Press Release - January 15, 2009

Religious and Secular Groups Team Up to Advocate Teaching 21st-Century Science and Evolution in Texas Classrooms

New co-sponsored website is one-stop resource for parents, educators, and other concerned citizens.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2009

Contact: Clare Wuellner
cwuellner@centerforinquiry.net

AUSTIN – As the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) prepares to vote on new science curriculum standards for public schools, two organizations—one secular, the other religious—have come together to advocate a 21st-Century science education for Texas public schoolchildren.

Today, the Center for Inquiry Austin (CFI) and The Clergy Letter Project (TCLP) announced the launch of a new website intended to empower parents, educators and other concerned citizens.  CFI supports and defends science.  TCLP is an organization of thousands of American clergy members who have banded together to demonstrate that religion and science need not be at odds with one another.

Both organizations have been watching closely as the SBOE teeters on the edge of undoing the 21st-Century curriculum recommended by experts.  The SBOE wants to change the curriculum to teach alleged “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution. 

Clare Wuellner, Executive Director of CFI Austin said, “We knew people would care if they just knew what was happening. But too many people didn’t know about this incredibly important issue.  We decided to do something about it.”

The culmination of their efforts is TeachThemScience.org.  This website:

1. explains how curriculum is developed in Texas.
2. provides a basic but accurate understanding of science.
3. explains in simple terms why teaching evolution is essential to an effective science curriculum.
4. explains the flaws in the SBOE’s politically-motivated changes to the science curriculum.
5. explains how teaching the alleged “strengths and weaknesses” would actually teach students to think unscientifically.
6. motivates parents, teachers and concerned citizens to become involved in the determination of what our children are taught.
7. gives the public tools to take action.

TeachThemScience.org remains neutral on religious belief systems and the existence of God, demonstrating respect for people of all faiths as well as unbelievers.

Michael Zimmerman, founder of TCLP said, “More than 12,000 clergy members can't be wrong.  Kids deserve to learn about the best scientists have to offer, and religion has nothing to fear.”

The Center for Inquiry Community Austin is affiliated with The Center for Inquiry Transnational (CFI), a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, and scientific-research think tank that promotes and defends reason, science and inquiry in all areas of human endeavor. The Center’s website is at www.centerforinquiry.net.

The Clergy Letter Project is an organization of thousands of American clergy members who have banded together to demonstrate that religion and science need not be at odds with one another. The Clergy Letter Project's goals are to elevate the quality of the debate on this important topic and to demonstrate that those who claim that evolution is incompatible with religious beliefs are not speaking for religious leaders around the country and around the world. Their web site is www.butler.edu/clergyproject/rel_evol_sun.htm.