ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: Associated Press
The local leader of the conservative American Family Association has demanded that school officials disavow a biology textbook's description of the biblical account of creation.
The ninth-grade textbook says creation science is not science and compares creationism to astrology, fad diets and other ``pseudoscience.''
William Nowers, president of the association's Fairfax chapter, told a committee meeting Tuesday at Thomas Jefferson High School that a disclaimer stating that creationism is as valid as evolution should be placed in the book.
``My purpose here today is not to try to prove creation but to show there is ample evidence to question evolution,'' Nowers said.
Bob and Vicky Carr, the parents of a ninth-grader at the science and technology school, complained last fall that the book, ``Biological Science: A Molecular Approach,'' demeans their religious beliefs.
Superintendent Robert R. Spillane has acknowledged that the text's wording appears to make light of religious beliefs. But he and other school officials are concerned that a disclaimer might be taken as an endorsement of teaching creationism with evolution.
Spillane initially said some change would be made in the book, but he declined to comment on Nowers' demand.
Creationism teaches that God made the Earth and man as described in Genesis. Evolution holds that life on Earth developed from lower organisms over billions of years.
Nowers said evolution has never been proved and its proponents are taking just as much a leap of faith as those who believe in creationism.
The committee of faculty, students and parents will hear a rebuttal next week by a biology teacher at the school. The School Board ultimately will decide the issue if the committee rules against Nowers and he appeals.
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