By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Gov. Doug Ducey said Monday he believes evolution should remain part of the science standards for public high schools, despite what is being proposed by the state’s top school official.
“I believe in God,” the governor said.
“I believe God created humanity,” he continued. “And I believe there are evolutionary forces at work in nature.”
More to the point, Ducey said he does not see religion and evolution as mutually exclusive.
“So evolution will remain part of the education curriculum,” he said, with schools free to teach various religious theories elsewhere of how life on earth developed, like courses on literature or history of religion.
Ducey’s comments come as Diane Douglas, the state superintendent of public instruction, is proposing to eliminate multiple references to evolution entirely from existing high school science standards, replacing them with terms like “biological diversity” and phrases like “how traits within populations change over time.”
Where Douglas has left the term “evolution,” she wants to add the words “theory of.” And she also seeks to eliminate any reference to the “Big Bang” theory of formation of the universe.
