American Physical Society
From Science Besieged
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Advocacy
From the press release "Physics Society President Says Intelligent Design Should Not be Taught as Science", of 4 August 2005:
Marvin Cohen,[1] president of the American Physical Society (APS), has stated that only scientifically validated theories, such as evolution, should be taught in the nation’s science classes. He made this statement in response to recently reported remarks of President Bush about intelligent design, which is a type of creationism.
That same release notes that "[t]he APS governing Council has long expressed its opposition to the inclusion of religious concepts such as intelligent design and related forms of creationism in science classes", having issued two previous statements concerning the teaching of creationist doctrine.
The earliest, "Statement on Creationism", adopted by the council 22 November l98l, documents that the name has changed but the arguments haven't:
The Council of the American Physical Society opposes proposals to require "equal time" for presentation in public school science classes of the biblical story of creation and the scientific theory of evolution. ... Scientific inquiry and religious beliefs are two distinct elements of the human experience. Attempts to present them in the same context can only lead to misunderstandings of both.
More recently, the "Statement on the Kansas State Board of Education Decision" (NB -- this refers to an earlier attempt by that body to insert creationist doctrince into science curricula, and not the most recent attempt in 2005], adopted in 14 November 1999:
The American Physical Society views with grave concern the recent Kansas State Board of Education decision to remove references to evolution and the Big Bang from its State Education Standards and Assessments. ... Biological and physical evolution are central to the modern scientific conception of the Universe. There is overwhelming geological and physical evidence that the Earth and Universe are billions of years old and have developed substantially since their origins. Evolution is also a foundation upon which virtually all modern biology rests.
