Texas wades into evolution debate at textbook hearing [View all]
Source: UPI
Texas wades into evolution debate at textbook hearing
Published: Sept. 18, 2013 at 4:23 PM
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Scientists reviewing biology textbooks urged Texas education officials not to use books questioning evolution lest the state become a "national embarrassment."
Religious conservatives have pressed the state to approve texts that water down evolutionary science and include references to creationism.
Texas, the nation's single largest textbook purchaser, has significant influence over the content textbook publishers use across the country. The debate over whether to include references to creationism as a scientific -- rather than religious -- alternative in explaining how humans came into being drew sharp rebukes from a panel of experts board members tapped to review the 14 potential biology books the state could approve, the Dallas Morning News said Tuesday.
Southern Methodist University anthropology Professor Ronald Wetherington was one of the panelists who reviewed the books and said teaching creationism as a rational counter-argument to Darwin's bedrock theory of evolution would be teaching children junk science.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/09/18/Texas-wades-into-evolution-debate-at-textbook-hearing/UPI-82541379535814/#ixzz2fITeJ8DI
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