Unfortunately, on Tuesday, March 9, the Ohio State Board of Education
passed a curriculum change allowing "alternatives" to evolution to be taught in
the 10th grade science classes.
I am not sure what recourse we have now. Some people had mentioned
taking it to the courts. I will keep people posted as to what, if anything
is going to be done about this.
-----Original Message-----
From:
paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk on behalf of Andy Rindsberg
Sent: Thu 3/11/2004 9:10 AM
To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk;
vrtpaleo@usc.edu
Cc:
Subject: paleonet Alabama
anti-evolution bill passes in committee
From the Tuscaloosa
News:
Bill pushing alternatives to evolution moves
ahead
By PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press Writer
March 10,
2004
Religious groups are successfully pushing legi slation that would
protect
science teachers in Alabama's public schools and colleges who
offer
students alternatives to evolution.
A Senate committee
approved one version of the bill Wednesday, and a House
committe! e passed
a similar version a week ago. The two bills now go to the
Senate and House
for consideration.
John Giles, state president of the Christian
Coalition, said the
legislation "gives a license to teachers to teach
alternative views on
evolut ion and provides a statutory safety net against
frivolous lawsuits
from groups like the ACLU."
Paul Hubbert,
executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association,
said the teachers
who belong to his organization have not complained of a ny
major problems,
and AEA is not taking a position on the bill.
"It's more of a political
issue than an issue in the classroom. I don't
know of a single incident in
the classroom, but it's one of those political
issues that people like to
jump on," Hubbert said.
The Senate Education Committee voted 7-0
Wednesday for legislation,
sponsored by Sen. Wendell Mitchell, D-Luverne,
that says no public school
or college teacher in Alabama shall be
terminate! d, disciplined or denied
tenure for presenting alternatives to
evolution. The legislation also says
students can't be penalized for
subscribing to a particular position on the
origin of life, "so long as he
or she demonstrates acceptable understa nding
of course
materials."
Similar legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jim Carns,
R-Mountain Brook, got
approved by the House Education Committee 10-2 on
March 3.
Larry Darby, a Montgomery attorney and president of the
Atheist Law Center ,
said the bill ignores the scientific evidence behind
evolution and is an
attempt by religious groups to get God into the
classroom.
He predicted that if the Legislature passes the bill, it
will be challenged
in court.
Interim St ate Superintendent of
Education Joe Morton said he has no problem
with the legislation. He said
the State Board of Education has already done
several things on the issue,
including putting a sticker in the front of
biolog! y books that say
evolution is a "controversial theory."
The board has also adopted a
policy that encourages students "to wrestle
with the unanswered questions
and unresolved problems still faced by
evolutionary
theory."
Proponents of the le gislation say it doesn't allow science
teachers to skip
evolution and only teach other positions. True academic
freedom ought to
include a full discussion, said the Rev. Dan Ireland, a
Southern Baptist
minister and executive director of the Ala bama Citizens
Action Program.
"Academic freedom means you pursue all aspects of a
subject and then you
come to your own conclusions," Ireland said. "To many
people the creation
aspect is more real and plausible than any others
taught."
< BR>Dail Mullins
Chair, Science & Public Policy
Committee
Alabama Academy of Science