WOW! Tennesee passes law banning teaching of evolution!

[xray s]

PUBLIC ACTS OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

House Bill No. 185

(By Mr. Butler)

AN ACT prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of Tennessee, which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, and to provide penalties for the violations thereof.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.

Section 2. Be it further enacted, That any teacher found guilty of the violation of this Act, Shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be fined not less than One Hundred $ (100.00) Dollars nor more than Five Hundred ($ 500.00) Dollars for each offense.

Section 3. Be it further enacted, That this Act take effect from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring it.

I heard Randi read this today and really thought it passed today. It didn't. It passed in 1925, and was eventually overturned by the courts, 40 years later!

[BamaLefty]

1. You Do Understand

that something like this could VERY easily pass today as well? And when I say "pass", I mean by the TN voters. Any of these states could conceivably pass such a bill.

[Erika]

4. How do you dems stand living in the South?

I live it a heavy red state but at least here they understand what century we're in.

[BamaLefty]

6. I Just Tolerate It

Aside from politics, the South is a wonderful place to live. Perfect weather, great people, fantastic cities and historical sites...

[CottonBear]

7. Because, for many of us, it's our native home and we love the South,

warts and all. The weather is great. There is a great tradition of Southern writers. There are beautiful natural areas (Smokey Mountains, Okeefenokee Swamp, and the Chatooga River to mention a few.) Music and storytelling abounds. Need I even mention the food? We have a great tradition of eccentrics!

Not everyone is a Republican or a right wing fundie. There are many college towns and large cities in addition to medium and small towns and vast rural areas. Remember that Jimmy Carter, Sam Nunn, Max Cleland, John Lewis, Cynthia McKinney, and Andrew Young (among many others) are from Georgia, the state where I live. I was born in NC (my whole family is from there having emigrated from Northern Ireland and England in the 1700s) and grew up in Chattanooga, TN.

Come on down y'all and sit a spell.

[saltpoint]

9. Hi, Cotton Bear. I hear what you say about the South.

I've spent some of several summertimes near Sevierville, Tennessee, and it's easy to fall in love with the place. Also a while in North Carolina, and quite a while in Florida.

The university towns in the south are just the greatest.

[CottonBear]

10. Hi Old Crusoe! I'm glad you've enjoyed your visits!

Sevierville, Tennessee is the home of Dolly Parton one of our greatest songwriters and singers. She's just the best!

My family is from the Western NC mountains. My mom grew up in Canton, NC just a stone's throw from the Waynesville Baptist church! I went to the local Baptist church in Canton with my Nana and PawPaw.

I live in the best Southern university town of all : Athens, GA! Go Dawgs!

Thanks for the kind words. We Southerners take a lot of heat here on DU. I think many people have never been here or they would never say those hurtful things.

I hope that your spring weather is as beautiful as ours here in Georgia!

edit: sp.

[saltpoint]

11. O, it's good to run into somebody who says something kind about --

-- Dolly Parton.

I think she's wonderful. Not just the great number of successes she's had, but the "inside" word on her in the industry -- that she is generous of spirit to others in helping them make the big time, etc.

I grew up in Indiana and Ohio mostly. What turned me around on the South -- don't laugh -- was a tune of James Taylor's -- "Carolina in My Mind." It's a popular song now, but at that time (1970) (!!) no one had heard of it, at least not in my small town north of Cincinnati.

The song knocked me out. It knocked me out of a sullen, withdrawn, sour adolescence and made me realize that this guy was singing about his home! That it meant that much to him to pour his considerable talent into it. 'Place' became a huge consideration for me because of that song.

It was the oddest thing to be smacked like that, and it inspired me to trade a birthday present of a car for a trip to North Carolina. My parents were cool with that swap and wondered if they should send James Taylor a check or something for saving them so much money!

Anyway, Athens rocks also & I surely did love your post tonight, Cotton Bear.

All good wishes to you.

[CottonBear]

12. James Taylor and I are both from Chapel Hill, my birthplace!

That song brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear it. I hear it in my mind every time that I visit my homestate. I think that that is his best song ever.

Dolly is the genuine article. She is a good and decent person as well as an incredible artist.

I'm just a few hours from the Great Smokey Mountains and just about five hours from the beautiful lowlands and coasts of SC and GA.

I work in a profession in which a "sense of place" is a very important concept.
I completely understand your point. Indiana and Ohio are great states and have so many special places and wonderful people. You just don't appreciate them until you've been away or until much time passes...

