Utah's Attack on Evolution

The Utah legislature rejected a bill that would have required biology teachers to tell student that the State did not endorse evolution and that it was not fact.

State Sen. Chris Buttars (R), argued that "it was time to rein in teachers who were teaching that man descended from apes and rattling the faith of students." Since when has it been the responsibility of the public school system to nurture the faith and religious beliefs of the students with modifications of curriculum.

Certainly Buttars would not contend that the pledge of allegiance should be removed in order to nurture the religious beliefs of those students who are Jehova's Witnesses and find taking oaths to be contrary to their religious beliefs.

Further support for Buttar's position was that he does not "believe that anybody in [the state Senate] really wants their kids to be taught that their great-grandfather was an ape." Neither would I because it is simply not true - which brings me to the most important point regarding this controversy. Mr. Buttars is off by about 1 Million years.

Many like Mr. Buttars operate with a severe fundamental misunderstanding of natural selection and a complete unwillingness to consider the facts despite proven examples e.g., antibiotic resistance in bacteria, animal breeds (dogs, cats, and livestock), and plant breeding to produce larger and more productive strains (consider seedless watermelons).