Pew's new encyclopedia on evolution


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The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has just released a terrific series of resources on evolution, all of them free and accessible online here. Those documents cover current events and


examine recent fights over evolution in the states, but perhaps more important, they offer a clear guide through some of the social, legal, and religious dimensions of those battles. The


documents are being put forward to coincide with the 200-year anniversary of British naturalist and evolution pioneer Charles Darwin’s birth. Pew’s documents offer recaps of recent state


skirmishes on the theory, many of which will be familiar to _Ed Week’s_ readers. The online materials from Pew provide a timeline of evolution’s status in public school science classrooms in


the United States, and a breakdown of key court cases. But the item I think I’ll find most useful is a breakdown of major religious groups’ positions of evolution—Catholics, Buddhsts,


Hindus, Muslims, Mormons, Episcopalians—with supporting documents. It makes for good reading, and it’s a timely resource for teachers, students, and the public.