The conservative members of the board are disappointed–they say they wish that textbooks weren’t so “dogmatic” about evolution. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article to which I link above quotes Don McLeroy, a Republican board member, as saying, “People don’t realize the threat of scientific dogmatism [with regards to] evolution in our society.”

You hear this rhetoric a lot these days from the various opponents of evolution. They claim that we stifle the pursuit of knowledge and the full debate of ideas if children are taught evolution without equal time for alternative ideas. It has a nice ring to it, until you actually stop and think about what they are actually saying. You could just as easily undermine the teaching of any