The British Humanist Association has a useful overview of recent bids for faith-based Free Schools (Creationist Free School bids rejected before interview as other ‘faith’ schools advance to interviews). The article seems fairly upbeat about the failure of several bids from groups clearly planning to teach creationism as an alternative to scientific reality. 

Bids to set up creationist Free Schools have been rejected by the Department for Education (DfE). In particular, the DfE have turned down a high-profile bid from Sheffield Christian Free School, which would have been affiliated to the Christian Schools’ Trust (CST) network of largely creationist private schools. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the news; however, at least 15 other proposals to open ‘faith’ schools in 2013 have advanced to the interview stage.

The fate of several specific bids for creationist Free Schools is summarised in the article:

• Creationist Everyday Champions Church’s bid to establish Exemplar Academy appears to have been withdrawn, with the website having vanished prior to the application deadline.
• The fate of other proposals from CST schools such as Destiny Christian School in Bedford and Barnsley Christian School is unknown, but it is unlikely that they were successful.
• Similarly, it is unknown whether CofE school Clayton Academy, proposed by creationist Jesmond Parish Church – who have strong links to the Christian Institute – has progressed.
• Interestingly, creationism is not given as a cause for Sheffield Christian Free School’s rejection, in contrast to when Everyday Champions Academy’s bid was rejected last year.

I share the BHA’s concern about the general tendency for diverse and factional religiously motivated Free School proposals to be made. I also have a worry about school bids with a focus on barmpottery (as David Colquhoun puts it) suchas the three Steiner schools which have progressed in the application process. 

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That hotbed of UK Intelligent Design creationism and Discovery Institute wannabees, the Centre for Intelligent Design (C4ID) has been sending out publicity for another meeting at which Intelligent Design creationism will feature. C4ID Director Dr Alastair Noble enthusiastically writes:

I write to draw your attention to a fascinating conference on Design in Nature being organised by the Philosophy of Religion section of the Tyndale Fellowship in Cambridge.

Here is the doctrinal position of the Tyndale Fellowship Philosophy of Religion Section- very focussed on christianity – as is their Mission Statement. It is reportedly an academic society associated with Tyndale House, a residential biblical study centre in Cambridge.

Stephen Meyer and Steve Fuller will present aspects of Intelligent Design and the other speakers will explore some philosophical implications of the Design Argument. Details of the day and of the talks can be found at  www.tyndalephilosophy.org.uk/events. Information about booking is also available there.

Part of the background to this conference is the C4ID Inaugural Lecture given in London last November by Stephen Meyer which stimulated Tyndale Philosophy to follow up that event with a day conference to explore some key philosophical implications of the ancient question of Design in Nature and the re-emergence of Intelligent Design.

I wonder what’s meant by the re-emergence of Intelligent Design? Maybe that refers to a resurgence of ID twaddle in the UK and the establishment of C4ID, after the Kitzmiller case saw a pretty definitive slap-down for ID creationism in the USA back in 2005.

This will be a significant day conference, dealing with contemporary and controversial issues. I would urge you to attend.

In addition to Stephen Meyer and Steve Fuller, two other speakers are taking part, Stephen Clark (Emeritus Professor, Liverpool) and David Glass (University of Ulster). None of the four speakers appear to be biologists, which is about par for the course for this sort of event (though when I read the email, I wondered if the conference organisers were mounting their own version of Project Steve!).  This seems to be another of these events intent on convincing participants that there is any kind of controversy about evolution.  Other than in their own little world, of course – biologists just continue on their merry way working within the context of evolutionary biology and for the most part ignore these peripheral and generally religiously motivated voices arguing for a celestial designer.

Alastair Noble rounds off his email with another exhortation to buy the entirely risible pseudo-textbook “Explore Evolution”:

P.S. There is probably no other book on the market like Explore Evolution!  Click here to view a full-colour summary of  the book which will help you make up your own mind, from the scientific evidence, about the adequacy of Darwinism to explain the development and complexity of life.

