I found an interesting article by David Friedman, son of acclaimed economist Milton Friedman. He takes a strident position on the current evolution/intelligent design debate:

A school that teaches that evolution is false is taking sides in a religious dispute — but so does a school that teaches that evolution is true.

The problem is broader than evolution. In the process of educating children, one must take positions on what is true or false. Over a wide range of issues, such a claim is either the affirmation of a religious position or the denial of a religious position. Any decent scientific account of geology, paleontology, what we know about the distant past, is also a denial of the beliefs of (among others) fundamentalist Christians. To compel children to go to schools, paid for by taxes, in which they are taught that their religious beliefs are false, is not neutrality.

Freidman is an atheist, and as such, probably sides with evolution. His views are nonetheless refreshing.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 20th, 2006 at 1:59 pm and is filed under politics, religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.