If you don’t think a civilized discussion of the evolution controversy is possible, watch the May 7 edition of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” which held a low-key and eminently reasonable discussion of the Kansas hearings and the controversy over how best to teach evolution. The program featured Mark Ryland, director of Discovery Institute’s Washington, D.C. office, and Peter Folger of the American Geophysical Union. If only the Darwinists in Kansas were as respectful and dignified as Mr. Folger! You can watch the program on the web by going here and clicking on the program for May 7. The discussion of evolution starts about an hour and twenty-two minutes into the show.

The only jarring part of the program was a phone interview with Kansas assistant commissioner of education Alexa Posny, who frankly didn’t seem to know what she was talking about. Ms. Posny stated that the purpose of the hearings in Kansas was to consider including alternatives to evolution in the Kansas science standards. She made a similar claim about the recommendations of the minority report of the Kansas science standards committee. Ms. Posny was wrong on both counts. If she had actually read the minority report, she would know that it does NOT advocate including alternatives to evolution in the Kansas science standards. All it does is call for the inclusion of scientific criticisms of evolutionary theory along with the evidence that supports the theory. Someone on the Kansas Board of Education might want to talk with Ms. Posny before she has further opportunities to spread confusion and misinformation about what is happening in Kansas.