Susan Haack

I found Dr. Susan Haack lecture very interesting and at the same time very informative. I learned many things about history that I had not realized took place. I was very impressed with all the knowledge she had to share with us. I would love to sit through another lecture of hers and also hear what she has to say about other Science related topics.   I learned a lot during her lecture but   the topic that stuck out the most was the conflict between science and religion.

I found that the conflict between science and religion began well before Charles Darwin even talked about the “Origin of the Species.” In 1633 a trial of Galileo caused the first ever controversy for publishing a book that said, “The earth revolved around the sun.” Which is opposite of what the bible says, “The sun revolves around the earth.”   I think this issue defiantly started a huge issue basically saying that the bible was wrong.

However, the “Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 that Dr. Haack talked about enforced that a Tennessee statute that prohibited teaching and the   theory of evolution in public school classrooms, was a huge drama. Yes, this drama caused an up roar however; I feel it never answered the question of whether the First Amendment permitted states to ban teaching of a theory that contradicted religious beliefs.

Dr. Haack then explained that in 1967 the Supreme Court rule in “Epperson vs. Arkansas” concluded that these kind of bans violated the establishment clause because there main purpose of discussion was religion. In addition, she pointed out that this same issue came around in 1987 during the Edwards vs. Aguillard case. This case summarized a Louisiana strike down a Louisiana law that required biology teachers who taught the theory of evolution to also discuss evidence supporting the theory called "creation science."  

The controversy continues in new forms today.   In 1999, for example, the Kansas Board of Education voted to remove evolution from the list of...