STASIS AND EVOLUTION IN GRASSROOTS CREATIONISM

The creation science movement has maintained remarkable consistency through time, presenting most of the same 'scientific' arguments from astronomy, geology, and biology since its inception in the 1960s. But new forms or at least applications of creation science have developed, primarily as a result of legal decisions occurring in the 1980s and 1990s. Case studies of local creationist controversies collected by the National Center for Science Education, illustrate this continuity and change, and can provide us with a glimpse of what we can look forward to in the future, as antievolutionism continues to respond to legal and social pressures. For example, although 'equal time' for creation science and evolution has been judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, such regulations are still (albeit rarely) proposed to or by local school boards. More commonly, creation science at the local level is 'bundled' with 'Intelligent Design' in an attempt both to broaden the public appeal of antievolutionism and also to avoid legal proscriptions against the former. Intelligent Design (ID) has not yet been tested in the courts; I predict the test case will come about as a result of an individual teacher challenging his/her district for the 'right' to teach ID. Given the current turn towards the appointment of more conservative judges, it may be difficult to predict the outcome of such court cases.