Abstract
In the last two decades, Kansas has emerged as a primary battleground in the so-called “culture wars” between the Christian Right and secular America. Following the political mobilization of the pro-life movement in the 1990s, the state’s political culture was fundamentally and radically transformed from that of a complacent outpost of “progressive” Republicanism to one of the most stridently conservative states in the U.S. led by Governor Sam Brownback, a national figure in the Christian Right. During that period, the classroom and laboratory emerged as particularly evocative sites of conflict that focused on two “science” controversies: (1) the teaching of Creationism/Intelligent Design in the high school science curriculum; and (2) the role of state and Federal funding in supporting embryonic stem cell research. This chapter explores how these debates about the interface between politics, religion and science gained prominence and became controversies in Kansas by situating them in their social and historical context. In particular, attention is paid to the growing importance of biomedical research and the life sciences to the greater Kansas City economy and the rapid demographic transformation of affluent Johnson County, Kansas, through which the suburbs of Kansas City continue to sprawl as a result of increased rural-urban migration, that is accompanied by an expansion in the number of (conservative) evangelical churches.
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Notes
- 1.
The name of the organization is credited to Nancy Brown, who drew out the first four letters (M.A.I.N.) as an acronym for Moderate Alliance of Informed Neighbors.
- 2.
This quote and the one below are drawn from an interview that Angie McGaw conducted with the founders of the Coalition. A summary of the interview by Dr. Lore Messenger, entitled “Mainstream beginnings: An interview with our founders,” is available via the Coalition’s website: www.mainstreamcoalition.org/. All other quotes in this section are drawn from the author’s ethnographic field notes.
- 3.
This potentially reinforces the argument that U.S. politics is “off centre,” so to speak, suggesting that conservative interests exert a greater influence on national policy debates than those that might be described “liberal” because institutions of the left have become much weakened in contemporary American society (see Hacker and Pierson 2005).
- 4.
For more on the history and mission of the Republican Main Street Partnership, go to the RMSP website: www.republicanmainstreet.org.
- 5.
See, for example, Jeff Tamblyn’s 2007 documentary Kansas vs. Darwin.
- 6.
In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Judge John E. Jones III ruled against Creationism in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in December 2005.
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Acknowledgements
The title of this chapter was inspired by a 2007 documentary, directed by Jeff Tamblyn, called Kansas vs. Darwin, which explored the debates over the teaching of evolution in Kansas public schools in the mid-2000s. For an earlier version of this chapter, see Smith 2010a. For a more detailed account of religion, science and, specifically, the politics of embryonic stem cell research under President George W. Bush, see Smith 2010b.
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Smith, A.T.T. (2015). Kansas Versus the Creationists: Religious Conflict and Scientific Controversy in America’s Heartland. In: Brunn, S. (eds) The Changing World Religion Map. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_51
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