LONDON, ENGLAND, 2011 (RNS): Thirty leading scientists have added their signatures to a petition to ban the teaching of creationism as scientific theory in the nation’s publicly funded schools.
The petition urges that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution be taught in all schools at both the primary and secondary levels. The government has issued official guidelines against teaching creationism in school curricula but has not legally barred it from state-funded institutions. “We need to stop calling evolution a theory,” said professor Richard Dawkins, an atheist. “In the ordinary language sense of the word, it is a fact … as solidly demonstrated as any fact in science.”
Among the groups supporting the petition is the British Humanist Association. BHA chief executive Andrew Copson stressed, “It has never been more urgent for concrete steps to be taken to ensure that all state schools teach evolutionism, and not creationism, and we urge the government to implement [these] simple and sensible measures.”