More About the British Centre for Science Education
How does BCSE operate?
Our strategy is determined by our members and implemented by our management committee. Our strategy is to raise public awareness of the fraudulent science (and lack of science) behind both creationism and intelligent design and the attempts to get both taught as science or in science lessons in publicly funded schools.
We do this by maintaining a large wiki detailing to organisation of the creationist movement and its activities in promoting creationism in schools.
Off the back of this we participate in the public debate over the issues through the media and through the political process.
Our objective is to bring the key issues into the public domain and advise and inform people of influence and the general public accordingly.
Our modus operandi is to do this either directly or in conjunction with other groups or individuals opposed to the teaching of creationism or intelligent design in the science classroom or as science. We are willing and keen to work with any organisation on the single issue we address.
We actively encourage people with religious beliefs to join our organisation and also encourage religious organisations to work with us in opposing the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in the science classroom or as science.
What BCSE is not
BSCE has no other agenda that the single issue stated above. There is no hidden agenda. We are not here to back any one political movement or any one view on religion. It is not part or any larger organisation or movement pushing specific religious or any-religious positions or any political party or any broad political movement or outlook.
We do not object to or support religion or atheism. We do not object to the teaching of creationism or intelligent design outside of the science lesson or as non-scientific subjects.
We do not promote any religious or atheistic viewpoint.
We are not closet atheists, agnostics, Catholics, Anglicans, Hindus, Buddhists, Marxists, fascists, conservatives, socialists, liberals or whatever.
We are not part of some conspiracy, national or international, with hidden backers. We are not part of the New World Order, the Illuminati, the Freemasons or any other conspiratorial organisation some crackpot fundamentalists believe exists.
We do not prevent members or forum participants from promoting their own opinions on any subject. However, members are required not to act against the objectives of the BCSE.
There is no one leader of BCSE. It is a co-operative run by a committee. There is no hidden Machiavelli or financier pulling the strings behind the scenes.
It is not an off-shoot or subsidiary of the US National Center for Science Education.
It’s a not for profit organisation. It’s members and committee are not in it for the money (it cost us very dearly in time, effort and out of pocket expenses).
History of BCSE
BCSE originated from discussions on a Yahoo discussion forum, Blackshadow, established by Alan Bellis in early 2005. In the Spring of 2006 Alan asked Roger Stanyard to take over ownership of the group because of pressures on his time. Alan also donated web space and established a wiki for the group.
The core participants in Blackshadow decided in July 2006 to establish a formal voluntary, activist, organisation called the BCSE. Over a period of two months of intense debate, the BCSE was able to launch its activities in September 2006.
Ian Lowe brought his considerable IT expertise into the group and we established a new, more modern public forum and purchased our own domain name.
In the Autumn of 2006 we finalised our constitution and implemented the final management structure we need to achieve our objectives.
The five months from July to early December 2005 saw us move from a small talking shop to an effective organisation with a significant public profile and a proven track record.
General Overview
The British Centre for Science Education (BCSE) is a newly formed organisation with the primary purpose of stopping the teaching of Creationism in UK state schools. Our main role is to act as a coordinating group, providing support to other groups and individuals who share our purpose, and to develop and implement activist tactics to achieve our purpose.
The BCSE is fully supported by its members throughout the UK, and draws on the experience and expertise of like minded professional people resident in North America, Australia, South Africa and continental Europe. Our members come from a broad variety of fields - science, business, theology, education, academia, engineering, IT and research. We have two things in common - knowledge of the creationist movement and a deep concern for the proper science education of children.
BCSE is a part of the broader international campaign against Creationism. The creationist movement itself is international with strong connections in the USA, where much of the money comes from, and Australia. We believe that working with similar groups throughout the world considerably strengthens the organisation in terms of contacts, knowledge and expertise.
We have built up a database of the structure and activities of fundamentalist organisations that are active in teaching creationism in UK schools, which will be available for use by the organisations we support. It will also be made available to: teachers and other educators; local education authorities; local and national politicians; students at universities with active fundamentalist staff; businesses recruiting from schools and universities; the media and trade unions and other professional bodies involved in science and education.
