The latest battleground in the “teaching Evolution in public schools” debate is a sticker. That’s right, stickers are not just for scratching and sniffing anymore. The Cobb County School Board in Georgia decided to place a sticker on science textbooks, which “,advised students that evolution was a scientific theory, not a fact, and urged students to use critical thinking in reviewing the materials on this subject.” As a true blue liberal, you’d think I’d be on the verge of stripping naked and shrieking hysterically into the night, “CHURCH AND STATE, CHURCH AND STATE, THE JESUS FREAKS ARE COMING, THE JESUS FREAKS ARE COMING!!”

But I’m not.

It’s a shame they felt the need to spend time, effort and money on a sticker. Here’s a novel idea – set a curriculum and have the teachers present the information. I was listening to this story on the radio, and the story centered on the age old “evolution vs creationism debate.” But what struck me was what a slap in the face this was to the teachers. Talk about a lack of trust. Don’t trust what they’ll tell the students? Why don’t you make ’em wear one of those stickers on their forehead? When I was in school we were always required to cover our books, to help preserve them. Wouldn’t it be funny if all the carefully thought out stickers were covered up with school required covers? Regardless, I must admit that it (the sticker) is mostly accurate. It is the “Theory of Evolution.” We don’t call it “Darwin’s Law of Evolution.” Further, heaven forbid we ask students to engage in “critical thinking.” That could be more dangerous than teaching evolution. Geez, that could result in a real discussion of the issues, or (gasp) an honest to goodness debate. Now that’s just taking education too far.

Author’s note: like a good liberal, I’m a disciple of Darwin, but I’ll qualify that by saying that I’m one of a rare breed that believes science and religion are not mutually exclusive.