Forum on Public Policy 1 Why We Shouldn’t ‘Teach the Controversy ’ in Science

There is a controversy raging in the United States between proponents of the theory of evolution and advocates of special creation/intelligent design (ID). Evolution is the unifying theory of the life sciences and evidence supporting evolution comes from repeatable experimentation and observation. ID is a type of special creation, which is based on the Biblical creation account. Evolution and special creation are complex, formal, abstract concepts soundly understood by few. The current evolution-ID controversy stems, in part, from a lack of scientific literacy among citizens. Scientific literacy requires content knowledge and an understanding of the processes by which content is discovered. Teaching the controversy in the science classroom is inappropriate because there is no scientific support for ID. The differences between evolution and intelligent design should not preclude dialogue between supporters of each