richard@sequent.UUCP (04/04/84)
From AAAS Science, 23 March 1984, page 1274 (Vol 223, No 4642) ___________________NAS Moves to Counter Creationist Challenge___________________ The National Academy of Sciences has put out a slick, handsomely illustrated booklet for science teachers that explains why evolution is a science and creationism is not. Science and Creationism has been mailed out to all the school superintendents and public high school science department chairmen in the land. Additional mailings are planned to religious and other groups. The publication stems from a decision 2 years ago by the NAS Council that the Academy "cannot remain silent" in the face of creationists' challenges to the "integrity and effectiveness" of the educational system. In the introduction to the booklet, NAS president Frank Press notes that "it is false ... to think that the theory of evolution represents an irreconcilable conflict between religion and science." He also refutes the contention that scientists themselves are divided about evolution, pointing out that the only differences have to do with rates of change. The Academy's new booklet puts the nations most prestigious scientific organization in opposition to President Reagan, who in his 1980 campaign observed that evolution was "a scientific theory only," which, if taught in schools, should be balenced by the "Biblical theory." ___________________________________________________________________________ from the confused and bleeding fingertips of ...!sequent!richard