Last Sunday I had the opportunity to hear Susan Epperson of Epperson v. Arkansas. Her case struck down anti-evolution laws around the country as unconstitutional. She was invited to speak at the Evolution Conference 2004 in Fort Collins, CO. The title of her talk was “‘There is a striking resemblance between you and a monkey’: The Epperson vs. Arkansas evolution ruling, Supreme Court, 1968”. Epperson, although a daughter of Arkansas, now lives and teaches in Colorado because her husband is in the Air Force and he teaches at the Air Force Academy. She currently teaches introductory chemistry at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Susan Epperson is the daughter of Dr. Thomas L. Smith who was a biology professor at the College of the Ozarks, a Presbyterian college, and a student of Thomas Hunt Morgan at Columbia. Epperson was raised in a devoutly Presbyterian family, and evolution was never a problem for her faith. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of the Ozarks in biology and a master’s in zoology from the University of Illinois.
5 Comments
Mike Price · 3 July 2004
I'm actually glad there are some softer voices out there promoting evolution. It seems to me that many of us evolutionists tend to actively carry over the implications of Darwinism into all related fields, especially when it concerns matters of religion or faith. I'm not saying that it is necessarily a bad thing, but issues like that tend to polarize otherwise reasonable people into rejecting evolution on the grounds that it discredits their faith. Maybe Epperson is doing a good thing by promoting evolution in smaller steps. Bravo.
Mike Hopkins · 3 July 2004
Mike Price · 4 July 2004
Mike Hopkins, you're probably right. And it just goes to show the general level of intelligence involved with the decision makers over these sorts of things. Here goes the attorney general lumping in the evolution of morals with the evolution of species. Now, that may very well be the truth of the matter, but for a high school science curriculum, it doesn't have to become the case.
Reed A. Cartwright · 4 July 2004
Steve · 4 July 2004
Wasn't there a committee hearing or something where a scientist was asked about x's criticisms of evolution, where x was some creationist non-scientist whose name I can't remember, and the scientist said "I'm not familiar with anything x has ever said in the scientific literature."? I know it's vague, but it's great, and if someone could jog my memory on the source of that it would be appreciated.