Evolution and the Law

Abstract

THE SCOPES TRIAL, the Epperson case, and others give us the indication that the story of evolution and the law has been a series of court cases. Indeed, these have received much publicity; but other facets of the law have been used-perhaps to greater effect for the opponents of science. The independent status of many governmental agencies allows them to promulgate rules or regulations that, in terms of their designated interest, have the force of law. The California State Board of Education, for example, is appointed by the governor and is virtually autonomous in dealing with public education (four-year colleges excepted) in that state. Its ability to change paragraphs in its commissioned Science Framework for California Public Schools and subsequently to interpret such changes as demanding the inclusion of Biblical material in textbooks is one example of the independence of such a group. Another is the board's ability to bypass the recommendations of its own commission regarding textbooks and insist that the approved books be rewritten to its own standards. (See ABT 34 [7]: 411.) Such agencies have great power; and, because they are not directly responsible to either the public or the legislature, they create a situation wherein a few willful men can control the agency and direct it to do their bidding. Such groups have the ability, in effect, to create laws without going through legislative process.