neuroscience Curriculum: A Call to Action

The evolution-creation debate continues to evoke passionate arguments as the competing epistemological systems of theology and science clash. Recent legal challenges in Dover, PA and renewed attempts to insert some form of creationism into the Kansas curriculum are representative of current events. In Dover, the school board voted to add an Intelligent Design (ID) component to the curriculum and was taken to court by concerned parents. Prior to the court decision, Dover citizens spoke by voting out of office all those school board members who voted to include ID in the classroom. The court concurred with the citizens, and concluded that the school board had attempted to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution by inserting a religious position into the classroom. The judge went a step further and expressed his disapproval of the disingenuous behavior by the school board members: " The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind ID Policy " (Judge John E. Jones III, 2005). In 1999 the Kansas school board moved to insert a creationist component into the curriculum, and like Dover, they were voted out of office in the next election. New adherents to a creationist view have now been elected, and are trying once more to insert creationism into the Kansas biology curriculum. While this paper was being written, an election took place in which the majority antievolution forces on the Kansas School Board lost seats, leaving the current board with a six to four majority in favor of excluding creation science from the science curriculum. Counting Dover, the creationist proponents have lost nine major court cases (see Matsumura, NCSEweb.org), so why do they keep coming back for another bite of this sour apple? The answer may be that just one win in the courts will severely damage evolution education for years to come. Many of us working in or studying neuroscience might be unaware of the extent to which evolution is a main target of attack by Christian fundamentalists. A Harris poll in June, 2005 sampled 1,000 U.S. adults regarding their belief about evolution. The survey found that 64% agreed with …