LAUSR

Proponents of creationism and the intelligent design (ID) hypothesis continue to undermine science education across the world (1). In the United States as of 2014, public or taxpayer-funded schools in 13 states and the District of Columbia were permitted to teach creationism alongside evolution (2). In Brazil, an Institute to advance the ID hypothesis was recently established with the support of a Brazilian private university and assistance of the U.S. Discovery Institute, which sponsors the ID movement (3). The inauguration of the new Institute was broadcast by one of the Brazilian television channels and was shared widely on the Internet (4). Meanwhile, Turkey has prohibited the teaching of evolution (5). The global scientific community must work to ensure that only science is taught in science classrooms. American scientists, with strong support from American academic societies, have published articles and books pointing out the failures of ID and creationism and the risks of this type of approach in education (6–9). American science educators have sued in response to procreationism legislation (10). Action by scientists was also effective in South Korea. In 2012, creationists convinced publishers to remove examples of evolution from science textbooks. The outraged reaction from scientists led the government, with help from the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, to form a panel of scientific experts. Informed by the panel’s conclusions, the government urged publishers to keep the examples in the textbooks (11). Edited by Jennifer Sills LETTERS Scientists should speak out against creationism and intelligent design in science classrooms.