Apparently there has been lobbying by the religious right, and it appears the powers that be might be caving in.
Americans United Warns Louisiana Education Board Not To Adopt Review Policy That Favors CreationismA new policy under consideration by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is slanted to favor creationism and should be revised, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Due to lobbying by the Religious Right, Louisiana legislators approved a law in 2008 that allows for “supplemental materials” to be used in public school science classes. The Board has developed a policy for reviewing these materials that is seriously flawed, says Americans United.
“It’s obvious what’s going on here,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Louisiana elected officials are once again trying to undercut the teaching of evolution and slip creationism into science classes. This effort must fail.”
Looks like James Dobson is pushing for this new law.
The Board calls for allowing challenged materials to be reviewed by a panel that could easily be stacked with people sympathetic to creationism. It would bypass the expert opinion of the Louisiana Department of Education.
..."The Louisiana Family Forum, a state affiliate of Religious Right leader James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, pushed for adoption of the new law and will likely try to use it to smuggle creationist materials into public schools.
They never give up on their principles. The religious right keeps pushing their agenda over and over, and it appears there has been too much caving done to them.
In Florida there is a law now that evolution is to be taught in science class, not the other options. But they are still trying to undermine that new requirement, trying new tactics all the time. It does not help that many counties in Florida have school boards that have a majority in favor of teaching creationism.
People are on to their tactics, and the majority disapprove. However the people in leadership don't especially care if they disapprove.
In 2007 I posted
some letters to the editors pointing out the ridiculous nature of what the religious groups are doing.
Intelligent Design Doesn't Fit
Before we include Intelligent Design (ID) in our science curriculum, let's imagine other subject areas and wonder what it would be like to include disparate ideas therein. For example, we wouldn't expect our mathematics classes to teach George Washington's farewell address, because we would see the ideas presented there are not mathematical (though he does caution us against the multiplying ills of a two-party political system). And we would rightly cry foul if our language arts classes mandated the teaching of chemistry: The two ideas are like apples and Buicks.
And another:
Backward Education
It looks as if Polk County School Board members Fields, Harris, Lofton, Sellers and possibly Cunningham would have us return to those dark days of yesteryear when the old men who wove the creation fairy tale believed Earth was the center of the universe and that it was flat.
...."I ask the creationists to go back to the second verse of the Bible. "And the Earth was waste and void and darkness was upon the face of the Earth." If God created it all, as they think, why did he go through the trouble of creating an ugly mass that had to be improved upon? Who was he trying to impress with the improvements noted in Genesis?
Why did the writers of Genesis give him human frailties such as being so worn out he had to rest, or that he stepped back from each of his tasks and pronounced it good? If he was God, would he tire, or would he expect anything but good? If the answer to these questions is the old standby canard called faith, then it doesn't belong in a classroom.
And one more, which was my favorite:
Road Map to Hillbilly USA
Dirty Harry understood that "a man's got to know his limitations." In that vein, we should ask since when are School Board members qualified to say what should be taught in science classes? None has expertise in this area. Don't get me wrong- I am sure each is competent in their own field. But none of the seven has a degree in a pure science discipline, Lori Cunningham coming closest with a B.S. in electrical engineering.
While I am sure they all have had some training in science, they have lost sight of its essence and scope. Because of this they cannot see why evolution is science and intelligent design is not. Indeed intelligent design is a compelling concept and if they want to include it in a philosophical or (gasp) religious context that is fine. Just keep it out of the science curriculum. Look out Polk County- as long as our School Board considers flouting science standards, we will remain Hillbilly USA.
Glad the AU and Barry Lynn are staying on top of the situation in Louisiana.
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