What the Scientific Community Says about Evolution and Intelligent Design
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VICTORY!
> The Case Against "Intelligent Design" |
National
Academy of Sciences
Those who oppose the teaching of evolution in public
schools sometimes ask that teachers present evidence
against evolution. However, there is no debate within
the scientific community over whether evolution occurred,
and there is no evidence that evolution has not occurred.
Some of the details of how evolution occurs are still
being investigated. But scientists continue to debate
only the particular mechanisms that result in evolution,
not the overall accuracy of evolution as the explanation
of life's history.
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American
Association of University Professors
"The
theory of evolution is all but universally accepted in
the community of scholars and has contributed immeasurably
to our understanding of the natural world. [...] The American
Association of University Professors deplores efforts
in local communities and by some state legislators to
require teachers in public schools to treat evolution
as merely a hypothesis or speculation, untested and unsubstantiated
by the methods of science, and to require them to make
students aware of an "intelligent-design
hypothesis" to account for the origins of life.
These initiatives not only violate the academic freedom
of public school teachers, but can deny students an
understanding of the overwhelming scientific consensus
regarding evolution."
American
Association for the Advancement of Science
The [intelligent design] movement has failed to offer
credible scientific evidence to support their claim
that ID undermines the current scientifically accepted theory
of evolution... the lack of scientific warrant for
so-called intelligent
design theory' makes it improper to include as a part
of science education.
American
Anthropological Association
The Association respects
the right of people to hold diverse religious beliefs,
including those who reject evolution as matters of theology
or faith. Such beliefs should not be presented as science,
however.Science
describes and explains the natural world: it does not
prove or disprove beliefs about the supernatural.
American
Astronomical Society
Science is not based on faith, nor does it preclude
faith. Whatever personal beliefs teachers, students, parents
or administrators may hold, the teaching of important
scientific concepts, such as the formation and aging of
planets, stars, galaxies and the Universe, should not
be altered or constrained in response to demands external
to the scientific disciplines.
National
Association of Biology Teachers
Scientists have firmly established evolution as an important
natural process. Experimentation, logical analysis, and
evidence-based revision are procedures that clearly differentiate
and separate science from other ways of knowing. Explanations
or ways of knowing that invoke non-naturalistic or supernatural
events or beings, whether called creation science,' scientific
creationism,' intelligent design theory,' young earth
theory,' or similar designations, are outside the realm
of science and not part of a valid science curriculum.
Geological
Society of America
In recent years, certain individuals motivated by religious
views have mounted an attack on evolution. This group
favors what it calls creation science,' which is not
really science at all because it invokes supernatural
phenomena. Science, in contrast, is based on observations
of the natural world. All beliefs that entail supernatural
creation, including the idea known as intelligent design,
fall within the domain of religion rather than science.
For this reason, they must be excluded from science courses
in our public schools.
The
American Chemical Society
Evolution cannot be dismissed or diminished by characterizing
it as mere conjecture or speculation.The inclusion of
non-scientific explanations in science curricula misrepresents
the nature and processes of science and compromises a
central purpose of public educationthe preparation of
a scientifically literate workforce.
American
Institute of Biological Sciences
The theory of evolution is the only scientifically defensible
explanation for the origin of life and development of
species. A theory in science, such as the atomic theory
in chemistry and the Newtonian and relativity theories
in physics, is not a speculative hypothesis, but a coherent
body of explanatory statements supported by evidence.
The theory of evolution has this status. Explanations
for the origin of life and the development of species
that are not supportable on scientific grounds should
not be taught as science.
The
Paleontological Society
Because evolution is fundamental to understanding both
living and extinct organisms, it must be taught in public
school science classes. In contrast, creationism is religion
rather than science, as ruled in recent court cases, because
it invokes supernatural explanations that cannot be tested.
Consequently, creationism in any form (including scientific
creationism, creation science, and intelligent design)
must be excluded from public school science classes. Because
science involves testing hypotheses, scientific explanations
are restricted to natural causes.
Botanical
Society of America
Science as a way of knowing has
been extremely successful, although people may not like
all the changes science and its handmaiden, technology,
have wrought. But people who oppose evolution, and seek
to have creationism or intelligent design included in
science curricula, seek to dismiss and change the most
successful way of knowing ever discovered. They wish
to substitute opinion and belief for evidence and testing.
The proponents of creationism/intelligent design promote
scientific ignorance in the guise of learning.
Many other scientific organizations are opposed
to teaching intelligent
design as a science-based alternative to evolution, including:
New
Orleans Geological Society
New
York Academy of Sciences
Ohio
Academy of Science
Ohio Math and Science Coalition
Oklahoma
Academy of Sciences
Sigma
Xi, Louisiana State University Chapter, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Society
for Amateur Scientists
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Society for Neuroscience
Society for Organic Petrology
Society
for the Study of Evolution
Society of Physics Students
Society of Systematic Biologists
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Southern
Anthropological Society
Virginia Academy of Science
West
Virginia Academy of Science
American
Association of Physical Anthropologists
American
Geophysical Union
American
Society of Biological Chemists
American
Psychological Association
American
Physical Society
American
Society of Parasitologists
Association for Women Geoscientists
Australian Academy of Science
California
Academy of Sciences
Ecological Society of America
Genetics Society of America
Geological
Society of America
Georgia Academy of Science
History of Science Society
Iowa Academy of Science
Kentucky Paleontological Society
Louisiana
Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
North American Benthological Society
North
Carolina Academy of Science


