?I don’t often accuse people for being flat out wrong on an issue, primarily for fear of being called out myself. However, the recent decision by the Kansas State Board of Education regarding the ostracism of evolution warrants comment. In this case, the six board members who voted in favor of increasing the role of intelligent design in science courses, Steve E. Abrams, John Bacon, Kathy Martin, Iris Van Meter, Connie Morris and Kenneth Willard, were flat-out wrong.

?The board members who approved the changing science standards have said, in response to the outcry over their decision, that the move will improve science in Kansas, and that the decision is not meant to force intelligent design down the throats of kids in public schools.

Don’t be fooled; science will not be improved, and it is the goal to bring God more into the public square.

?The beauty of a theory constructed using the scientific method, as evolution has been, is that it can be challenged. It’s inherent in the theory of evolution that the parts of the theory that don’t add up require further study. The board suggests that, because the theory of evolution contains ‘gaps,’ that the entire theory should be challenged.

?The response to the first statement of the board, that science will be improved in Kansas based on last Tuesday’s decision, is faulty because it doesn’t make note of the scientific method.

?This past year, President George W. Bush said that, because of the gaps in the theory of evolution, competing theories of the origin of life should also be presented in science class. There are no competing theories to evolution. Intelligent design is not a theory; it is a proposition, based on religion. If there were no religions, would the idea of intelligent design exist?

?By suggesting that intelligent design is a theory that deserves to be presented, as an alternative theory to evolution, is suspect because the former isn’t a theory at all. So yes, the board is trying to force the proposition of intelligent design on the kids of this fair state.

?As last Friday’s Veteran’s Day should have reminded us, the beauty of our country is the process of accountability, through the channels of democracy.

For those who agree with the board’s decision, I fully support your right next fall to campaign hard for the board members you agree with.

?However, for as hard as you campaign, I pledge that those who do not support the board’s decision of this past week will campaign even more ferociously.

?We do not campaign for the elimination of God in the public square, as anti-evolutionists commonly accuse. Instead, we believe, as did Thomas Jefferson, that “the more you mix government and religion, the more you corrupt them both.” We respect the sovereignty of God, and as a result, do not feel the need to mix His power with the corruption of our feeble system of government.

?I’ll see you at the polls next November.