The nationwide effort to protect the freedom of teachers to hold balanced classroom discussions of evolution, global warming, and other scientific issues is highlighted on the front page of today’s New York Times. The article, “Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets,” contains the usual errors and mischaracterizations one expects from the establishment media. But mischaracterizations or not, the article gets one thing right: It reveals how both the public and policymakers are increasingly dissatisfied with the scientific establishment’s attempt to misuse science to support various ideological agendas, whether it be Richard Dawkins’ scientific atheism or some global warming alarmists’ efforts to push us back to the Stone Age. People want genuine education about scientific topics, and that includes being able to study all of the evidence, not just a few data points cherry-picked for their propaganda value.
Of course, the Times‘ article parrots the standard refrain that there are no legitimate scientific criticisms of things like Darwinian evolution or man-made global warming. Tell that to the more than 800 doctoral scientists who have signed the Dissent from Darwin statement, or to anyone who has read the “Climate Gate” emails. It’s a measure of the obtuseness of the Times that an article that discusses concerns about one-sided teaching on global warming doesn’t even deign to mention the cascading avalanche of revelations of misconduct by scientists among global warming alarmists. The Times‘ motto, “All the news that’s fit to print,” has taken on a new meaning: Hide from the public any “inconvenient truths” that may upset the establishment’s ideological apple cart. Fortunately, the Times and the rest of the establishment media are no longer the gatekeepers for what most people learn about the world.
If you’d like support the right of teachers to present all of the scientific evidence, consider signing the Academic Freedom Petition or learning about our model academic freedom legislation.