What is the Message Group defending?

A grass-roots group troubled by recent Republican triumphs and the influence of the Christian right is fighting back in Northern Virginia by defending the teaching of Darwinian evolution, a battleground in the national culture war. From Minnesota to Pennsylvania to Georgia to Texas, critics of modern Darwinism have battled to change textbooks and classroom approaches. Politicians, scientists and faith leaders on both sides have joined in the struggle. At hearings in May, the Kansas Board of Education, which has a conservative majority, supported teaching alternatives to evolution, a theory accepted by the vast majority of the scientific establishment. Evolution’s newest defenders mostly are middle-class people with day jobs. Together, they call themselves the Message Group and describe themselves as" determined and balanced" voters worded about social conservatives. The Message Group do not hide the fact that they are starting from scratch. Seven months ago, a dozen members were learning one another’s names. Five months ago, they were choosing a mission. They selected evolution after deciding that other issues, such as Social Security revisions, were well-covered by bigger, richer groups. The emerging debate over the teaching of science, they reasoned, was important, local and manageable, an area in which they could make a small impact--and if they got lucky, a big one.