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Should Intelligent Design Be Taught Alongside Evolution

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Should Intelligent Design Be Taught Alongside Evolution
Should Intelligent Design be Taught Alongside Evolution A trial is currently taking place in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania concerning the question of whether a local school district can require students to be told about intelligent design (ID) as an alternative to Darwinian evolution (Holden 1796). This trial, known as Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, could result in the setting of a national precedence. The reason for this is that the losing side is likely to appeal every step of the way, ultimately arriving at the Supreme Court (Johnson 2). In order to formulate an informed opinion as to whether students should be required to be told about intelligent design, it is necessary to examine the history of the debate, take both viewpoints into account, and understand the stakes behind the decision. The controversy surrounding evolution and how it should be taught in public schools first entered the public eye in 1925 when John Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution to Tennessee schoolchildren. The "Monkey Trial" as John Scopes ' case was nicknamed, was not really about John Scopes breaking the law, but rather about conflicting social and intellectual values (Linder). William Jennings Bryan claimed that "if evolution wins, Christianity goes" and on the other side, Clarence Darrow warned that banning evolution was "opening the doors for a reign of bigotry equal to anything in the Middle Ages" (Linder). While both of these statements are a bit over the top, they do capture the fears rampant on both sides of the debate. As history tells us, the court found John Scopes guilty of teaching evolution and fined him $100 (the fine was later overturned based on a technicality). The court also stated that while they forbade the teaching of evolution, they "did not require the teaching of any other doctrine, so that it did not benefit any doctrine over the others" (Linder). This case was a giant setback for advocates of evolutionary theory, one that would


Bibliography: Alter, Jonathan. "Monkey See, Monkey Do." Newsweek 15 Aug. 2005: 27 Boyd, Robert S. "Claims of scientific support for ‘intelligent design; disputed." The Burlington Hawkeye Sep. 2005 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9580324 Holden, Constance. "ID Goes on Trial This Month in Pennsylvania School Case." Science 309.5742 (2005): 1796 Johnson, Alex. "Intelligent design faces first big court test." MSNBC.com Sept. 23 2005 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9444600 Kortrum, Richard D. "Niall Shanks God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory." Religious Studies 41.3 (2005): 359-362. Linder, Douglas. "The Scopes Trial: an introduction." Famous Trials Homepage. 2002. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/evolut.htm Pennock, Robert T. "Mystery Science Theater: The case of the secret agent." Natural History. 2005. http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/nhmag.html Wallis, Claudia. "The Evolution Wars." Time 15 Aug. 2005: 27-35. Wikipedia. "Scopes Trial, Epperson v. Arkansas, Edwards v. Aguillard." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Last updated Sep. 29, 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
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