Creationist Tricks Won't Change Science

Steven Newton wrote this interesting opinion article for The Christian Science Monitor.  He recounts the tricks that creationists continue to develop to push science out of the classroom.  Even with their tactics, the science of evolution remains.

Many creationists claim that the scientists don't even agree on evolution, therefore teachers must "teach the controversy" to high school students.  Or teachers should provide "supplemental materials" for the students to read (since the textbooks only teach science).  These new tactics come after a long line of defeats in the courtroom.  The first effort banned the teaching of evolution all together, which led to the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee.  While anti-evolutionists actually won that trial, evolution soon took its rightful place in school  curricula.  Soon decision after decision from the Supreme Court to Dover ruled in favor of evolution and against Creationist complaints.  Creationists have invented creation science and Intelligent Design to sound scientific but have found zero success in the courts, curricula, or classrooms.

As Creationists exert enormous effort to undermine science eduction, they have had no impact on the actual science.  Scientific consensus agrees on the principle of descent with modification.  Our understanding of evolution continues to increase and refine with every new discovery.  No experiment or discovery has yet to disprove the original hypothesis.  New fossil discoveries fit nicely into pre-existing models or clarify classifications.  Genomic sequences provide molecular evidence of genetic similarities between species and identify differences that make species unique.

Science has decided- evolution wins.  Creationist's only hope to confuse the public and create controversy where none exists.  They continue their fight against science mostly because they do not understand it.  I have never encountered a Creationist arguing against evolution, only the confused caricatures of evolution in their collective mind.  This is why we must demand quality science education in our high schools from teachers who understand their subject and aren't afraid to teach it.