Frist Continues GOP War on Real Science

Listed in: Separation of Church and State, NJDC News, Press Releases

The New York Times reported on Friday that Senate GOP leader Bill Frist has voiced his faith-based opposition to the scientific consensus in favor of evolution. Frist's solution? "Intelligent design" should be taught as science alongside evolution in public schools.

But Frist is just one lone GOP leader, right?

It's not like George W. Bush and the GOP leaders of both the House and Senate agree that religion should be taught as science in public schools, right?

Wrong.

As far back as 1999, Tom DeLay actually blamed the tragic shooting at Columbine High School on the teaching of evolution in public schools -- clearly demonstrating DeLay's anti-science credentials. (On the House floor, DeLay echoed a letter he had read by asserting that more tragedies will occur as long as "our school systems teach children that they are nothing but glorified apes who are evolutionized [sic] out of some primordial soup of mud.")

And as NJDC noted earlier this month, George W. Bush is proudly leading the GOP anti-science bandwagon; newspapers reported that Bush "essentially endorsed efforts by Christian conservatives to give intelligent design equal standing with the theory of evolution in the nation's schools."

Bush was reported to have said, "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. ...You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes." So should every "different idea" be taught as science in our nation's schools?

And Frist said recently that teaching intelligent design "doesn't force any particular theory on anyone.... I think in a pluralistic society that is the fairest way to go about education and training people for the future." We haven't heard yet, but presumably Frist believes that Mormonism should be taught in Salt Lake City's public schools, Islam should be taught in the science curriculum of Dearborn's schools, and the Torah and Talmud should be taught in the science classes of Brooklyn's high schools as well.

The bottom line is this: George W. Bush, GOP House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, GOP Senate Leader Bill Frist and other top Republicans have nothing but hostility for genuine science in America. And their vision for America includes teaching religion as science in taxpayer-funded public schools.