Noble is probably correct when he says “There is probably no other book on the market like Explore Evolution!“, and for that we really ought to be grateful. You may recall that Explore Evolution was previously distributed by the very oddly and inaccurately named Truth in Science. There is a brief review of this short book by the BCSE, a lengthier deconstruction by the NCSE, and a review in the academic journal Evolution & Development. Suffice it to say, Explore Evolution is a deeply deceptive and dishonest treatment of the subject.  For Alastair Noble to peddle this misinformation is a poor show, and particularly so when he targets it at school students (as he has done in recent emails). Remember, he has a past (and possibly current) role as Education Officer with CARE – the Contact Us page for CARE in Scotland lists Alastair Noble as Education Officer.

Returning to the C4ID publicised meeting, it seems to have developed from the Meyer lecture back in November last year, which has attracted the attention of the Tyndale Fellowship.  It’s interesting to note that it’s to be held at the Tyndale Fellowship Philosophy of Religion Section (see links to their doctrinal position above).  Not bad for a supposedly scientific alternative to the rigorously investigated and experimentally supported science of Evolutionary Biology.

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The British Humanist Assosiation has noted that Government changes Academy model funding agreement… but DOESN’T ban creationist schools

The Government yesterday revised the Academy model funding agreement to bring it in line with all the recent changes made to the Free School model funding agreement – except it declined to ban creationist schools. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has expressed dismay at this missed opportunity, and is unsure why the Department for Education (DfE) decided against making this change.

Maybe it’s just an oversight?  But it’s clear that many religious groups which hold creationist views are bidding to run Free Schools (and as I noted earlier are trying to erase evidence of this from the internet).

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It’s amusing to see the re-think that happens once the evangelical groups striving to establish free schools in the UK realise that their religious beliefs stand in the way of their plans to indoctrinate children. In recent months we’ve seen the Everyday Champions Church’s proposal for a school founder on the creationism issue, despite senior figures denying their previously explicit creationist stance.  The internet doesn’t forget. And hopefully, the latest plans from the Everyday Champions (Zombie creationist free school to rise from the dead?) will also be unsuccessful.

More recently, a proposal for a christian school in Bedford, the Destiny Christian School, surfaced with a natty website. But what’s this? It’s been changing!  Way back when the website went live, it had a section under About Us| What We Believe which read in part:

The Bible
We believe that God reveals Himself through the Holy Bible, that the Holy Bible to
be infallible, inspired by holy men of God, and the authoritative Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16

and

Man
We believe that God created man in His own image. Genesis 1:27

and

Creator
We believe that God the Father is the Creator of all things, and that He continues to uphold His
creation. Colossians 1:16

Three quotes among several all indicating a literal belief in the Bible, and in particular that the school’s backers are a religious group with a belief in biblical inerrancy and in divine creation (as described by iron age desert nomads).  Now when I visit the current site, there is no section entitled What We Believe, and mention of their beliefs has become strangely absent.

But wait – there’s more:

The website features a nice array of logos on the home page:

One of the things about off-the-peg websites, I guess, is that one really needs to fill out a number of presupplied links. Those unlabelled images are links back to the ‘Welcome’ page.  But look what was there at the original site:

Leaving aside the template-added ‘Feature 6′, note the icon at bottom left (which is now absent from the current site) which is a link to the Christian Schools’ Trust. The BCSE observes of the CST (here) that it is “a loose network of some 50 private Christian schools that teach over 3000 children in the UK (average size of school, 60 pupils – the only one we have checked out has 17 pupils. It isn’t clear how the school is viable with fees of £2,340 a year).”  The CST’s statement of faith is a bit woolly in places, but essentially seems to hold to a literal reading of the bible.  In amongst the usual creepy stuff about “Man’s utter ruin through the fall and his salvation solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ [...]” and “The essential, absolute and eternal deity of the Lord Jesus Christ”, we find the following:

The inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures as originally given, their verbal inspiration by God and their supreme authority as the only rule of faith and practice.

It would seem that in an effort to backtrack from their previous public position on biblical literalism, the proponents of Destiny Christian School feel a need to downplay their links to CST.  And no wonder, given Michael Gove’s ruling against creationism being taught as scientific truth. Incidentally, the description of the four member team behind the proposal also seems to have done a runner.  Maybe this is for privacy reasons, so I won’t paste the information here.

