WHEREAS, the science teachers of the State of Utah are being subjected to increasing pressure to teach non-science material in their science
classrooms, and,
WHEREAS, the Utah Science Teachers Association supports the wisdom and constitutionality of the separation of church and state,
The Utah Science Teachers Association hereby affirms that the science teachers of the State of Utah should:

1. Teach science and related disciplines (technology, societal implications of science and technology, etc.) in their science
 classrooms, and not teach religion as science.

2. Teach students that science is a dynamic, self-correcting discipline based on empirical data and reasonable analyses thereof.

3. Teach the theory of evolution as the major organizing theory in the discipline of the biological and geological sciences.

4. Teach students to distinguish between various types of evidence; to distinguish "fact," "theory," "hypothesis," "inference,"
etc.; and to recognize that in its strict sense, "theory" (as a generalization organizing massive amounts of diverse and repeatedly-tested
data), is the most useful statement that life science can make.

5. Help students understand that accepting the theory of evolution by natural selection, and other biological phenomena, is not
equating science with atheism and that the theory of evolution by natural selection does not rule out the possibility of the involvement
of a divine Creator.

6. Help students understand that accepting the theory of evolution by natural selection need not compromise their religious beliefs,
whatever their religion may be, since science and religion are based on separate premises and use different methodologies.

7. Help students understand that creationism, as taught by prominent creationist organizations of the day, is pseudoscience and
not science.

8. Help students understand that religion is a belief system based on faith and religious experience, and that religious principles
can still be followed without conflict while accepting the premises and methodology of science.

9. Help students understand that both science and religion, as two among several human endeavors, have strengths and limits in
pursuing human knowledge and action; that neither alone is a sufficient guide for either individual or group conduct. It has never
been an endeavor of science, nor is it appropriate for individual scientists, to falsely apply the methodology of science to undermine
matters of religious faith.