Louisiana Passes Bible Science Education Law
Yall might could be tiring of my babbling on about Bible study in science classes. But I shall continue. According to this article, Louisiana has, and Florida still may pass amendments to their education codes to give free reign to teachers who choose to use texts other than (and conflicting with) science books to teach biology in science classes. Although these remarkably similar bills don’t actually mention the Bible, Creationism, nor their apparent origin from the Discovery Institute, their intent is clear.
I’ve been following this issue for a while (here’s one of my earlier posts), and continue to find it disturbing.
The main argument they make is that nothing is “proven” in science. Dedicated and well educated scholars have been trying diligently for over 200 years to disprove evolution. Yes, the battle predates the birth of Chas. Darwin! So far, no luck. Every piece of evidence and each new tool reinforces this theory. But with shrewd political action, the anti-science crowd could win enough popular support to hide the actual science from American kids. Theocracy, here we come!
If Pope Urban VIII (nee Cardinal Mafeo Barberini) had the political clout of American Fundamentalists, the Copernican/Galilean theory of heliocentrism might still be challenged in schools.
Vice Presidential Hopeful Gov. Jindal signs creationism bill in Louisiana. The Discovery Institute (the force behind this multi-state education bill campaign) claims that Intelligent Design is not creationism because they don’t actually cite God by name. But as Pharyngula (Myers) says, he’s pandering to
[...] views of how we got here to be taught in science classes, in the name of Academic Freedom. Louisiana passed a similar law allowing it in 2008, so the Discovery Institute has apparently gotten [...]