Controversy revisited

OK, I'll call it a controversy as long as we identify it as the creationism controversy.  While there are certainly controversies within evolution (e.g. gradualism versus punctuated equilibrium) there's nothing controversial about evolution, at least in scientific circles.  The controversy has been created by people who are motivated to undermine scientific thought.  Here, the folks at Scientific American provide a state-by-state update on some current issues.  What's really interesting is how the nature of the controversy differs between regions.  Hover your mouse over California, and you'll find out that the University of California has been allowed to deny credit to applicants who took biology courses employing textbooks that reject evolution.  Visit Ohio, and you'll learn that a local school board has fired a teacher for teaching creationism in his science classroom.  But visit Louisiana and Tennessee, and you'll find lawmakers promoting bills that encourage the critical examination of scientific theories, with specific mention of biological evolution, the chemical origin of life, human cloning, and global warming.  If the inclusion of that last (scientifically) unrelated topic doesn't clearly illustrate that this all comes down to politics, nothing will.

Here in Alabama, home of Small Southern, it's a very rare high school science teacher that has the fortutide to teach the truth in his/her science classroom.  It requires real courage, a quality far too rare in education these days.  That's a shame.  There's a war going on, and the future of this country is at stake.  We're on the front lines - don't be a coward.