In a recent article on the many creationist free school proposals (More creationist Free Schools planned for 2013 opening) the BHA noted:

In Bedford, Destiny Christian School is being proposed by the Miracle Church of God in Christ, and if approved to open, will be a member school of the Christian Schools’ Trust (CST). At an open meeting attended by a BHA supporter, the group were asked about their policy on creationism and responded that they believe creationism is science and intend to teach it as such.

Who are the Miracle Church of God in Christ?  Here’s what 192 pulls up for the Bedford church. The Miracle Church of God in Christ (styled Miracle COGIC) features another off the peg WordPress website, from the same source as the Destiny Christian School. Similarly, Miracle COGIC also don’t appear to have received inspiration (divine or otherwise) to fully complete the template. And we see that the Miracle COGIC also believe in literal biblical creation, as revealed by their belief in:

In God, the Father Almighty, the Author and Creator of all things. (Genesis 1:1 Eph.3:9)

It is to be hoped that this church group don’t succeed in pulling the wool over the eyes of the Michael Gove’s scrutineers by attempting to sanitise their internet presence.  But in any case, we are watching…

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According to the BHA website, Government changes Free School model funding agreement to ban creationist schools. From that article:

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed a new revision of the model funding agreement for Free Schools by the Government in order to preclude ‘the teaching, as an evidence-based view or theory, of any view or theory that is contrary to established scientific and/or historical evidence and explanations.’ This highly significant change has been made in order to ban creationism from being taught in Free Schools, and prevent creationist groups from opening schools. The change follows the BHA coordinating the ‘Teach evolution, not creationism!’ campaign, which called for this precise change.

Good news indeed. More information at the BHA website, with further onward links.

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The British Humanist association reports that the Everyday Champions Church is returning to the Free Scool fray (Creationist Everyday Champions Church re-launch Free School bid as ‘Exemplar Academy’). Sort of, anyway.  It turns out it’s the same people, without overt Church involvement.  According to the BHA:

Everyday Champions Academy was proposed and sponsored by Everyday Champions Church, a creationist church based in Newark. Following having their bid rejected, the team met with the Department for Education in an attempt to get the decision overturned, and their local MP, Patrick Mercer, met with Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove to attempt the same thing.

What the heck their MP is doing trying to go against Government policy on not teaching creation?  Anyway, the people behind the bid are trying again.

The new Exemplar Academy is proposed by the same group of individuals from Everyday Champions Church as proposed the previous Free School, however the Church is no longer sponsoring the school, and the school will no longer be formally designated with a religious character. Instead, it will have a Christian ‘faith ethos’. 

Sounds ominous to me.  It’s worth visiting the BHA site for the full low-down.  Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to attempts by evangelicals and fundamentalists to drum their ridiculous creationist notions into children’s minds.

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The latest newsletter from the British Centre for Science Education (BCSE) is now available on the BCSE Blog.

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Happy Kitzmas. This is the sixth anniversary of the famous decision in Kitzmiller vs Dover School Board, which really exposed the duplicity of those in the Intelligent Design creationist movement. Judge Jones, who many did not see as a particular ally to those fighting this incursion of religion into American schools, actually provided a exceptional smack-down of the devious and dishonest strategy taken by those wishing to push Intelligent Design creationism as science. This has led to many US-based bloggers to conclude that Intelligent Design creationism is something of a ‘busted flush’. But in reality, this is only true in the USA, where publicly funded schools are prohibited by the Constitution from teaching or promoting religion. In contrast, here in the UK we have a government that actively encourages the development of faith schools, and via its ideologically driven Free Schools raises the spectre of increasing the presence of creationism in our nation’s schools.

