Bush Praised for Defending Free Speech on Theory of Life's Origin

By Jim Brown
August 5, 2005

(AgapePress) - President Bush is being praised for stating that public school students should be exposed to different schools of thought on the subject of the origins of life.

Earlier this week, the president told reporters that schools should feel free to include alternative theories to Darwinism, such as intelligent design, in their science curriculum. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas," he told reporters, "and the answer is yes."

And while Bush did not reveal his personal views on evolution, his comments drew the ire of several critics, among them liberal Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. But Dr. John West with the Seattle-based Discovery Institute says the president should be praised for defending free speech on evolution.

"We'd encourage the president to help defend the right of scientists who are employed by the federal government," West says, "that they have the right to criticize Darwin's theory just like the president has articulated, [and] that people have the right to study the different views."

Intelligent design proposes that some features of the natural world are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection. West's group is the nation's leading think tank supporting research on the theory of intelligent design. He points out that President Bush was merely echoing the sentiments of 70 to 80 percent of Americans, who when polled have said they want students to learn all the facts about Darwinian theory.

"There are only a tiny minority of people who don't believe that, who don't believe in free speech on evolution," he explains. "Unfortunately, they happen to be in some of the places of power. And so it's very good and we're very pleased that President Bush has come out on the side of academic freedom on evolution -- not on the side of censorship."

West says the Discovery Institute opposes mandating the teaching of intelligent design in schools, but supports requiring students to know about scientific criticisms of Darwinian evolution. State science standards in three states -- Ohio, New Mexico, and Minnesota -- require students to know such information.



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