Liam asks "how Fordham can defend literature that goes against the scientific consensus on climate change while pillorying literature that goes against the scientific consensus on evolution." On its face, this is a fair question. But there are some important distinctions. Most importantly, we regularly rail against states or schools that question the science on evolution--in their science standards or science classes. We frequently argue that the right place to debate "Intelligent Design" and the like is in a current affairs or philosophy class. But science class should be for science.
In this case, the target of the Associated Press article was a U.S. government textbook. So the textbook's statements on global warming--which I think went up to the line but didn't quite cross it, in terms of the "scientific consensus"--are more forgivable than if they appeared in a geology text. There is a policy debate about global warming--even if we agree that it's happening, and humans are causing it, it's not clear what should be done--and that's a debate reasonably addressed by government and civics classes. "Intelligent design for global warming" this is not.