My husband's band is rocking tonight here in Athens town. Great music and great people abound!

All good wishes to you as well. Take care and take time to appreciate where you live and where you are from.

edit: Your James Taylor story is amazing! You must have great parents! I hope that your trip was worth way more than a car!

[saltpoint]

13. CottonBear, thank you so much for your posts here tonight --

-- They have been a lift for me.

You were born in Chapel Hill? Then you were born in a truly beautiful place.

Your phrase "sense of place" stopped me in my tracks. I used it to teach composition for many years. I am drawn to writers, painters, and musicians who have it. The South generally has way more than its share of incredibly talented artists. Flannery O'Connor, Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Lucinda Williams, James Taylor, Reynolds Price (isn't he another Carolinian?) and thousands of others -- and I love it that New Orleans' airport is named for Louis Armstrong.

Good luck to your husband on the concert scene there in Athens.

Happy trails.

[CottonBear]

14. Oh no, thank you for your posts!

Are you a writer? You must be, because your posts are a pleasure to read! Do you teach? I'd love to read some of your work.

I want to write about the South. I'm thinking that travel books or essays would be my best bet.

I love literature. I love Southern writers most of all. My mom just attended the annual Southern Writers Conference in Chattanooga. You should attend sometime. A few years ago, she gave me an autographed (personalized to me wishing me happy birthday!) first edition (Algonquin Press of Chapel Hill) of Clover by Dori Sanders. You must read that book if you've not already.

Reynolds Price is from NC. His deep and rich voice reminds me of my father's, uncle's and grandfather's voices.

Google "sense of place, Landscape Architecture" and you should find some good inspiration for your writing out there on the web!

BTW, my husband is a native of New Orleans and he's a fine artist in additon to being a talented musician. He's even opened for r.e.m. when they were all starting out in the music world!

Good evening from Georgia!

[Freedom_from_Chains]

15. I have a timeshare in Cashiers N.C.

which is just a piece from Waynesville, they have a great pancake house there we go to when we're down that way. My wife and I both love the area and would like to retire there.

[babylonsister]

2. I was just about to get indignant. Glad I read it first,

but let's hope it's not overturned again. The way religion seems to be permeating our culture, it's scary!

[demnan]

3. Thanks to a rebellious flapper grandma

I cut my reading teeth on dear old Henry. Here is his classic essay on the Snopes Trial, a bit snobbish and no doubt offensive to pricked ears, but in an endearing way.

"It was hot weather when they tried the infidel Scopes at Dayton, Tenn., but I went down there very willingly, for I was eager to see something of evangelical Christianity as a going concern. In the big cities of the Republic, despite the endless efforts of consecrated men, it is laid up with a wasting disease. The very Sunday-school superintendents, taking jazz from the stealthy radio, shake their fire-proof legs; their pupils, moving into adolescence, no longer respond to the proliferating hormones by enlisting for missionary service in Africa, but resort to necking instead. Even in Dayton, I found, though the mob was up to do execution upon Scopes, there was a strong smell of antinomianism. The nine churches of the village were all half-empty on Sunday, and weeds choked their yards. Only two or three of the resident pastors managed to sustain themselves by their ghostly science; the rest had to take orders for mail-order pantaloons or work in the adjacent strawberry fields; one, I heard, was a barber. On the courthouse green a score of sweating theologians debated the darker passages of Holy Writ day and night, but I soon found that they were all volunteers, and that the local faithful, while interested in their exegesis as an intellectual exercise, did not permit it to impede the indigenous debaucheries. Exactly twelve minutes after reaching the village I was taken in tow by a Christian man and introduced to the favorite tipple of the Cumberland Range: half corn liquor and half Coca-Cola. It seemed a dreadful dose to me, but I found that the Dayton illuminati got it down with gusto, rubbing their tummies and rolling their eyes. I include among them the chief local proponents of the Mosaic cosmogony. They were all hot for Genesis, but their faces were far too florid to belong to teetotalers, and when a pretty girl came tripping down the main street, which was very often, they reached for the places where their neckties should have been with all the amorous enterprise of movie actors. It seemed somehow strange."

More:


http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Mencken/the-hills-of-zion/

[Spinzonner]

5. And yet they allowed that psuedo-science Gravitation

to continue to be taught.

[saltpoint]

8. What scares me is that it is so plausible for today, right now.

As it is in Kansas.

The people who are virulently against the teaching of evolution are the strongest evidence that there is no evolution.