Higher Ed's response to Kansas Creationism

Thanks goes to Nervous Rodent for his initial heads' up on this issue.

Creationism and intelligent design are going to be studied at the University of Kansas, but not in the way advocated by opponents of the theory of evolution.

A course being offered next semester by the university religious studies department is titled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies."

"The KU faculty has had enough," said Paul Mirecki, department chairman.

"Creationism is mythology," Mirecki said. "Intelligent design is mythology. It's not science. They try to make it sound like science. It clearly is not."

(CNN)

The story checks out - the course is listed on the University of Kansas Department of Religious Studies Spring course list as REL 602. It's apparently a cross-listed undergrad/graduate course.

I find it specifically telling that it was UofK's religion department that initiated this movement, not their science department/s. Good for them! If you also find it inspiring, you should check out this National Education Association petition on academic freedom in higher education.

The NEA is the nation-wide union that represents teachers/professors/faculty from kindergarten through graduate school. Although K-12 is the majority of their/our members, higher education does have its role. The petition/letter-writing campaign is intended to keep an issue on Congress' radar: keeping colleges unregulated by the government. The NEA's suggested talking points emphasize free speech issues; my own letter emphasized that as US colleges are now, we are the envy of the world (unlike our K-12 ed) with the best students in other countries travelling here for higher education. Instituting the same content regulation that national frameworks do in K-12 will only bring us down - especially on topics like religion and science. Go join the letter-writing campaign!