Nightline 5/9: Kansas, public schools and evolution (They're back again!)

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from the show's email:

Classroom Challenge

May 9, 2005


Science versus faith. They're at it again. This time it's happening in Kansas, where the State Board of Education is debating whether Darwin's theory of evolution -- the scientific standard around the country -- should be criticized and challenged in schools. At the heart of the debate: the origin of man. Is that something that should be taught in a science or a religion class? Is the current political climate pushing the country to challenge American standards? That's our focus tonight.


A lot of this new debate centers on how man came to be. How did we become humans to begin with and how were living things created? The traditional teachings of science state that according to Darwin's theory of evolution, man evolved from apes. There is evidence of this in fossils that exist from those periods, millions of years ago. The new idea, called "intelligent design," says that life is so complex that only a supernatural thing must have created us. Challengers say they don't want the theory of evolution replaced, they just want to point out holes in it.

One backer of this new idea says "From goo to you, via the zoo. That's the Darwinian picture." It's a simple slogan with a loaded message. Defenders of the way things have been taught in this country for years -- mostly scientists -- say the empirical evidence is just too strong to support any challenge. The new idea is fine, they say, as a religion course, but not a science course. But with a heated battle over faith going on across the country, these new ideas are getting solid backing and a significant change in the way we educate our children could be just around the corner.

Correspondent Jim Wooten went to Kansas to figure all of this out and George Stephanopoulos will examine its political implications in our discussion tonight.

We hope you'll join us.

Gerry Holmes & the "Nightline" staff
Senior Producer
ABC News Washington Bureau

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