Scientific academies from around the world have issued a statement advocating the teaching of evolution to all children.  It's the sort of evolutionary propaganda you'd expect from the mainstream scientific establishment, but given in more direct terms.  Evolutionists are becoming increasingly forceful with their views, perhaps feeling pressure from ID theorists and Creationists.  If you have children (I don't) you should be even more concerned about this.

The Interacademy Panel on International Issues (IAP) "Statement on the Teaching of Evolution" argues that "scientific evidence has never contradicted" the following assertions:

1. In a universe that has evolved towards its present configuration for some 11 to 15 billion years, our Earth formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago.
2. Since its formation, the Earth – its geology and its environments – has changed under the effect of numerous physical and chemical forces and continues to do so.
3. Life appeared on Earth at least 2.5 billion years ago. The evolution, soon after, of photosynthetic organisms enabled, from at least 2 billion years ago, the slow transformation of the atmosphere to one containing substantial quantities of oxygen. In addition to the release of the oxygen that we breathe, the process of photosynthesis is the ultimate source of fixed energy and food upon which human life on the planet depends.
4. Since its first appearance on Earth, life has taken many forms, all of which continue to evolve, in ways which palaeontology and the modern biological and biochemical sciences are describing and independently confirming with increasing precision. Commonalities in the structure of the genetic code of all organisms living today, including humans, clearly indicate their common primordial origin.

As you can read, the statement takes a dogmatic stance on the age of the earth and universe, granting them 4.5 and 11+ billion years, respectively.  The second bullet point seems to be a given and I have no disagreement with it.  In the third paragraph, the statement claims a specific age for biological life, and argues that plants coevolved with the atmosphere.  In the last paragraph, the statement attributes biological (specifically, genetic) similarities in organisms to common ancestry--clearly a case of interpreting data to fit one's own philosophy of origins.

The IAP statement strikes out with its own definition of science, which we understand to include Darwinism, and exclude all else.

Scientific knowledge derives from a mode of inquiry into the nature of the universe that has been successful and of great consequence. Science focuses on (i) observing the natural world and (ii) formulating testable and refutable hypotheses to derive deeper explanations for observable phenomena. When evidence is sufficiently compelling, scientific theories are developed that account for and explain that evidence, and predict the likely structure or process of still unobserved phenomena.

 At the beginning of the statement, it had said,

We, the undersigned Academies of Sciences, have learned that in various parts of the world, within science courses taught in certain public systems of education, scientific evidence, data, and testable theories about the origins and evolution of life on Earth are being concealed, denied, or confused with theories not testable by science. We urge decision makers, teachers, and parents to educate all children about the methods and discoveries of science and to foster an understanding of the science of nature.

What's most disturbing about the statement is its intent to pressure parents, teachers, and governments to teach a specific philosophy of origins to children. In the face of Christians and other religious adherents, a culturally elite group (Darwinian scientists) is becoming increasingly hostile to disagreement, now urging "decision makers" (government officials?) to teach children only one theory--that they descended from apes.  Now they urge, will they soon demand?  Read these quotes by Yves Quere, Co-chairman of IAP, from the BBC story:

"We know of schools in various parts of the world where the children are told that the Earth is about 8,000 years old.  So in this statement we say you cannot teach this to children, it is wrong.

"In some countries, the simple theory of evolution is denied in the teaching of children in schools."

 So even though your kids belong to you, parent, it is "wrong" for you to teach them, or allow them to be taught, Creationism, Intelligent Design, or any alternative to what the science elites dictate--common ancestry, macroevolution, gradualism, Big Bang.  If any alternative theory of origins becomes available, it is the science elites who will give you permission to share it with your children.

Sounds like a Marxist doctrine to me, friends.  Just be thankful you still have the privilege of raising your own kids.