Editing Intelligent design movement (section)

=== Kansas evolution hearings ===
{{main|Kansas evolution hearings}}
The Kansas evolution hearings were a series of hearings held in [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]], [[Kansas]], from May 5 to May 12, 2005, by the [[Kansas State Department of Education|Kansas State Board of Education]] and its State Board Science Hearing Committee to change how evolution and the [[origin of life]] would be taught in the state's public high school science classes. The hearings were arranged by the conservative Board with the intent of introducing intelligent design into science classes via the "Teach the Controversy" method.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/kansas/kangaroo6.html |title=Kansas Evolution Hearings: Part 6 |date=July 1, 2005 |website=TalkOrigins Archive |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX |access-date=2014-05-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/2005/05/13/kansas_5/ |title=A Real Monkey Trial |last=Dizikes |first=Peter |date=May 13, 2005 |website=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |location=San Francisco, CA |publisher=Salon Media Group |access-date=2014-05-30}}</ref>

The hearings raised the issues of [[creation and evolution in public education]] and were attended by all the major participants in the intelligent design movement but were ultimately boycotted by the scientific community over concern of lending credibility to the claim, made by proponents of intelligent design, that evolution is purportedly the subject of wide dispute within the scientific and science education communities.

The Discovery Institute, hub of the intelligent design movement, played a central role in starting the hearings by promoting its [[Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns|Critical Analysis of Evolution]] lesson plan<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discovery.org/a/2112 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Key Resources for Parents and School Board Members |website=Center for Science and Culture |date=25 March 2004 |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |access-date=2013-07-30}}</ref> which the Kansas State Board of Education eventually adopted over objections of the State Board Science Hearing Committee, and campaigning on behalf of conservative Republican candidates for the Board.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=July 7, 2006 |title=Some question group's move with elections nearing |url=http://www.6newslawrence.com/news/2006/jul/07/many_question_groups_move_elections_nearing/ |work=[[6 News Lawrence|6News Lawrence]] |format=QuickTime |location=Lawrence, KS |publisher=[[Lawrence Journal-World]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503093917/http://www.6newslawrence.com/news/2006/jul/07/many_question_groups_move_elections_nearing/ |archive-date=2007-05-03 |access-date=2014-05-30}}</ref>

Local science advocacy group [[Kansas Citizens for Science]] organized a [[boycott]] of the hearings by mainstream scientists, who accused it of being a [[kangaroo court]] and argued that their participation would lend an undeserved air of legitimacy to the hearings.<ref>{{cite news |last=Scholfield |first=Randy |date=March 30, 2005 |title=Scientists right to boycott evolution hearings |url=http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/editorial/11260641.htm |newspaper=[[The Wichita Eagle]] |type=Editorial |location=San Jose, CA |publisher=[[Knight Ridder]] |page=A6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405050648/http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/editorial/11260641.htm |archive-date=2005-04-05 |access-date=2014-05-30}}
*{{cite news |last=Scholfield |first=Randy |date=April 12, 2005 |title=Evolution hearings rejected by scientists |url=http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/04/excellent-edito.html |newspaper=The Wichita Eagle |type=Editorial |location=San Jose, CA |publisher=Knight Ridder |access-date=2014-05-30}}</ref> Board member Kathy Martin declared at the beginning of the hearings "Evolution has been proven false. ID (Intelligent Design) is science-based and strong in facts." At their conclusion she proclaimed that evolution is "an unproven, often disproven" theory.<ref name="Bailey_2005">{{cite journal |last=Bailey |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Bailey |date=May 25, 2005 |title=Unintelligent Design |url=http://reason.com/archives/2005/05/25/unintelligent-design |journal=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] |location=Los Angeles, CA |publisher=[[Reason Foundation]] |issn=0048-6906 |access-date=2014-05-30}}</ref>

"ID has theological implications. ID is not strictly Christian, but it is theistic," asserted Martin.<ref name="Bailey_2005" /> The scientific community rejects teaching intelligent design as science; a leading example being the National Academy of Sciences, which issued a policy statement saying "Creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the [[Scientific method|methods of science]]."<ref name="nas_25" />

On February 13, 2007, the Board voted 6 to 4 to reject the amended science standards enacted in 2005.<ref name="iht">{{cite news |last=Hanna |first=John |date=February 13, 2007 |title=Evolution of Kansas science standards continues as Darwin's theories regain prominence |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/13/america/NA-GEN-US-Kansas-Evolution-History.php |newspaper=[[International New York Times|International Herald Tribune]] |location=New York |publisher=[[The New York Times Company]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070525044215/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/13/america/NA-GEN-US-Kansas-Evolution-History.php |archive-date=2007-05-25 |access-date=2014-05-31}}</ref>