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In 2004, a small town in south-central Pennsylvania became the center of American culture wars, pitting neighbor against neighbor over the teaching of evolution.
The controversy began when the Dover Area School Board (DASB) considered adopting a new textbook for biology courses at Dover Senior High School. The teachers recommended Biology: The Living Science by Kenneth Miller and Joseph Levine. However, in a June 7, 2004 board meeting, the chair of the DASB Curriculum Committee, William Buckingham, objected to the Miller and Levine textbook on the grounds that the textbook was "laced with Darwinism" and stated that he was looking for a textbook that gave a balanced view between creationism and evolution. The board temporarily refused to approve the Miller and Levine textbook until it was "balanced" with an alternative view. Buckingham eventually settled on Of Pandas and People (1989), published by the Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE), as the desired alternative book. After much acrimonious debate, however, the DASB approved the Miller and Levine text without also requiring the adoption of Pandas. Buckingham nevertheless arranged for 60 copies of Pandas to be donated anonymously to the school district and subsequently made available to students as optional reference materials. Then on October 18, the DASB surprised everyone by passing the following addition to the official curriculum:
Students will be made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin's Theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, intelligent design. Note: Origins of life will not be taught.
Of Pandas and People was listed in the curriculum as a reference text. The next day, the headline across the front page of the York Daily Record was "'Intelligent design' voted in" (York Daily Record, 19 October 2004).
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Notebook
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What is your understanding and knowledge of arguments against evolution and in favor of intelligent design?
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