By Jim Brown
December 19, 2002

(AgapePress) - The Louisiana public school system has approved a list of biology textbooks that many pro-family activists say contain grossly outdated evolutionary theories.

Every seven years, the Louisiana State Board of Education recommends a list of science books to be proposed to the local level for adoption. Recently the Louisiana Family Forum gathered science professors, biology teachers, and concerned parents to review the textbooks. Concerned Women for America's Lennie Ditoro worked with the Louisiana Family Forum to lead the pro-family effort.

"There was a great similarity of errors in all the books," she explains. "Some had some [errors] and some had others, but throughout every book there was a repetition of either blatantly false information or information that was presented in a misleading way that needed more clarification."

The coalition had presented a resolution requesting that the documented errors be corrected by the publishers, in order to comply with state standards requiring that other scientific models be proposed. But the board subsequently ignored those concerns. Ditoro says it is important something be done to correct the texts.

"The stakes are very high here because we are talking about intellectual honesty, we're talking about academic freedom, and we're talking about critical thinking skills -- as well as refusing to mandate one dogmatic teaching about origins that affects the faiths of our children," she says.

The Board also turned down a proposal to place disclaimers on the books. The addendum would have stated that the theory of evolution "still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life."

As a result of the pro-family campaign, six out of the 16 textbooks were removed from the list. However, as Ditoro points out, the textbook publishers continue to include unreliable information.

© 2002 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend Printer-Friendly Version