Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal worries me. Not because I’m very, very liberal. Not because I voted for somebody else. Truth be told, I didn’t vote this go ’round. No, Jindal worries me because I believe there’s virtue inherent in a well-educated electorate. I believe the sanctity of science is of paramount importance to our children. Jindal does not. According to The Daily Reveille’s Sept. 28 news story “Top four candidates face off in debate,” Jindal said “he would not force any school to teach creationism, but would leave it to individual school districts.” Thankfully, Jindal said he would not advocate any program which would draw legal opposition. Instead, he would “model it after schools in the country that have found ways to teach creationism theories without successful opposition.” This should be deeply troubling to all of us privileged enough to receive higher education. Let’s face it – students at this University are statistical outliers. If you believe the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the United States Department of Education, Louisiana students consistently rank among the lowest in the nation in both the liberal arts and hard sciences. Considering how poorly our state performs in educational assessments, it’s a wonder we made it to a university at all. And that’s what’s got me worried. Louisiana students have enough disadvantages to deal with. The last thing we need is politicians undermining science education by bringing religion into the classroom. Jindal’s anti-science agenda is nothing new. Internet-savvy students need only turn to Google.com – this isn’t the first time Jindal has endorsed religious beliefs being taught as science. While The Daily Reveille notes Jindal’s sympathy to Biblical creationism, The New York Times called Jindal a proponent of “Intelligent Design.” You say “tomato,” I say “tomato.” They’re the same damn thing. Neither creationism nor Intelligent Design – which is just creationism given a shiny paint job with 21st century sparkle – belong in Louisiana schools. This isn’t a bold statement because it’s OK to be a Christian. It’s OK to believe in the book of Genesis. It’s okay to believe in the Bible. Really, it is. But belief in a beautiful story doesn’t mean that story is suddenly legitimate science. Science and belief are often different, if not adversarial. Intelligent Design, however, is not OK. It’s not beautiful. And it’s not science. The entire “theory” is predicated on the assertion that the complexity of the world necessitates a “creator” that can only be God. That’s barely even profound. The premises and key claims of ID can never be verified, which makes its claim to being “science” at best dubious. It’s certainly not original – Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine at least did a bang-up job on their teleological arguments. Jindal’s suggestion that ID could be taught alongside evolution is unconscionable for a man who campaigned on educational reform. ID is antithetical to the next generation of Louisianans’ education. That this is even up for debate tells us at least one reason why Louisiana never improves the fundamentals of science education enough to turn our state around. “Creation Science,” “Biblical Creationism,” and “Intelligent Design” are wonderful things to discuss in Sunday School. I just pray our Gov.-elect reneges on his promise to bring these stories out of the churches and into the classrooms. In the interest of fairness, I’m not even sure if Jindal could get this off the ground. The 1987 Supreme Court decision Edwards v. Aguillard seems to have shut the door on requiring school systems to “balance” teaching evolution with the inclusion of creation science, ruling the Louisiana law in question violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. But what scares me is Jindal just might try to do it anyway. So yeah, I’m worried about Bobby. I’m worried about Louisiana, too. Most of all, I’m worried the damage a governor complicit in the partisan debunking of established science would do to the education of Louisiana’s next generation of citizens. If we’re the creative class, then our children will be the budding scientists, mathematicians, artists and thinkers who propel our state through the next century. All we can give them is a competitive education. Casting unreasonable and disproportionate doubt on the hard sciences in the pursuit of a political agenda doesn’t strike me as what’s best for the future of our state. Or even legal. On this issue, Jindal’s track record leaves me with nothing but questions. These questions are not seemly, and I ordinarily find matters of faith to be impolite discussion. But, to quote Barbara Forrest in a letter to The [Hammond] Daily Star, Jindal’s “religious views should be no one else’s concern, but he has made them everyone’s concern.”
—-Contact Neal Hebert at [email protected]
Governor’s office no place for fire and brimstone
By Neal Hebert
November 28, 2007