The chorus of support for the teaching of evolution continues, with a statement from the American Federation of Teachers — Oregon, adopted in 2013.
In its statement, AFT-Oregon observes that "biological evolution is a fundamental underpinning of modern biological thought and research and is not the subject of controversy among scientists ... [but] the unfettered teaching of evolution in public schools has been under attack since the early part of the twentieth century." Now in the twenty-first century, "a strategy to teach creationism, intelligent design, or evolution denial into public science classrooms has emerged with the passage of laws intended to teach these theories as science under the guise of protecting academic freedom in the classroom"; Louisiana and Tennessee are cited as cases in point.
Invoking the expertise of the American Association of University Professors and NCSE, the statement concludes by affirming that "AFT-Oregon encourages and expects Oregon's science teachers, in presenting evolution and other topics, to understand, respect, and communicate the consensus of the scientific community, in order to present the science curriculum effectively to their students" and that "AFT-Oregon will be on alert for, and opposed to, bills at the state or federal level that attempt to use the guise of academic freedom as a means of introducing creationism, intelligent design, or evolution denial into science classrooms."
AFT-Oregon's statement is now reproduced, by permission, on NCSE's website, and will also be contained in the fourth edition of NCSE's Voices for Evolution.