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Teachers who say that religion does not belong in science class are right. But if they, and PBS, really wish to improve the teaching of evolution, they should distinguish between what we really know about it and what are guesses.

Some years ago, the prominent paleontologist Colin Patterson gave a talk at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He said that he had been studying evolution for many years, and had finally come to the conclusion that there was "not one thing" he knew about it. So he started asking prominent evolutionists if there was anything they knew, "and the only answer I got was silence." Students who feel "threatened" by the new authoritarianism should ask their teachers the same question.

Tom Bethell is a senior editor at The American Spectator.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

PBS's Evolution site describes each of the seven parts, resources, and over 20 Web features.

Charles Colson is devoting a series of Breakpoint commentaries to Evolution. The last of three airs today up transcripts of the first two, Why Falsify History? and — are online now.

A critical response site from the Discovery Institute alleges that the PBS series "distorts the scientific evidence, ignores scientific disagreements over Darwin's theory, and misrepresents the theory's critics."

The National Center for Science Education offers study guides for each episode.

Lucidcafe has an extensive bio of Charles Darwin and a selection of Web resources. The Online Literature Library has an online collection of Charles Darwin's writings.

An article on Christian response to Darwinism appeared in Christianity Today's sister publication Christian History in 1997.

In 1999, the Christian Courier published a very balanced article on the "budding relationship" between faith and science.

The Talk.Origins Archive has an essay titled "God and Evolution" at its site.

Keith Miller, a Christian geologist at Kansas State University, has published an article called "Theological Implications of an Evolving Creation."

Another Christianity Today sister publication, Books & Culture, has a series of Web sites relating to Christianity and science on its Web site, as well as a steady stream of related articles.

For more information, see Google's directory of sites on the theory of evolution.

Related Christianity Today articles include:

Your Darwin Is Too Large | Evolution's significance for theology has been greatly exaggerated. (May 22, 2000)

Inherit the Monkey Trial | Scopes-trial historian Ed Larson explains why Christians should be taught evolution. (May 23, 2000)

We're Not in Kansas Anymore | Why secular scientists and media can't admit that Darwinism might be wrong. (May 19, 2000)

Amassed Media: Evolution Wars | What Christian and mainstream presses are saying about the origins debate and its history. (Dec. 6, 1999)

Meeting Darwin's Wager | How biochemist Michael Behe uses a mousetrap to challenge evolutionary theory. (April 28, 1997)

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September 3 2001, Vol. 45, No. 11