Ethicist to probe science vs. religion

Can science be taught in public schools in a way that gives equal respect to science and all religions?

This is the dilemma Robert Audi, professor of business ethics at Notre Dame University, will discuss in a lecture today at MU.

“The central question is what actually counts as neutrality to religion,” Audi said.

The lecture will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at MU’s School of Medicine, room M437. It is free and open to the public.

The lecture will be aimed at teachers and the general public, and Audi said it is relevant both to education and citizenship in general, as Missouri residents will ultimately have to decide what public policy to support. Audi said he would implicitly address concerns about teaching intelligent design theory by discussing the theory and how it fits with theism. He will not be speaking with a bias toward or against evolutionary theory, he said, but will maintain a “broadly philosophical standpoint, which is different from but not incompatible with a religious position.”

Intelligent design is not currently a part of the Columbia School District’s science curriculum, but some state legislators are hoping to change that in the near future. A bill that would require teachers to “critically analyze” evolution as an unproven theory did not get to the floor of the Missouri General Assembly this year, despite being passed in a 7-6 vote by the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

The Missouri Science Education Act, as it was dubbed, would also allow teachers to spend time covering intelligent design theory, and it is expected to reappear before legislators next year.

Ilayna Pickett, biology teacher and the chairwoman of the science department at Rock Bridge High School, said that intelligent design belongs in religion and philosophy classes, and she will discuss it in classrooms as a prominent idea but not as a scientific theory.

“We can acknowledge that there are different viewpoints out there than scientific ones,” Pickett said, but noted “in science class we teach science.”

Pickett said she would like to see Audi try to clarify the definition of evolutionary theory and intelligent design theory in his lecture.