Defending (Willful) Ignorance

Kansas moves to stem role of evolution in teaching - Yahoo! News

After months of debate over science and religion, the Kansas Board of Education has tentatively approved new state science standards that weaken the role evolution plays in teaching about the origin of life.

The 10-member board must still take a final vote, expected in either September or October, but a 6-4 vote on Tuesday that approved a draft of the standards essentially cemented a victory for conservative Christian board members who say evolution is largely unproven and can undermine religious teachings about the origins of life on earth.

"We think this is a great development ... for the academic freedom of students," said John West, senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, which supports intelligent design theory.

I give these clowns credit for their skillful cooption of the rhetoric of reason for their flat-earth jihad. But really -- "academic freedom?" And if I insist that my local schools teach that, oh, say, Scientology or Harry Potter or the tooth fairy are literally true? If my religion posits that the world sits on the back of a giant turtle? Doesn't academic freedom require that these "theories" be taught as well?