In September 2006 BCSE launched its first campaign to raise awareness of the problem of creationism in education.
Creationist Organisations in the UK
The United Kingdom is faced with a highly organised, well-funded coalition of fundamentalist Young Earth Creationist groups. These include, but are not limited to: Truth in Science, Answers in Genesis, the Emmanuel Schools Foundation, the Christian Institute, Creation Research UK, Genesis Agendum, the Creation Science Movement and the Biblical Creation Society.
The creationist movement receives money and assistance from other parts of the world including Australia, through Creation Ministries International and Creation Research International and the United States, through such organisations and individuals as Answers in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research, the Discovery Institute, and Howard Ahmanson, the American billionaire recluse who also funds the Discovery Institute.
Creationist Ideological Objectives in Education and Politics
These organisations have long-established tactics for infiltration and are active in bringing bogus creationist science into the classrooms of British state schools, frequently without the knowledge of parents or local education authorities. The movement has already taken full control of three state schools and has the funding and intention to control many more.
They actively discredit or subvert the teaching of all subjects taught in schools that contradict their extreme fundamentalist religious opinions, which are based on strictly literal biblical interpretations. Most notably they state that all of science is wrong because it does not agree with their dogma that the world was created 6,000-10,000 years ago, there was a world-wide flood with dinosaurs on Noah's Ark, and that these dinosaurs roamed the countryside in Tudor times.
In particular, the movement is targeting the teaching of biology, physics, geology and geography in British schools, either directly within the lessons or through guest speakers and Christian Unions. Their actions undermine or subvert the teaching of these subjects and can result in the failure of pupils to pass their exams.
The position has become so serious that two well respected and established British universities, Leeds and Leicester, are introducing compulsory remedial courses to undo the damage done. The credibility of a third, Bristol, is being seriously damaged by the actions of one of its staff active in the creationist movement.
Indeed, there is a core of about seven activist fundamentalists within British universities attempting to discredit subjects taught there which contradict their religious opinions. Such subjects include medicine, biology, genetics, microbiology, biochemistry, physics, astronomy, cosmology, geology, earth sciences, geophysics, geography, chemistry, archaeology, paleoanthropology, ancient history, theology and linguistics. These represent a vast area of higher education and research in the UK.
Moreover, the movement includes extreme political objectives, one of which is the replacement of democracy with a theocracy based on its extreme religious opinions.
Howard Ahmanson
was, for a quarter of a century, on the board of the Chalcedon Foundation which advocated the murder of those that disagreed with its fundamentalist religion, and the re-introduction of slavery. Ahmanson funds the Discovery Institute, which has a clear agenda to take political power and he is also deeply involved in the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.
Creationist Tactics
The movement has clearly adopted techniques of evasion and deception about its techniques and objectives, following practices developed within the fundamentalist movement in the United States.
In 2002 a group of 27 fundamentalists in academia, education and business lobbied the then Secretary of State for Education, Estelle Morris, to allow the teaching of creationism in science lessons in state schools. In a letter to the Secretary of State, made publicly available, they claimed to be acting as individuals and gave their professional positions and the names of the organisations that employed them, including leading universities. The letter also claimed that their views did not necessarily represent the organisations they were associated with.
However, it now transpires this was far from the case. 15 of the 27 were involved in the fundamentalist Biblical Creation Society, including its then head and its now current head. All of the 27 were involved in at least one, and in many cases, more, of the main creationist organisations in this country. One was also closely involved in the Christian Institute which itself has been involved in, and closely associated with, the creationist state-funded Emmanuel Schools Foundation schools. These organisations are involved in teaching creationism in schools and thus had a vested interest in its continuance. None of this was disclosed in the letter, either to the Secretary of State or the public.
Yet this is a major issue of public policy. The creationist movement, through the academy schools it is sponsoring, is likely to receive well over £1,015 million in funding from the taxpaying public, which is already paying for remedial education in universities as a result of the actions of creationists.
What You Can Do!
BCSE is open to all, irrespective of religious or political affiliations, who wish to oppose the tide of creationism in the United Kingdom. If you wish to join or support our anti-creationist movement, please visit the British Centre for Science Education forum and discussion group.
