Creationists Should Give It a Rest

Once again, those who would inject their religious beliefs into public education are trying to throw a monkey wrench into a common-sense plan endorsed by the State Board of Education.

Some fundamentalists who want “creation science,” or the biblical interpretation of human origin, taught on par with evolution exerted great pressure on the board last month. But the board essentially stood firm and rightly adopted science textbook guidelines that support the teaching of evolution. Now, in a bureaucratic ploy, the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition plans to challenge how the guidelines were adopted by asking for a legal opinion from the state Office of Administrative Law. The opinion of the office, which reviews and approves state agency regulations, would not be legally binding. But members of the Traditional Values Coalition realize that a negative ruling could make great fodder for a lawsuit.

Of course the real goal, the coalition chairman admits, is to eventually undermine state constitutional authority in setting standards for school books. The coalition would like to see more authority placed in the hands of local officials, no doubt because those officials are more likely to be susceptible to bullying and other pressure tactics. Local school officials already have leeway in selecting specific books that are used in a school district, but the state sets the basic criteria for deciding which books are appropriate for consideration. This is as it should be.

Parents who value religious education have the obvious option of sending their children to private schools or to after-school or weekend religious education classes. But these recurrent and narrow efforts to foist a particular religious view upon the public schools have grown tiresome.