John G. West Political Scientist and Cultural Critic
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Kansas Evolution Hearings Start Today: Will the Media Cover or Ignore the Substance of the Debate?

Published at Evolution News
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Today the Kansas Board of Education opens its hearings on whether students should learn about all of the scientific evidence relating to Darwin’s theory, including the evidence that challenges the theory. The big question is whether journalists will actually report on the substance of the hearings, or will they simply follow the script supplied by the Darwin-only advocates, who have made clear that they want to prevent at all costs any discussion of the science.

Darwinists in Kansas have virtually promised to smear and demonize the scientists who will be testifying at the hearings. What they cannot do is make those scientists disappear. After months of claiming that there are no scientific critics of Darwinism, and insisting that the only criticisms of Darwin’s theory are religious, the Darwin-only advocates are about to be shown wrong. Over the next three days, the Kansas Board will be hearing about scientific criticisms of Darwinian theory from an array of scientists, including biology professors at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Akron, biochemistry professors at the University of Georgia and Lehigh University, and genetics professors at Cornell University and the University of Perugia.

According to Darwinists, these scientists aren’t even supposed to exist. But they are here nonetheless, and they deserve to be heard. Given the scorched-earth tactics adopted by groups like Kansas Citizens for Science, these dissenting scientists have shown a great deal of personal courage in coming forward to testify. I only hope that the newsmedia will give them a fair shake and allow their arguments to be heard.

John G. West

Senior Fellow, Managing Director, and Vice President of Discovery Institute
Dr. John G. West is Vice President of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute and Managing Director of the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. Formerly the Chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at Seattle Pacific University, West is an award-winning author and documentary filmmaker who has written or edited 12 books, including Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science, The Magician’s Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society, and Walt Disney and Live Action: The Disney Studio’s Live-Action Features of the 1950s and 60s. His documentary films include Fire-Maker, Revolutionary, The War on Humans, and (most recently) Human Zoos. West holds a PhD in Government from Claremont Graduate University, and he has been interviewed by media outlets such as CNN, Fox News, Reuters, Time magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post.
Discovery Institute