I recently published a piece about a creationist publicity stunt that was covered in The Guardian. As I noted in my essay, I couldn't imagine why a reputable media outlet like The Guardian would opt to run such a story. So, instead of merely wondering, I...

At the core of every successful teacher is a sense of optimism. That optimism is absolutely essential because every day, every teacher participates in the hard work of helping students peel back the veil of ignorance. Without that optimism there's no hope that the work being done is of any...

Recent media coverage of the papal transition has focused heavily on the past.

For example, when Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, one of the points the media highlighted was the fact that he was the first pope to resign in 600 years.

Similarly, when Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected...

Not everything has to be ridiculously complicated. For example, if a good friend were to mention to you that she was planning to take her husband to an expensive restaurant for their anniversary where you received food poisoning the week before, would you mention it to her? Would it be...

Is it too much to ask that those who are attempting to destroy public science education in Texas and beyond at least be consistent? I gave up looking for rational discourse and honesty years ago, but I've been hoping for a modicum of consistency. At least with consistency, a discussion...

Click here to read an original op-ed from the TED speaker who inspired this post and watch the TEDTalk below.

If you set aside the technological proficiency and the sheer human exuberance embodied in the astronomical work presented by Honor Harger, you're still left with a...

Among many memorable lines in President Barack Obama's second inaugural address was the following: "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate."

To a large extent, it is the last phrase of that sentence, "or treat name-calling as reasoned debate,"...

Perhaps one of the funniest and most genuine television shows of all times was Bill Cosby's "Kids Say the Darndest Things," which was based on a long-time segment Art Linkletter ran on his radio and television show "House Party." First Linkletter and then Cosby would ask young kids simple questions...

Click here to read an original op-ed from the TED speaker who inspired this post and watch the TEDTalk below.

It's absolutely impossible to watch the amazing pictures captured by Alexander Tsiaras and not be moved. Some, upon seeing such spectacular pictures, turn to religion for...

Proverbs, like stereotypes, often have at least a hint of truth in them or they wouldn't have staying power. It would be a mistake, however, to attribute too much credibility to either.

Some recent events in the battle between the role creationism should play in public school science classes...

It's unlikely that any of us will ever forget how exquisitely, in a speech in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 17, 2002, George W. Bush retold the centuries-old proverb: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

I bring this up because the latest political fiasco coming out of Indiana is, in many ways, reminiscent of his screw up.

Indiana Republican State Senator Dennis Kruse is attempting to fool us again, and apparently he is succeeding with some local newspaper reporters and editors. Last year Kruse introduced a bill that was as simple as it was crazy, as anti-intellectual as it was unconstitutional: "The governing body of a school corporation may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science, within the school corporation." None of this stopped the Republican-controlled Senate from passing the bill and shipping it over to the Republican-controlled House. Happily, saner minds prevailed in that chamber and the bill died in committee.

Kruse isn't just any crazy Republican -- and he's at it again. No, he's the chair of the Senate's Education Committee. This year he's come up with a bill that he claims steers clear of creation science but which actually encourages the teaching of creationism. And in apparent recognition of the fantasyland in which he lives, he's opted to call his new motion "truth in education."

Here's how he's described what he's after: "I would refer to it as truth in education, so students could question what teachers are teaching them and try to make sure it's true what they're teaching."

Josh Youngkin, spokesperson for the Discovery Institute, a well-funded creationist organization advising Kruse, fleshes this insanity out even further. "It frees teachers to teach both sides of scientific controversies in an objective fashion. The teacher would not be barred from saying 'Let's look at both sides of the evidence and you guys can basically make a judgment.'"

Let me repeat the end of that quotation: "you guys can basically make a judgment." So, the new idea in science education from creationists is to let elementary, middle and high school students draw their own scientific conclusions. In Kruse's fantasyland, after a couple of minutes of instruction in biology, students would know as much as, or more than, their teachers and those who conducted the original scientific studies so these precocious students should be well positioned to "make a judgment" about the validity of scientific ideas.

Kruse's intent to use this bill to bring creationism into Indiana's public schools couldn't be clearer. Consider this paragraph from the Indianapolis Star:

Micah Clark, executive director of the conservative lobbying group American Family Association of Indiana, said Kruse's proposal promotes academic freedom. "That doesn't mean you have to talk about creation or intelligent design or anything like that," he said, but instead the legislation is meant to protect teachers if they discuss those issues.

The push wasn't scuttled, it was reshaped. It was cynically wrapped in the American flag, bedecked with apple pie and put out for the unwary as a gift. Kruse's bill, if enacted, would make a mockery of science education in Indiana. It would enable teachers to promote one religious world view above others and to do so at the expense of science.

There is an upside to all of this, however. I'm delighted, and frankly somewhat surprised, to say that many of Indiana's newspapers have not been fooled by these efforts. An editorial in the Lafayette Journal and Courier couldn't have been any clearer in its opposition: "Indiana schools don't need this sort of 'academic freedom.' And Indiana doesn't need another reason to look like the backwater hinterlands."

Back in Fort Wayne, the "other" newspaper, wasn't duped by Kruse. The headline chosen for the editorial in the News-Sentinel on the bill said it all: "Still trying to sneak religion in -- But it still doesn't belong in the same classroom as science."

Perhaps George W. Bush was right after all and some of us won't be fooled...

As Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal opened his 2016 Republican presidential run he recently argued forcefully that Republicans had to "stop being the stupid party." He explained that "We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop...

An axiom of human life is that smart people occasionally do stupid things. I desperately want to believe that the editors of both The Huffington Post and Newsweek are smart people who each recently made the same stupid mistake -- and that, in retrospect, they both recognize their error.

Let's...

American Buddhist priests have joined their Judeo-Christian counterparts and called for the teaching of evolution in public schools.

The only surprising part of this announcement is the sad fact that due to the incessant drumbeat of religious fundamentalism there has to be an announcement at all. But across America...

I'm often asked why I care so much if creationism is taught in public school science classrooms and laboratories. My passionate response touches on a host of important issues, issues that most people living in a democratic society really should care about.

The nonsensical battle between creationists and scientists is...

As the latest legislative season wound down with a large number of creationist bills introduced around the country and as the latest Gallup poll came out showing that creationism continues to enthrall many Americans, there were a flurry of articles discussing how to apportion blame for this sorry...

My God! For a moment yesterday I thought the world as we know it was coming to an end. There was a time it appeared that Glenn Beck had joined forces with the proponents of high quality science education and was promoting the teaching of evolution in high schools. Even...

Although it might be trite to say so, it is worth saying it: Good news isn't always what it seems.

Having said that, here's the good news. I predict that within the near future the achievement gap in student science learning between the United States and South Korea will...

Let me begin with a confession. Never once in my years of writing did I imagine being able to write about Charles Darwin and Hugh Hefner in the same essay.

From one perspective, though, perhaps the link between the two isn't all the difficult to envision. After all, they...

If the war against religion is real, as Republicans constantly assert, then I am one of its generals.

I am, after all, the founder and executive director of a 14,000 member organization that has as one of its primary goals the desire to ensure that evolutionary biology -- and...