NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2017/05/19
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2017-05-19 16:28.
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Good news from Serbia. And Nature considers the year's spate of antiscience bills.
ANTIEVOLUTION PETITION REBUFFED IN SERBIA A recent controversial petition challenging the teaching of evolution and calling for the teaching of creationism in the schools and universities of Serbia is apparently going to be ignored. According to Nature (May 10, 2017), the May 3, 2017, petition, signed by about 170 Serbian academics and intellectuals, was accompanied by a letter addressed to the education, science, and technological development ministry as well as to the education, science, technological development, and information committee of the National Assembly, The letter complained that there is no scientific evidence for evolution and blamed the acceptance of evolution on "globalists and atheists." Ljiljana Colic, a professor at Belgrade University who lost her job as minister for education in 2004 after ordering the removal of evolution from the high school biology curriculum, agreed with the petition, according to Radio Free Europe (May 14, 2017). But the dean of the biology department, Zeljko Tomanovic, retorted, "It is the old creationist ideas that are totally anachronistic and unscientific. There is no scientific knowledge that supports the aforementioned claims [of creationism] and that deny evolution." The Serbian Biological Society, together with a number of Serbian scientific societies and the science faculty at a number of Serbian universities, sent a letter dated May 9, 2017, to the ministry and the committee. The letter described evolution as "the backbone of modern biology," observed that the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences endorsed the IAP Statement on the Teaching of Evolution, and warned that the goals of the petition were inappropriate for a secular republic such as Serbia. Subsequently, the Serbian state news agency Tanjug (May 10, 2017) reported that Mladen Sarcevic, the minister of education, science, and technological development, said that the ministry will not comply with the petition. For the story in Nature, visit: http://www.nature.com/news/diy-gene-engineering-an-attack-on-darwinism-and-a-probe-into-nazi-science-1.21965 For NCSE's story about Colic in 2004, visit: https://ncse.com/news/2004/09/serbia-bans-unbans-evolution-00537 For the story from Radio Free Europe, visit: https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-creationism-vs-darwinism-petition-education/28487414.html For the IAP Statement on the Teaching of Evolution, visit: http://www.interacademies.net/10878/13901.aspx For the report from Tanjug (in Serbian), visit: http://www.tanjug.rs/full-view.aspx?izb=329889 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events outside the United States, visit: http://ncse.com/news/international NATURE ON THE SPATE OF ANTISCIENCE BILLS With the 2017 legislative season nearing its end, Nature (May 12, 2017) turned to consider the year's spate of antiscience bills. "State ... legislatures in the United States are experimenting with new ways to target the topics taught in science classes, and it seems to be paying dividends," the story observed, citing the passage of Florida's House Bill 989, Alabama's House Joint Resolution 78, and Indiana's Senate Resolution 17. The Florida bill is aimed at empowering taxpayers to object to the use of specific instructional materials in the public schools. NCSE's Glenn Branch told Nature, "The people pushing the bill have been complaining about evolution and climate change, adding, "It's obvious that a strong motivation is getting that out of the textbooks." The resolutions adopted in Alabama and Idaho have no legal force, unlike failed bills in 2017 in Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas, the story acknowledged. But by misrepresenting evolution and climate change as scientifically controversial, Branch contended, they encourage teachers to miseducate students. Why the spate of antiscience bills? "It could be due to renewed anti-evolution and anti-climate change sentiment; confidence that a country led by US president Donald Trump -- who has expressed doubts about climate change -- is more hospitable to such views; or an increase in climate-change denial." Or it could be a statistical anomaly. The article concluded by quoting Branch again: "The opponents of science education may feel newly invigorated -- but so do its defenders." For the article in Nature, visit: http://www.nature.com/news/revamped-anti-science-education-bills-in-united-states-find-success-1.21986 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in the states discussed, visit: https://ncse.com/news/florida https://ncse.com/news/alabama https://ncse.com/news/indiana https://ncse.com/news/oklahoma https://ncse.com/news/south-dakota https://ncse.com/news/texas WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG? Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed: * Ann Reid reintroducing Claire Adrian-Tucci, now in a new role at NCSE: https://ncse.com/blog/2017/05/introducing-claire-adrian-tucci-again-0018536 For NCSE's blog, visit: http://ncse.com/blog Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 600 Oakland CA 94612-2922 510-601-7203 fax 510-788-7971 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's blog: http://ncse.com/blog Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. 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