The Big Bang Theory第三季第一集，Sheldon生气回德克萨斯老家，伙伴们登门道歉接他回去，他说这儿现在就是我的家了，我只好在德克萨斯度过余生，向创生论者教进化论（and I will spend the rest of my life herein Texas trying to teach evolution to creationists.）这话引起他母亲的不满：你说话注意点儿，人人都有发表意见的权利。（you watch your mouth, Sheely. Everyone’s entitled totheir opinion.）

这一幕是有针对性的。1983年，大物理学家StevenWeinberg刚到德州时，就应邀参加州参议院的听证会，立法禁止在公立中学教进化论，除非同样分量地讲创生论。

Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum近年在《不科学的美国》（Unscientific America）里还在感叹很多美国人不接受进化论：A distressingly largenumber of Americans refuse to accept either the fact or the theory ofevolution, the scientifically undisputedexplanation of the origin of our species and the diversity of life on Earth——这后面半句的解释，在我们看来是不需要的，但很多美国人民似乎还不太明白。

进化论的问题，在中国简单在美国复杂，是因为牵涉宗教和信仰——信仰有时比科学更重要——甚至因此牵涉《宪法第一修正案》。温老当年就借修正案答复议员：无神论者过分强调进化论固然不对，但为了捍卫宗教信仰而禁止进化论，也违反了第一修正案。（just as it would be wrong for those who are emotionally committed to atheism to give evolution more emphasis than would be otherwise  appropriate in teaching biology, so it would be inconsistent with the First Amendment to give evolution less emphasis as ameans of protecting religious belief.）

于是，很多州都让法官来判决进化论（参见Wiki条目：Creationand evolution in public education in the United States），如最高法院1968年的一个判决说：

the First Amendment does not permit the state to require that teaching and learning must be tailored to the principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma...the state has no legitimate interest in protecting any or all religions from views distasteful to them.

1997年的一家地方法院判决说：

While encouraging students to maintain their belief in the Bible, or in God, may be a noble aim, it cannot be one in which the public schools participate, no matter how important this goal may be to its supporters.

这个现象比进化论本身有趣多了。