Faith-based science

In his "What's New" this week, Bob Park talks about the effects of a faith-based view of the world on public entertainment and education.

The 2003 IMAX film 'Volcanoes of the Deep Sea,' sponsored by NSF and Rutgers, would seem to be just the sort of documentary that science centers thrive on. Not exactly. It was turned down by a dozen Science Centers, mostly in the South, because of a few brief references to evolution. There goes the profit margin. The result is that IMAX films just aren't made if the science might offend the religious right. It's worse in schools. Even if there is no prohibition on teaching evolution, teachers leave it out rather than listen to all the complaints. In the 1925 Scopes trial, Clarence Darrow said, 'John Scopes isn't on trial, civilization is on trial.' It still is. And it's losing.