National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a non-profit organization enacted and sanctioned by the United States federal government. The purpose of the agency is to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government.

It was signed into being by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863, and eventually expanded to include the National Research Council in 1916, the National Academy of Engineering in 1964, and the Institute of Medicine in 1970. Collectively, the four organizations are known as the National Academies.

The National Academy of Sciences is currently comprised of approximately 2,000 members and governed by a Council of twelve members and five officers. Since its inception, all NAS members have been elected by the Academy membership.

Anticreation
According to a 1998 report in the journal Nature, a recent survey found that 93% of NAS members are either atheists or agnostics. The biologists in the National Academy of Sciences were found to possess the lowest rate of belief of all the science disciplines, with only 5.5% believing in God.

Tyson: I want to put on the table, not why 85% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences reject God, I want to know why 15% of the National Academy don’t. That’s really what we’ve got to address here. Otherwise the public is secondary to this. Beyond Belief 2006 conference.

The NAS provides "advice on the scientific and technological issues that frequently pervade policy decisions". This advise includes how science should be taught and against the teaching of creation in public schools.

When the National Academy of Sciences appoints a committee to advise the public on evolution, it consists of persons picked in part for their scientific outlook, which is to say their a priori acceptance of materialism.

Their book, published in 1999 and updated in 2008 titled: Science, Evolution, and Creationism, states unequivocally that creationism has no place in any science curriculum at any level.

Publications



 * Science, Evolution, and Creationism 2008. 88 pages. National Academies Press.
 * Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science The National Academies Press. 1998. 150 page. ISBN-10: 0-309-06364-7
 * Evolution in Hawaii: A Supplement to Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science The National Academies Press. 2004. 56 page. ISBN-10: 0-309-08991-3