I’d taken a bit of time off from blogging recently and missed an important story to come out of Louisiana last week. But it was a victory for sanity, so I didn’t want to let it pass without mention.
On Thursday, despite the organized anti-evolution campaign by Louisiana Family Forum, science triumphed in the state of Louisiana.The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education there voted 8-2 to approve recommended high school biology textbooks, over the objections of creationists who were horrified that teachers were going to teach their children science. In November, the state’s school board had held off adopting the biology I and biology II textbooks due to the complaints. I’ve written about it here and here.
As one of the residents, and son of Family Forum founder Darrell White, had complained, “It’s like Charles Darwin and his theory is a saint. You can’t touch it.” The Louisiana Coalition for Science has comprehensive coverage of the whole brouhaha here.
The battle originated with the Louisiana’s 2008 Science Education Act, a slippery state anti-evolution law that encourages teachers and school districts to teach creationism and intelligent design. The terms of the law gave various appointed boards power to determine what textbooks are acceptable for adoption. Those who have been battling the creationists in this latest round didn’t hold out much hope for a victory, so the vote was quite a surprise.
The whole drama reminds me of this old magazine cover from The Onion.