I have been re-reading much of the Dover trial transcripts and associated material available on the web, and quite frankly the hopelessness of the Intelligent Design creationists’ position should have been evident from the start.  In fact it was obvious to the Discovery Institute, who with drew their ‘big guns’ from the case.  Crucial to the case was the testimony of Barbara Forrest, who’s book Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design (written in collaboration with Paul Gross) clearly demolishes any pretence that Intelligent Design is in any way different from any other religious ideology.  Indeed, the underlying history of the ID creationist movement is littered with creationist and religious outpourings by ID creationist principals, all of whom I suspect clearly recognise where their support (particularly financial) was to be sourced.

The Discovery Institute did their best to prevent Forrest’s testimony.  In an article written a few months after Jones handed down his verdict, Forrest makes some interesting points, including the appearance of a faked interview (later flagged as a ‘parody’) – unfortunately this appears to have been ‘disappeared’ from the web. Interestingly, one reads that William Dembski attended Forrest’s deposition – and withdrew from the case four days later.

So, why do I not recognise this as the end of Intelligent Design creationism?  Because in the UK, we are seeing an upsurge of interest in religiously motivated schools, using the government’s Free School programme.  This of course is seen by some as pushing at the open door labelled ‘Faith Schools’.  If the Catholics and Church of England can run so many schools, why can’t the more aggressive evangelical arm of creationism do the same? (There are some other kinds of faith school, but this article is concerned mostly with those of a christian focus.) The British Humanist Association is most concerned (More creationist Free Schools planned for 2013 opening), as is the BCSE.

One possible source for creationist material is the Centre for Intelligent Design (C4ID). C4ID is based in Glasgow, is run by a triumvirate of evangelical christians (at least one of whom preached the literal truth of the creation as described in Genesis), and funded by unclear means.  It seems to be largely a conduit for pushing the kind of material produced by the Discovery Institute. Recent events organised by C4ID have included an especially secret Intelligent Design conference, a lecture tour (mostly of churches) by American ID proponent Michael Behe, and last month a lecture by the senior Discovery Institute figure Stephen Meyer. I was invited to the latter event, and blogged about the reasons I didn’t go - also see this follow-up article.  On the ground, we have a young man, Jonathan McLatchie, with a strange internet presence. I don’t think he’s officially part of C4ID, but he is clearly part of the ID creationist machine, frequently posting his garbled and distorted accounts of biology in attempts to make evolution look unfounded.  Amusingly, McLatchie often cross-posts his material over at a christian website, where his other postings make interesting reading.  His latest biology related drivel can be seen at the (bizarrely named) Evolution News and Views blog: Treasure in the Genetic Goldmine: PZ Myers Fails on “Junk DNA” (in which McLatchie has another go at PZ Myers – see Moran and Myers’ take at Sandwalk) and Animation Reveals Engineering Elegance of RNA Interference (in which McLatchie seems somewhat overawed by an animation of molecules in action).  I do worry that all this blogging activity will jeopardise his progress towards gaining his Masters in Evolutionary Biology.  Yes, Jonathan McLatchie, a person who choses to believe that evolution is wrong and that life is due to the efforts of a supernatural entity, appears to be studying for a Masters in Evolutionary Biology.  When my irony meter subsides, two thoughts cross my mind – firstly, whether McLatchie seeks to emulate Jonathan Wells (who’s misapprehensions of Junk DNA he frequently parrots), and secondly, how he presents his belief system while at university.

So, Merry Kitzmas to my American colleagues.  Not such a Merry Kitzmas over the pond in Blighty, where an entrenched faith school system coupled with ideologically driven educational policies leave British kids vulnerable to being taught bullshit as an alternative to evolution.  With any luck, the C4ID crew will botch things as badly as did the defendants back in 2005.

Update: I forgot to include this link to an article in the New York Times revealing how the Thomas More Law Center sought a case like this.  The article (In Intelligent Design Case, a Cause in Search of a Lawsuit) begins…

For years, a lawyer for the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan visited school boards around the country searching for one willing to challenge evolution by teaching intelligent design, and to face a risky, high-profile trial.

It’s worth a read.

