Why I support the legislative measures, by Mike Edenburn

My name is Mike Edenburn, and I live in Peralta. I attended Albuquerque Public Schools, grades 3-12, graduating from Valley High School in 1965; I have two daughters who attended the Los Lunas Public Schools, K-12; and I have a five-year-old granddaughter who started kindergarten this year in the Las Cruces Public Schools. My wife, Laurel, served on the Los Lunas School Board from 1985 to 1991. I have a stake in New Mexico Public Education. After attending UNM and the University of Minnesota, I worked at Sandia National Laboratories as an engineer on a variety of national security programs for 35 years until I retired in 2004.

Throughout elementary, junior high, and high school, I learned about the evidence supporting the theory of evolution and that it seemed to be an undisputed fact. I believed that evolution was a fact, not really thinking much about it, until I was 46 and read a book called Darwin On Trial. In this book, Phillip Johnson explained that the evidence for biological evolution is not as strong as it is often claimed to be, and that there is significant scientific evidence showing its weaknesses. It made me angry that I had been shown only the theory’s strengths and not its weaknesses throughout school. Since then, I have looked more extensively into the science related to the origin and diversity of life and come to the conclusion that there is significant scientific evidence that questions the theory of evolution’s ability to explain how life started and attained its present diversity.

As my granddaughter progresses through twelve years of public education, I am pretty sure that she will be taught about the theory of evolution. Some of her teachers will probably give a naturalistic interpretation of evolution; that is, that life and its diversity are the product of an unguided process that is based only on matter, energy, natural laws, and chance. This naturalistic theory conflicts with my views and those of my daughter and son-in-law, and I hope that my granddaughter will be taught both the strengths and weaknesses of the theory so that she can make up her own mind about its validity.

While I do not expect or desire my views of life’s origins to be taught in the classroom, I would like for them to be respected. I believe that the proposed legislation will be a step toward respecting differing views on biological origins. I believe that teachers should be allowed, not required, to discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of theories presented, without fear of discrimination, and I believe that our children and grandchildren should be allowed to reach their own conclusions about biological origins without fear of being penalized.

I understand that different teachers will make different decisions about which scientific information to present, and I may not always agree with the information selected; however, I believe that the instructional freedom allowed by this legislation will gradually open the door to an open and honest discussion of the scientific information and its strengths and weaknesses and will have both educational and scientific benefits. I urge you to seriously consider this legislation.