Family Life

02.02.11 | Sarah Harnisch

A new study shows 1 in every 8 high school biology teachers reject the theory of evolution, according to a new article in the magazine Science. The study, which came out last week, says 13 percent of 900 high school biology teachers polled by two Pennsylvania State University professors believe Earth was created by God instead of evolving over a 3.7-billion-year time span. Then there is the 28 percent who take the opposite tack in their classrooms; teaching that evolution is a given. The rest - roughly 60 percent - don't take a position at all for fear of starting controversy; a stance that Scientific American thought was cowardly at best. Other science publications seemed surprised to find that 13 percent of the respondents defy the evolution mandate. With a more conservative Congress in place, the issue is not going to go away. The new House Majority Speaker, John Boehner (R-Ohio), has supported teaching creationism in public schools, making it hard to argue that creationism is the work of a demented few. Should high school and college teachers be mandated to teach evolution even if it's against their religious beliefs?