Charles in Charge

Matthew Chapman, a descendant of Charles Darwin, thinks every science class should include creationism.

by Will Dean

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Published: Apr 10, 2007

On the first page of 40 Days and 40 Nights, author Matthew Chapman mentions that he is a descendant of Charles Darwin and that he thinks every science class should include creationism.

Darwin can rest easy, though: As further reading of this account of the 2005 intelligent design trial in Dover, Pa., demonstrates, Chapman is showing off only dramatic flair, not creationist zeal. The trial in question, Kitzmiller v. Dover Board of Education, arose out of a school board decision forcing biology teachers to read a statement criticizing evolution, mentioning intelligent design as another possibility and pointing students toward a pro-ID textbook. Eleven local parents sued the school board for injecting religion into the classroom and violating the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

Chapman goes through the trial chronologically with frequent digressions into the pasts of those involved and the events that led to the courtroom battle. He makes no attempt to pass himself off as objective, and he freely pokes fun at the ignorance of Dover's fundamentalists like Bill Buckingham, who championed ID but never could explain what it really meant.

When he is serious, Chapman — who wrote the screenplay for What's the Worst That Could Happen? — shows his Hollywood roots by upping the drama quotient. He calls the school board's actions "evil" and its lawyers from the conservative Catholic Thomas More Law Center "sinister."

There is also some discussion of the subtleties of the situation. Most of the angry parents are faithful Christians and some are Republicans, which challenges the red state/blue state stereotype. The trial ends with Judge John Jones, a Bush appointee, declaring the school board's actions unconstitutional. Chapman celebrates this but warns of the rise of fundamentalism in America. To explain the rise, he provides a few possible reasons — mostly notable because of the unscientific way he extrapolates data from a few details.

Otherwise the book is an informative, though biased, account of a trial that highlights one of the big rifts in American society. Chapman's solution for that rift: Teach creationism in school and let the cold light of scientific reason expose its flaws. Unfortunately, as his ancestor's example shows, even 148 years of research and reason can't always beat ignorance.

40 Days and 40 Nights: By Matthew Chapman, HarperCollins, $25.95

 

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