To answer my own question, people who opposed evolution on religious grounds pushed, and people who supported evolution pushed back. More specifically, people who oppose the teaching of evolution in the American public schools pushed, and people who want the public schools to teach evolution and only evolution as an explanation for our origin pushed back. Evolution Sunday is an outgrowth of the Clergy Letter Project organized by biologist Michael Zimmerman in response to a local school board which had passed some anti-evolution policies, and after he heard Christian fundamentalist television clergy insisting that decisions about teaching evolution in schools was equivalent to a choice between heaven and hell. At first the letter was limited to Christian clergy. According to Wikipedia, Zimmerman stated that "Since it is fundamentalist Christian ministers who have been shouting to the American people that they must choose between science and religion, it seems reasonable to have thousands upon thousands of Christian clergy assert otherwise. It simply wouldn't be very persuasive to have the leaders of other religions saying to Christians that Christian fundamentalist ministers are not speaking for all Christians...the Clergy Letter Project and Evolution Sunday are not designed to change the minds of fundamentalists. Rather, our goal is to educated the vast majority of Christians who, if told they have to choose between religion and modern science, are likely to opt for religion." It is interesting to note that didn't seem to have any personal problem with leaders of other religions expressing a view about who should be allowed to speak for all Christians, but only refrained from including non-Christians in the Project for tactical reasons. Obviously, he changed his mind later, adding a Jewish rabbi letter, and a Unitarian Universalist clergy letter. A rabbi letter makes some sense since there appear to be increasing numbers of Jews who are outspoken against Evolution as the Only Way. But I can only see the Unitarian Universalist letter as giving Unitarian and Universalist clergy the opportunity to preach at faith communities other than their own. I really don't think there are a lot of Unitarians or Universalists who need to be convinced to come on board in support of evolution.
All three letters can be found in the Wikipedia article "Clergy Letter Project". The rabbi letter is quite different from the other two. "The Clergy Letter--an open letter from American rabbis--An Open Letter Concerning Religion and Science As rabbis from various branches of Judaism, we the undersigned, urge public school boards to affirm their commitment to the teaching of the science of evolution. Fundamentalists of various traditions, who perceive the teaching of evolution to be in conflict with their personal beliefs, are seeking to influence public school boards to authorize the teaching of creationism. We see this as a breach of the separation of church and state. Those who believe in a literal interpretation of the Biblical account of creation are free to teach their perspective homes, religious institutions, and parochial schools. To teach it in the public schools would be to assert a particular perspective in an environment that is supposed to be free from such indoctrination. The Bible is the primary source of spirtual inspiration and of values for us and for many others, though not everyone, in our society. It is, however, open to interpretation with some taking the creation account and other content literally and some preferring a figurative understanding. It is possible to be inspired by the religious teachings of the Bible while not taking a literalist approach and while accepting the validity of science including the foundational concept of evolution. It is not the role of the public schools to indoctrinate students with specific religious beliefs but rather to educate them in the established principles of science and in other subjects of general knowledge."
Strictly speaking, the rabbis as school boards to affirm their commitment to the teaching of the science of evolution. In context, however, I believe their concern is not that evolution be taught, but that creationism not be taught. I think indoctrination is a rather strong term to refer to teaching creation as only one possible explanation for our origin. But I can go along with the idea that even mentioning creation as a possible explanation for our origin is unacceptable in the public schools, as long as we take the same position with respect to even mentioning evolution as a possible explanation of our origins. The rabbi letter says that teaching creation is religious indoctrination which would violate the separation of church and state if done in the public schools. Beyond the issue of what is done in the public schools, the rabbi letter simply seems to be saying that it is legitimate for people to interpret the scriptures literally or not. No criticism is directed at anyone based upon whether they interpret the scriptures literally or not. I am quite sure that if I wanted to become a Jew and wished to join one of the rabbis' congregations, that the rabbi would not tell me what I had to believe with regard to evolution or creation but leave the matter up to me. I am also sure I could also be a member of the congregation without feeling I was under attack based upon my personal views regarding evolution or creation. Which suggests a question. Could a person be a member of one of the Christian or Unitarian/Universalist congregations and not feel under attack regardless of the person's views on evolution or creation? I think not. I think a person who believed in literal creationism would be made to feel just as uncomfortable in one of these congregations as a person who believes in evolution would be made to feel in many fundamentalist congregations.
According to the rabbi letter, "Those who believe in a literal interpretation of the Biblical account of creation are free to teach their perspective in their homes, religious institutions and parochial schools." This is an acknowledgement that the Christian clergy letter does not make. But there is still a problem. As we might express it in the language of the Bible, a lot depends upon whose ox is being gored. As long as people are required to support public education with their tax money, whether they like it or not, nobody should be expected to put up with anything that would be too offensive on religious grounds. For these rabbis, this almost certainly means not teaching Christianity in the public schools. For fundamentalist Christians this means not challenging the truth of the Bible in the public schools. These rabbis do not appear threatened by the teaching of evolution in the schools, but object to anything resembling the teaching of creation in the schools, presumably because of a concern that it would open the door to things down the road that would truly be offensive to them. Fundamentalist Christians object to the teaching of evolution because they see it as challenging the truth of the Bible. Obviously the major concerns of both these rabbis and fundamentalist Christians could be answered by simply not teaching anything about our origins in the public schools. People who want evolution taught to their children could do so in their homes, religious institutions, or in private rather public schools. But that even handed approach which would treat everybody in an equal fashion is not good enough for those who insist that the public schools teach evolution and only evolution as the explanation for our origin.
My wife is Jewish. She told me that when she was in the public school as a student, there was a teacher who didn't like Jews and purposely scheduled tests for Jewish holidays when Jewish students would be absent, and then did not allow make up tests for them. If that was legal then, it certainly would not be legal now--even if the tests were not purposely scheduled to fall on Jewish holidays. If we want to know what accommodations would or would not be reasonable for Christian fundamentalist students in the public schools, we might well start by asking what accommodations are and are not made for Jewish students. One accommodation that is made involves religious holidays--these are considered excused absences, with a guaranteed right to make up missed graded work. Another accommodation involves diet, with a much greater effort to satisfy religious dietary requirements than would be made for mere secular dietary preferences. On the other hand, the official Jewish Sabbath begins Friday at sunset. Numerous schools activities such as football games are scheduled for Friday night during the official Jewish Sabbath.
So we see that Orthodox Jewish students who choose to attend the public schools would be guaranteed the right to a basic education that would not be in conflict with their religion--but that a lot of the extras that are available to other students would not be available to a student who kept the traditional Jewish Sabbath. At least this would be true if these students were not bothered by the teaching of evolution. Christian and Jewish students who see evolution as being in conflict with their religious beliefs are treated rather like my wife was by the teacher who hated Jewish students. Evolution is taught in your face with supporters of evolution objecting to even the slightest multicultural accommodation being made for students who find evolution to be in violation of their religious beliefs. This level of bigotry towards people who believe in the literal truth of the Jewish scriptures is not found in the rabbi letter. But as far as the Christian clergy letter is concerned....I think this post is long enough already, so that is a matter that I will leave for my next post.
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