This post updated January 19, 2009 at 13:00 EST: The National Center for Science Education, Inc. has determined that the material originally posted here was not ready for publication, and has asked that it be removed. For information regarding the upcoming Texas State Board of Education hearing on revised science standards, please refer to NCSE.
Steven Newton, Public Information Project Director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc., offers this preparation material for those good scientists and skeptics planning to speak at the Texas State Board of Education’s public hearing concerning revised science standards on Wednesday, January 21, 2009.
This packet includes background information and talking points on the major issues raised by creationist school board members, such as Piltdown Man, Haeckel’s embryos, polystrate fossils, and “academic freedom.”
It also includes information about the three creationist “experts” (Meyer, Garner, Seelke) slated to testify in the afternoon of the 21st.
Click here for a PDF of the prep materials.
This is an impressively thorough takedown of the hackneyed claims of the creationist board members. I think the take-home message needs to be succinct, however. First, ID/creationism is based on supernatural causation and thus falls outside the scope of science. Second, there are roughly 17 million* peer-reviewed scientific papers. None present data that support ID/creationism or refute evolution. In short, ID/creationism has no body of research, which is not surprising given the first point.
They should also be ready to present the formal repudiation of Meyer’s paper, which implicates him as party to academic misconduct.
*PubMed database, National Library of Medicine
“Kill ’em all and let doG sort them out.” Or the FSM. :-D
@James F:
Agreed.
The prep material is for informational purposes and is available to help make each piece of succinct testimony in front of the board all the more potent.
Sam,
Will you be testifying?
@Gabrielbrawley:
Unfortunately, no. I’ll be out of town for my day job.
However, I have spoken with several Austin area skeptics that plan to attend.