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What Really Went On In Kansas?
You Can Tell A Lot About The Strength Of An Argument
By The Behavior Of Its Proponents
The differences between what was really at issue in the 2005 Kansas State Board Of Education Hearings and the public perception of the debate have almost no resemblance to each other.
And, remarkably, that was the precise strategy of the Kansas Citizens for Science, as discovered in a memo which appeared as a "Blog" entry on their website www.kcfs.org on February 10, 2005. It revealed that they had no intention of answering the scientific objections to evolution but planned to smear their opponents and conduct a media campaign. If no longer accessible at that site, it has also been saved at "Citizens' Strategy".
The authors of the Minority Report expressly avoided calling for the teaching of creation or intelligent design and asked only that the evidence against evolution be allowed along with the evidence for evolution.
The Minority Report group brought in 23 expert witnesses, nearly all of which are working scientists with PhDs in a scientific field. They testified and were cross-examined over a period of three days. Then when the Kansas Citizens for Science were to bring in witnesses, they sent only their lawyer, Pedro L. Irigonegaray, who did not answer the scientific arguments but attacked the credibility of the expert witnesses and warned that adopting the amended standards proposed by the Minority Report would bring shame on the great state of Kansas, drive bioscience industries from the state and cause high school graduates in Kansas to be ungrounded in solid science. He congratulated the evolutionary scientists and Board Members who boycotted the hearings and himself refused to answer questions from his opponents, despite prior agreement as to the format of the hearings.
If you want to pursue this matter:
Click HERE for the website of the Minority Report.
Click HERE for the website of the Kansas Citizens for Science.
Click HERE for background material from the Minority Report.
Click HERE for a brochure by the Minority Report.
Click HERE for excerpts from the hearings of May 12.
Click HERE for the unedited transcripts of the hearings of May 12.
Click HERE for background material posted on TalkOrigins.org
Click HERE (session 1) and HERE (session 2) of transcripts of the May 12 Hearing posted on TalkOrigins.org, edited cor clarity.
Click HERE or if that link does not work, click HERE for the May 26 letter by counsel for the Kansas Citizens for Science, Pedro L. Irigonegaray.
Click HERE for response to the May 26 letter by counsel for the Minority Report, John H. Calvert.
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