Dave's Mormon Inquiry

The Day Creationism Died

It was January 5, 1982, the day United States District Court Judge William R. Overton issued his memorandum opinion in McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education. Plaintiffs challenged an Arkansas statute that required Arkansas public schools to "give balanced treatment to creation-science and evolution-science." The Court found that "creation science has no scientific merit or educational value as science" and that "the only real effect of Act 590 [the Arkansas statute] is the advancement of religion." As such, it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and was struck down as unconstitutional. Langdon Gilkey, a theologian who testified at the trial as an expert witness for the plaintiffs, provided an account of the trial in his book Creationism on Trial: Evolution and God at Little Rock (Winston Press, 1985).

Liveblogging the FAIR Conference, Part 2

Day 2 of the FAIR Conference — I am streaming it here in Wyoming and posting short notes and highlights for most presentations. That's based on a spotty live feed, so I might not get every point exactly right; consult the video for 100% accuracy. Speaker bios are also posted. I will be in and out during the day, so I won't get everything. The regular text is my summary of the speaker's remarks. If I have my own comments to add, I'll put that in italics in a paragraph following the summary. Blair at the Maxwell Institute is also posting detailed notes on today's session.

Liveblogging the FAIR Conference, Part 1

Liveblogging from a distance — I am streaming it here in Wyoming. The conference runs all day Thursday and Friday in Provo; the conference program is posted at the FAIR site and speaker bios are also posted. Below are the speakers and topics for the Thursday session, along with short notes giving my summaries, or at least highlights, of their remarks. That's based on a spotty live feed, so I might not get every point quite right; consult the video for 100% accuracy. I will be in and out during the day, so I won't get everything. The regular text is my summary of the speaker's remarks. If I have my own comments to add, I'll put that in italics in a paragraph following the summary.