Creationism biologist quits post

Creationism biologist quits post

Professor Michael Reiss has quit as director of education at the Royal Society following the controversy over his recent comments on creationism.

Last week Prof Reiss – a Church of England minister – said creationism should be discussed in science lessons if pupils raised the issue.

He was roundly criticised – though also misquoted as saying creationism should be “taught” in science classes.

The society said some of his comments had been “open to misinterpretation”.

This had damaged its reputation.

‘Not scientific’

“As a result, Professor Reiss and the Royal Society have agreed that, in the best interests of the society, he will step down immediately as director of education – a part-time post he held on secondment,” it said in a statement.

“He is to return, full time, to his position as professor of science education at the Institute of Education.”

The Royal Society’ reiterated that its position was that creationism had no scientific basis and should not be part of the science curriculum.

“However, if a young person raises creationism in a science class, teachers should be in a position to explain why evolution is a sound scientific theory and why creationism is not, in any way, scientific.”

It added that the society greatly appreciated the efforts of Prof Reiss, a biologist, in furthering its work in the important field of science education over the past two years and wished him well for the future.

Creationists take a literal interpretation of the Bible’s description of the origin of life and reject the Darwinian concept of evolution.

Prof Reiss, speaking at the British Association Festival of Science at the University of Liverpool, estimatedthat about one in 10 children was from a family which supported a creationist rather than evolutionary viewpoint.

He said his experience had led him to believe it was more effective to include discussion about creationism alongside scientific theories such as the Big Bang and evolution – rather thansimply giving the impression that such children were wrong.

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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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