 "Photo: Eliot Meyer")
More than 90 percent of biology and biological anthropology professors working at universities in Texas said there was no need to teach any form of intelligent design in science classes. Almost 98 percent of respondents endorsed the validity of modern evolutionary theory, according to a survey released Monday by the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund.
The Texas State Board of Education will re-evaluate the science curriculum standards in public schools and will hold a public hearing Wednesday. Some testimonies will include the survey results.
College professors were surveyed to determine whether intelligent design should be taught in public high schools as an adequate preparation for college science courses.
“We decided to ask Texas scientists what they thought should be taught in Texas public school science classes,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network.
Though the Texas Freedom Network, an advocacy group that promotes the teaching of modern evolution, sponsored the survey, the organization aimed for objectivity, Miller said.
The organization contacted Raymond Eve, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, to conduct the research.
“I told them up front that chips will fall where they may,” Eve said. “This survey had no agenda.”
Fifty Texas universities were surveyed, and 464 professors filled out questionnaires. Surveys were sent to more than 1,000 scientists, and the return rate was 45 percent. Eve attributed the high return rate to professors being highly motivated to express their opinions.
Another of the surey’s findings dealt with whether professors felt that believing in evolutionary theory was compatible with having some kind of religious faith. Ninety-one percent said it was possible.
“Anybody who has ever taught evolution in the state of Texas probably hears within the first week students say, ‘I can’t believe in evolution and be a good Christian, can I?’” Eve said. “We wanted to know what faculty actually thought about mutually exclusive characteristics [of religious faith and evolution].”
Assistant UT professor Molly Cummings received and completed a survey from the network. Cummings teaches an upper-division course called Principles of Animal Behavior, which deals with the mechanics of evolution. She said she was strongly opposed to the teaching of any form of intelligent design in public schools.
“Intelligent design is a religious idea, not a scientific idea,” Cummings said. “It is not based on a hypothesis. The more time we spend dealing with religion, the less time we have to focus on teaching the fundamentals of science. This will absolutely harm our students’ ability to compete on a global level.”
Christian, or religious studies, really doesn't pay as well, grant wise, for the schools. It takes years of scientic study to produce a telescope that only a few may actually really use, but they will inform us of what they see. These cost millions of dollars for administration payments. Some day, we will be able to have space travel, umm, if you have at least 29 mil. now,you may even buy a ticket to go and sit in a "SPACE STATION" and have a closer look at the moon. But seriously folks, if you are a multimillionair/billionair, you may be able to leave all of the rif-raf non-millionairs/billionairs here on earth.
God willing, of course.