Steve Brown holds on Tuesday a photocopy of a page from a seventh-grade textbook used at Keller Middle School. The textbook deals with what Brown calls the theory of evolution. Photo by Clint Karlsen.
CARSON CITY -- Longtime Las Vegan Steve Brown does not oppose the teaching of evolutionary theory in the public schools. Nor does he support teaching alternative views such as intelligent design or creationism.
But Brown, a masonry contractor who has lived in Las Vegas for more than 30 years, does want the schools to teach the theory of evolution in what he calls the right way, which means acknowledging that much of the theory is just that -- theory.
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To get the attention of public schoolteachers, textbook writers and adherents of Darwinian theory, Brown has filed the Truth in Science initiative petition with the secretary of state's office to amend the constitution to require a broader approach to teaching evolution in public schools. The petition was filed Friday.
Brown must collect 83,184 signatures by June 20 to get the proposal on the November ballot.
"I just don't like the way they are teaching it," Brown said in a telephone interview Monday. "I've looked at a middle school textbook that says that all elements of evolutionary theory are proven science. That's not so.
"Evolution has occurred, there's no way to argue that," he said. "Some parts have been proven, but some is just theory."
Brown has three school-age children.
His petition would require that students be informed that there are scientists who are skeptical that natural selection or chemistry alone can explain the origins of life.
Students would be taught about the complexity of DNA and that some scientists insist that evolution can only speculate how DNA came into existence. Students also would be taught that some scientists argue that evolution cannot explain the existence of some complex biological systems.
And students would be taught that the fossil record contains no indisputable evidence of a transitional species, or so-called "missing link."
Brown said his intent is not to open the door to advocates of intelligent design, even if at a later date some group might build on his proposal to try to make a case for the argument.
"Does intelligent design have some validity?" he said. "Sure. But it's not going to be taught in the classroom. Until the folks promoting intelligent design get more evidence, they are not going to win."
Brown said his proposal and intelligent design are two separate issues.
"You have to tell the truth about evolution," he said.
How evolution should be taught in school has come to a head recently in other U.S. communities.
In December, a Pennsylvania judge ruled the Dover Area School Board's first-in-the-nation decision in October 2004 to insert intelligent design into the science curriculum violates the constitutional separation of church and state. Intelligent design holds that living organisms are so complex that they must have been created by some kind of higher force. In November, state education officials in Kansas adopted new classroom science standards that call the theory of evolution into question.
Brown said he has no religious views that oppose evolutionary theory. He described himself as a Democrat who is pro-choice and who is not opposed to gay marriage. He attends a nondenominational church a couple of times a month.
Brown said also that he has no money or serious organization in place to collect the signatures.
"Obviously I'm hoping for some media publicity," he said. "There is a lot of apathy on this issue but I know that if it got on the ballot, it would be passed by the voters."
Brown said he would like to get the support of conservative Christians who also question evolutionary theory to help collect the necessary signatures.
"We could agree to disagree on the other issues if I could get the support on this," he said. "Obviously I need a lot of help."
Richard Ziser, chairman of Nevada Concerned Citizens and one of the leaders in successful effort to put an initiative petition to ban gay marriage on the Nevada ballot in 2000 and 2002, said such a measure would not be the group's highest priority right now.
"I am curious to see what he has to say," Ziser said. "But there are other issues we're working on."
The Clark County School District teaches about evolution in the life sciences on both the middle school and high school levels. The instruction is based on standards adopted by the Nevada Department of Education.
Christy Falba, director for math, science and instructional technology for the Clark school district, said the district's curriculum is developed based on those standards.
One such statewide standard says that students will know that the fossil record gives evidence for natural selection and its evolutionary consequences.
There is no discussion of creationism or intelligent design as alternative theories in the statewide science standards or in the district curriculum, Falba said.
If the petition wins a spot on the ballot and is approved by voters in November, it would have to be approved a second time in 2008 before it could take effect.
