Science and the First Amendment

Patricia Princehouse from the Dept. of Philosophy just across the road from me at Case Western Reserve University gave a speech last week on Science and the First Amendment. Here’s an excerpt:

Science and the First Amendment
by PATRICIA J. PRINCEHOUSE

"People ask me, Why pour so much energy into protecting science education? Why not fight for literacy generally or any of a thousand other educational issues? I have two answers. One is easy: I know about evolution, so it makes sense that I would work on what I know best. The second is harder to grasp. And that is that freedom of religion is the bedrock foundation of liberty in this country. If we allow certain special-interest religious groups to co-opt the public school science classroom, to use it as a vehicle for converting children to religious views their parents don't hold, if we allow them to spout outright lies about the nature and content of science, what do we really have left? If you can lie about science and get away with it, you can lie about anything."

You can read the complete speech at tingilinde.

Thanks again to Sukie for the link to her husband’s excellent blog!