GOP US House candidate Paulsen: an evolving standard on Intelligent Design?

Is supporting intelligent design an intelligent decision in the 3rd Congressional District? The GOP-endorsed candidate for Congress, Erik Paulsen, might find out in the next few months.

While in the Minnesota House Paulsen earned high marks from the Minnesota Family Council for his yes-vote on science standards that teach students to doubt evolutionary theory. The Family Council vote required “that state-mandated science standards include an explanation of how new scientific evidence can challenge scientific theories such as evolution.” Certainly, new scientific evidence challenges thinking about how evolution works. The only challenges to the theory of evolution itself come from proponents of intelligent design and straightforward Biblical creationism (aka “creation science”).

In his home district, Senate District 42, which encompasses Eden Prairie and southern Minnetonka, Republicans are looking to change the state party platform to include intelligent design: “We support protecting educators from disciplinary action for including discussion of creation science intelligent design, and adopting science standards that acknowledge the scientific controversies pertaining to the theory of evolution.”

I asked the Paulsen campaign if he was a supporter of intelligent design and if he supported his party’s proposed platform on science curriculum. The campaign offered this response:

Curriculum decisions should be made by local school boards.  As you may know, school boards are required to appoint parents and educators to local curriculum committees.  These local curriculum committees are responsible for selecting nonsectarian curriculum and supplemental materials taught to students.  The curriculum selected must ultimately align to state academic standards adopted by the Minnesota Legislature.

I strongly believe that state legislatures and Congress should not act as `super school boards.’  School boards should have the flexibility to make education decisions and states should be responsible for holding school boards accountable for results.  Local school boards should actively engage parents in all education decisions, including local curriculum selection decisions.

Based on that response, it is unclear whether Paulsen supports his Senate district’s push for intelligent design. Also left unclear is the reasoning behind his vote in the Minnesota House to open the door for the teaching of intelligent design.

Intelligent design has been labeled pseudoscience by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In fact, the term “intelligent design” came about because court cases found the phrase “creation science” to be in violation of church and state due to its focus on one viewpoint of the origin of life — the Judeo-Christian viewpoint.

Recent polling suggests that the majority of Americans want evolution taught in the schools. An American Physical Society survey found that 53 percent of Americans support teaching evolution. However, the American public remains divided, especially when it comes to whether or not creationism or intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution. The same poll found that 27 percent favor teaching intelligent design, and 36 percent favor teaching creationism.