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The British Humanist Association alerts those concerned about such matters to further attempts by creationists to attain free school status (Another creationist Free School proposed for 2013):

A creationist Free School, Sheffield Christian Free School, has been proposed to open in 2013, and last week held a public meeting to gauge parent support. The British Humanist Association (BHA), which recently worked with other groups to launch a new campaign website, ‘Teach evolution, not creationism!’, has expressed concern at the continuing confidence of creationist groups in applying to open Free Schools, and disappointment that the Department for Education (DfE) hasn’t taken firmer steps to discourage such applications.

Sheffield Christian Free School will be run by Christian Family Schools Limited, who already run two private schools in Sheffield, including Bethany School. Both are members of the Christian Schools’ Trust, a network of over 40 private schools founded by creationist Sylvia Baker, author of Bone of Contention, who was the guest speaker at the public meeting. Sheffield Christian Free School’s curriculum policy will be ‘broadly based on nine themes found in the early chapters of the book of Genesis.’ Bethany School’s science curriculum is all about God’s role in creation, and creation appears throughout the school’s curriculum grid.

Presumably Michael Gove’s response to the Everyday Champions Church proposal will be repeated for this case.  The danger is that the Sheffield Christian Free School will succeed in pulling the wool over regulators’ eyes, unlike the Everyday Champions Church, which openly espoused the teaching of creationism.  Until they tried to deny it that is (Why the Everyday Champions Church’s Free School bid was rejected).  Going on the evidence of Bethany School cited by the BHA above, the Sheffield Christian Free School proposal is something to be worried about.  Interestingly, the Sheffield Christian Free School makes the astonishing claim that (my emphasis):

Professor Francis, based on extensive research carried out in the 1990’s, found that teenagers in the new Christian schools were spiritually and psychologically healthy. They were less superstitious, less racist, less likely to be bullied and more concerned about global issues than their counterparts in secular schools.

The claim that kids attending a school with a deeply religious focus are less superstitious than those attending other schools is quite interesting.  Perhaps faith schools breed atheists?  Or maybe the survey was carried out by people who don’t class christian belief as superstitious!  If you go here, you find a bit more information, such as the proud claim that only 7% of kids at Christian schools agree with the statement “I believe in evolution creating all things over millions of years“.  Ho hum.

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The British Humanist Association reveals why the Everyday Champions Church’s bid for a Free School was rejected (Everyday Champions Church Free School bid rejected due to creationism).  As the title of that blog article indicates, it was pretty much down to the ECC’s stance on creationism.  The Church’s leader, Pastor Gareth Morgan, made it pretty clear how the school planned to present creationism:

“Creationism will be taught as the belief of the leadership of the school,” Pastor Morgan said. “It will not be taught exclusively in the sciences, for example. At the same time, evolution will be taught as a theory.”

According to the BHA’s report:

The school’s bid was rejected on Monday, and the reason is now known. In having their bid rejected, the Church was told by the Department for Education that ‘The Secretary of State carefully considered your application, the views and beliefs of your organisation as set out in your application, your responses at interview and information about your organisation available in the public domain. He was unable to accept that an organisation with creationist beliefs could prevent these views being reflected in the teaching in the school and in its other activities. It is his firm view that the teaching of creationist views as a potentially valid alternative theory is not acceptable in a 21st century state funded school.’ The Church is now planning to re-apply for 2013, and is adamant that they would only teach the story of creation in RE.

It’s a little disheartening to hear that this bunch who clearly read the much (mis-) translated writings of a gang of bronze-age nomads as the literal truth of a supernatural entity are going to make a second bid to be allowed to interfere with the education of children.  Hopefully the next attempt won’t gain much more traction in the DfE.

Of course the wider issue here is that too many schools are faith schools of one kind or another.  I strongly support the BHA’s campaign against faith schools, though I fear in the current reactionary and socially conservative political scene it’s going to be an uphill battle.  See also the campaign to strengthen the prohibition of the teaching of creationism in science classes (Teach Evolution not Creationism).  In my view, the place for creationism  has its place in the curriculum: in Religious Education classes along with all the other creation myths that have been claimed over the millennia.

And as a postscript, the so-called Intelligent Design form of creationism is also not science.  It can propose no hypotheses, makes no testable predictions, and merely claims to infer the existence of an unproven supernatural entity.

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