Pushing creationism in Indiana

[marmar]

What's next: Creationists in the classroom
Karen Francisco | The Journal Gazette


After the 2011 session, it's tough to imagine what education issue GOP lawmakers could possibly offer to push Indiana schools further behind. Now we know – creationism in the classroom.

Sen. Dennis Kruse, chairman of the Senate education committee, has filed SB 89, providing that "the governing body of a school corporation may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science, within the school corporation."

If Indiana didn't attract national attention for approving the most expansive voucher entitlement program in the country last year, this bill will surely do it.

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, told me that attempts to pass creation science legislation are practically unheard of given the decisive 1987 Supreme Court ruling. By a 7-2 vote, the court ruled that Louisiana's Creationism Act, which allowed the instruction of evolution only if it was taught alongside creationism, was unconstitutional. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20111229/BLOGS13/111229458

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Oh of course, why don't we teach a variety of theories:

(1) Scientific theory;
(2) Religious bullshit;
(3) Christian myth.

[dawg]

3. I'm still trying to figure out how the whole world fits ...

on the back of that turtle.

[yellowcanine]

5. Don't forget the Flying Spaghetti Monster

And HIS Noodley Appendage!

[snappyturtle]

2. I spent the first eighteen years of my life figuring out

how to get out of the Disney life that is IN...what a fantasy land.
My B-I-L is a repub state senator, nice guy but very religious and
I would guess he's for SB89. Complete and utter fantasyland.
Sorry if I've upset any present day Hoosiers but you guys gotta do
something!

[evilkumquat]

4. First they came for our voters. Then they came for our unions.

Now the Republicans are going after our science (as if the voucher program wasn't doing enough damage to our beleaguered school system).

[hayrow1]

6. In the science class they will need to make each student count the number of ribs on

one other student to assure that the other student is of the proper sex, scientifically. Females have one extra rib, don't they?

[snappyturtle]

7. Seems that ol' Dennis has gone after evolution in the past:

http://ncse.com/news/2011/12/creationist-legislation-indiana-007001

[The Genealogist]

8. Yet another attempt to turn Public School into Sunday School

Creation "science" is pseudoscience, pure and simple. It is loaded with confirmation bias, hell, it is a textbook example of confirmation bias. The creationists start with a story that is "true because it is the inspired word of God," then warp real science to fit the story. That isn't science. Next, creationists try to discredit the science around evolution with a bunch of charlatanry, like "it is only a theory" and other canned talking points. Bunk. The tempest in the teapot that creationists have wrought is not a single issue. I think it is part of a larger set of issues that theocrats have set up to further their agenda of transforming the American republic into a full-blown theocracy.