Darwin's detractors have devised what they consider an intelligent design joining their doubts about evolution and global warming, according to the New York Times.
In Kentucky, for instance, a bill in the state legislature would encourage teachers to discuss "the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories," including "evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning."
In Louisiana, a 2008 law says the state board of education may help teachers promote "critical thinking" on all those subjects. The Texas state school board requires teachers to present all sides on evolution and global warming.
All well and good, but not good enough. I am in favor of critical thinking, but let's go further. Our young people are entitled to think about the advantages and disadvantages of other controversial matters.
Astrology, for example. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 25 percent of Americans believe in astrology.
Being an Aries, I am open-minded on the subject. I do not know whether the stars can predict the future, reveal my personality, or advise me on my love life and whether I ought to buy or sell securities. And I do not know if the zodiac can explain why I burst into maniacal laughter when I read that one out of four Americans believes in astrology.
In any case, though, the fact that one out of four Americans believes in anything surely means it's important enough that our young people should be taught about its advantages and disadvantages. Right?
Which brings me to a related subject: the controversy over whether men really landed on the moon. I know, I know. We have seen pictures of men allegedly walking around on the moon. But how do we really know they are real? I think they are real, but what I think doesn't matter. What's important is that there is a controversy, and our young people's minds should be open to the pros and cons.
And what really happened on July 2, 1947, in Roswell, N.M.? According to eyewitnesses, a flying saucer crashed on the Foster ranch. An Air Force general, however, declared that the wreckage was actually that of a weather balloon, and the government has stuck to that story all these years.
But there is considerable literature claiming that it was in fact a flying saucer, and that the U.S. government engaged in a massive cover-up.
And there is the related question of whether aliens from outer space have been visiting our planet, abducting people, and carrying them off to their spaceships, where they have done unspeakable things to their bodies before returning them.
Don't scoff. Quite a number of people have testified to experiences like these - enough that we must keep an open mind and have the subject taught, pros and cons, in our classrooms.
I will not go into the matter of the Kennedy assassination, except to suggest that Oliver Stone's conspiratorial film about it be shown in our classrooms, in the interest of being as fair and balanced as Fox News.
Finally, there is this matter of Einstein's theory of relativity. Do you understand the meaning of "E = mc2"? I thought not. Neither do I. The scientists claim it's true, but why should we believe scientists? Most of them believe in stuff like global warming.
Leonard Boasberg is a retired Inquirer reporter and Editorial Board member who lives in Strafford. He can reached at lboasberg@gmail.com.
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