Overview

The history of the teaching of evolution in America cannot be addressed without analyzing the origins of contemporary creationism. The Scopes Trial of 1925 is often regarded as a landmark in the battle to teach evolution in American public schools, but the U.S. Supreme Court did not overturn state laws that banned the teaching of evolution until 1968. In response, creationists adopted a new strategy, calling for "balanced treatment" in the teaching of evolution and the Creation. That is, they demanded that "Special Creation" be taught as science and that evolution should be described as "merely" a theory. "Creation Science" has traditionally embraced religious tenets, most notably that of divine creation "from nothing," distinct "kinds" of plants and animals, a worldwide flood, and a relatively recent origin of the universe. In 1987 the Supreme Court ruled that...