The subject of creationism in public school classrooms has once again taken precedence in the South’s legislative season.
In Tennessee, where John Scopes was memorably tried for defying a legislative act barring evolution from being taught in public schools, science education seems to have taken a step backward with a bill that would “embolden teachers who want to bring their own beliefs into the classroom,” according to Hedy Weinberg, the head of the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU.
Tennessee’s “monkey bill” (as it has come to be called) isn’t the first bill to attempt to indelicately push creationism (at times called Intelligent Design or, in House Bill 368’s case, “critical thinking”) into the classroom.
It follows in the footsteps of several other bills, including the misleadingly named Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008, which has been criticized as “stealth legislation” allowing teachers to include creationism in their lessons.
The LSEA doesn’t specifically allow for creationism to be taught in Louisiana classrooms. Rather, its equivocal wording allows for a variety of supplemental texts (like the pro-Intelligent Design textbook “Of Pandas and People”) to be taught at the teacher’s discretion.
Three years later, Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, introduced SB 70, which would repeal LSEA if enacted.
Finally.
While the usefulness and honesty of vaguely worded “stealth legislation” is itself questionable, the bill itself is unquestionably a hindrance to science education in Louisiana. The words may be vague, but the spirit of the act is decidedly anti-science, partially written as it were by pro-Intelligent Design association The Discovery Institute. To date, both the Livingston Parish and Tangipahoa Parish school board members have discussed using the law to unconstitutionally teach creationism.
Yes, unconstitutional. Barring discussion of Thomas Jefferson’s philosophy and the Treaty of Tripoli (1797), a more recent Supreme Court decision decided it so.
Heard by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1987, Edwards v. Aguillard was a legal case that centered on the teaching of creationism in Louisiana.
The Court ruled that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools, along with evolution, was unconstitutional because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion. While the Court stated science education could certainly be improved by the teaching of a variety of scientific theories, it also emphasized the education must be secular.
In support of Aguillard, 72 Nobel prize-winning scientists and several other scientific organizations filed amicus briefs that described creation science as being comprised of religious tenets.
History repeats itself. Recently, 42 Nobel Laureates in the areas of physics, chemistry, and physiology and medicine signed a petition specifically asking members of the Louisiana Legislature to repeal LSEA.
“As Nobel Laureates in various scientific fields, we urge you to repeal the misnamed and misguided Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA) of 2008. This law creates a pathway for creationism and other forms of non-scientific instruction to be taught in public school science classrooms,” the petition reads.
Creationism is ultimately an idea steeped in Christian theology that has its own forum for discussion: church.
Misguided would-be missionaries must realize that it is not the job of the school to teach students about something that is ultimately a private matter, nor is it in the student’s best interest to allow a teacher to lecture on such a subjective topic. And, well, I really can’t say it better than 42 Nobel Laureates:
“Science offers testable, and therefore falsifiable, explanations for natural phenomena. Because it requires supernatural explanations of natural phenomena, creationism does not meet these standards.”
By allowing the teaching of religion under the guise of science, teachers and legislators mislead students and leave them ill-prepared for the future. If legislators are truly looking out for the future of Louisiana, they will do us all a service and repeal LSEA.
Macy Linton is a 19-year-old international studies freshman from Memphis, Tenn. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_Mlinton.
 
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Contact Macy Linton at [email protected]