Monday, June 16, 2008

Academic Freedom and ID

Brian Angliss at Scholars & Rogues has a lengthy post on the wave of "academic freedom" bills that are sweeping the country. After a mildly humorous introduction in the style of Genesis, he writes:

On the face of it, the language quoted above for these two laws isn’t really a problem. Of course, as it stands, most science teachers in the country already work hard to have an “open and objective discussion” of any scientific theories they teach, and to help their students “understand, analyze, critique, and review” those theories. So, on the face of it, both of these laws are entirely unnecessary.

But a little research reveals the state legislators who introduced the Michigan bill once introduced intelligent design-teaching legislation in Michigan. And that the religious Louisiana Family Forum was responsible for convincing the Louisiana bill’s sponsor to introduce it in the first place. Of course, the fact that the two bills have nearly identical language means that there’s a good chance they come from the same source, possibly the Discovery Institute, which has the text of the Louisiana bill on its website.

This hearkens back to the Dover Trial and "cdesign proponentsists" Although the sponsors of these bills claim to want critical teaching in science, in reality, they just don't want evolution taught. Read the whole thing.

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