Science and Religion: A Historical Perspective on the Conflict over Teaching Evolution in the Schools Summary
Science and Religion: A Historical Perspective on the Conflict over Teaching Evolution in the Schools Summary
This article traces the history of political and legal challenges to teaching evolution
in U.S. public schools. In 2005, there were two court cases one was in Kansas and the
other one in Pennsylvania. In Kansas, the Kansas State Board of Education revised its
science standards for the second time in six years because there were some people who
were for the teaching of evolution in state’s public school and those who were against it. A
conservative-led board had to alter the definition of science to please people. In Dover,
Pennsylvania, eight families sued their school board over its decision in October 2004 to
require the school teachers to read the following statement before ninth-grade biology
classes: “ Because Darwin’s theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is
discovered. The theory is not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no
evidence.”
This article then talks about the level of tension between science and Christianity and
how new scientific theories have challenged established religious beliefs concerning humans’
special place in the universe. He then goes on to tell us that Copernicus and Darwin as well as
the Vatican and Darwin, have provided the building blocks for the widely held view of several
centuries of warfare between science and Christianity. The problem is that recent scholarship
suggests it is an exaggeration and that it no longer serves to explain the actual historical
relationship between science and Christianity. Later, this article goes into Darwin and his theory
and some people were divided in their response to Darwin. The ministers and theologians attacked
Darwinian evolution. Some scientist believed that Darwin’s theory was correct and even
This article traces the history of political and legal challenges to teaching evolution
in U.S. public schools. In 2005, there were two court cases one was in Kansas and the
other one in Pennsylvania. In Kansas, the Kansas State Board of Education revised its
science standards for the second time in six years because there were some people who
were for the teaching of evolution in state’s public school and those who were against it. A
conservative-led board had to alter the definition of science to please people. In Dover,
Pennsylvania, eight families sued their school board over its decision in October 2004 to
require the school teachers to read the following statement before ninth-grade biology
classes: “ Because Darwin’s theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is
discovered. The theory is not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no
evidence.”
This article then talks about the level of tension between science and Christianity and
how new scientific theories have challenged established religious beliefs concerning humans’
special place in the universe. He then goes on to tell us that Copernicus and Darwin as well as
the Vatican and Darwin, have provided the building blocks for the widely held view of several
centuries of warfare between science and Christianity. The problem is that recent scholarship
suggests it is an exaggeration and that it no longer serves to explain the actual historical
relationship between science and Christianity. Later, this article goes into Darwin and his theory
and some people were divided in their response to Darwin. The ministers and theologians attacked
Darwinian evolution. Some scientist believed that Darwin’s theory was correct and even