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Today's Top Five Stories

1. Ohio: Students don't need to evaluate evolution as science, they just need to believe it as faith
Yesterday, The Times of London reported that a University of California at Santa Cruz team found that Darwin was wrong. "It seems that hot acidic waters containing clay do not provide the right conditions for chemicals to assemble themselves into 'pioneer organisms,'" researcher David Deamer explained.

Is Deamer a closet proponent of Intelligent Design? Actually, he has argued against the theory. But some in Ohio apparently would see him as secretly opening the door to Intelligent Design. At least, that's the logic behind Tuesday's 11-4 Ohio Board of Education vote eliminating one of the board's academic standards. Here's all that the standard said: In grade 10, students should be able to "describe how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory. (The intent of this indicator does not mandate the teaching or testing of Intelligent Design.)" Another standard, kept by the board in yesterday's vote, specifically countered Intelligent Design: Students must be able to explain that evolution is "undirected."

But the phrase "investigate and critically analyze," while being the cornerstone of science, was deemed religious by some who see conspiracy at work.

"We (now) have science standards that do not try and indoctrinate students," Case Western Reserve University biology professor Patricia Princehouse crowed to The Columbus Dispatch after the vote.

Riiiight. There's nothing indoctrinating about science standards like, "Discuss how both men and women find science rewarding as a career and in their everyday lives." Or, "Describe the current and historical contributions of diverse peoples and cultures to science and technology and the scarcity and inaccessibility of information on some of these contributions." Not that these are bad standards, but they're clearly more driven by an agenda than by scientific inquiry.

"It is unfair to the students of Ohio to mislead them about science," board member Martha W. Wise, who led the push to change the standards, said during the debate. Remember, parents, if you tell your kids that ideas change as scientists investigate and critically analyze theories, you're misleading them on science.

2. Massachusetts Wal-Marts forced to carry Plan B
Among its functions, the emergency contraceptive prohibits fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus. In other words, it's an early abortifacient as well as a contraceptive. Illinois forced Wal-Mart to carry the drug through a state law. Massachusetts has now required the private retail chain to carry the drug through a unanimous decision of the state Board of Registration in Pharmacy. While the chain has said it "chooses not to carry many products for business reasons," it is now considering offering Plan B in all of its pharmacies nationwide.

3. Faith-based funding: Up or down?
From The Washington Post: "The amount of direct federal grants to faith-based organizations declined from 2002 to 2004, according to a major new study released yesterday. White House officials immediately disputed the findings. They said they will release their own figures next month, showing an increase in federal funding for religious groups. The dispute highlighted a lack of independent, widely accepted data about how many federal tax dollars are going to religious organizations, what they are doing with the money, and whether they are more, or less, effective than other charities." Keep an eye on the website of the Center for Public Justice, which earlier this month complained that the faith-based initiative didn't even warrant a mention in this year's State of the Union address.

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February (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50