Teach Evolution, Not Scientology

The Morrison Formation is a series of rock beds in Colorado and surrounding states. It formed 156-147 million years ago (Ma) during the Late Jurassic. The environment that produced these rocks was semi-arid with large lakes fed by groundwater from elevated land to the west (now the area of the Rocky Mountains, though it would be another 60 million years before the Rockies formed). Settling lake sediments produce flat, thin layers of silt/clay that eventually lithify into rocks. The layered rocks are one indicator to geologists that they’ve found the setting of an ancient lake. Large numbers of dinosaurs, fish, turtles, insects, lizards, amphibians, and, my favorite, early mammals have been found in the rock layers associated with the Morrison lake environments- lakeshores being a popular source for water, food and predators.

Mammals evolved approximately 180 Ma, overlapping with dinosaurs for over 100 million years before dinosaurs went extinct 65.5 Ma. Many early mammals were similar to modern rodents and included entire groups that would eventually go extinct (e.g. triconodonts, multituberculates). Amazingly, many of these early mammals share distinct similarities with modern species, though they evolved from different lineages and are 150 million years apart in age. For example, Fruitafossor of the Morrison Formation has unique teeth, limb, and claw structures that are present in modern armadillos. Fruitafossor and armadillos are both burrowers with a diet of insects. The pressures of natural selection led the two to adapt to their ecological lifestyles in similar ways, though they are not directly related. Another example is Repenomanus, a raccoon-size mammal that shows evidence of eating baby dinosaurs. It's the only known species of mammal believed to have preyed upon dinosaurs. Other ancient mammals were similar to modern flying squirrels, beavers, opossums, and tree shrews.

The Morrison Formation is just one example of many formations in which countless fossils have been discovered. In Bloomington, three minutes from Indiana University on SR 37, are layers of rocks packed with small invertebrates from 350 million years ago (you can pull over and collect them). Transition fossils have long been discovered that help piece together the steps of major evolutionary events, such as fish moving onto land and reptiles transforming into birds. Besides fossils, other evidences for evolution include comparative DNA, comparative anatomy, developmental biology, vestigial structures (e.g. useless hips in whales), artificial selection by humans (e.g. dog breeds, high yield crops), studies of evolution in action (e.g. Galapagos finches), the existence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (e.g. MRSA), etc. As Dobzhansky said, “Nothing in biology makes sense except for in the light of evolution.”

As someone who is fascinated by the above information, a former biology teacher at Wawasee High School, a current student of paleontology at IU, a repeated user of evolution-related products (e.g. flu vaccines, fossil fuels, limestone buildings, opposable thumbs, symbiotic intestinal bacteria, C4 plants, atmospheric oxygen, etc), amazed that I hiccup because I evolved from amphibians, and excited that the cute trilobite I found is from 520 Ma... it saddens me to hear that an Indiana state bill to teach creationism in public schools (SB 89) has passed the Senate Education Committee.

Teaching creationism in homes, churches, or theology classes is fine. However, creationism is not science and should not be taught in a science classroom. Repeatable, empirically based, scientific studies are the basis for the information found in science textbooks. There are zero published creationist papers in scientific peer-reviewed journals (e.g. Nature, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology), while tens of thousands of scientific papers have been published on evolution. Creationism was once a hypothesis advanced by scientists (e.g. William Paley, William Buckland), but it was abandoned by 1850 as evidence from the fossil record and comparative anatomy began to mount.

My goal in writing this letter is to point out the beauty of, enormous amount of evidence for, and scientific confidence in evolution. However, if you have read this far and are not convinced, consider this: the proposed bill was recently amended and now states, “The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.” Which religions will your child’s teacher choose? Will your child be taught about Xenu from Scientology or Hindu reincarnation? If the teacher chooses to teach creation stories from the hundreds of recognized religions, which science units should be eliminated? If this Pandora’s box of a scenario sounds absurd, maybe you can better understand my grievance. We, as human beings, lend our faith to hundreds of different and distinct organized religions around the world. Our beliefs are as individual as we are. But, we share the observable world. We share water, air, land, and gravity. Science is the language of our physical survival and our tangible past.

Please help keep science in science classrooms. Tell your representatives to vote against SB 89.

 Dave Grossnickle grew up in Warsaw, dabbled in lots of stuff, taught biology for four years atWawasee High School, has a beard, and is now working towards a graduate degree in something sciency. (Is not an eye doctor.)