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The Critic's Resource on AntiEvolution

NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/03/14

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

The Louisiana legislature takes a step toward repealing the
creationist bill it enacted in 1981, while a Darwin Day bill is
introduced in the Hawaii legislature. The Baton Rouge Advocate
reaffirms its endorsement of the proposed repeal of the so-called
Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008. And NCSE attains its 40,000th
Facebook fan.

LOUISIANA EDGES TOWARD REPEALING 1981 CREATIONIST LAW

Louisiana's Senate Bill 70, which if enacted would repeal the state's
Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act,
passed the Senate Education Committee on March 12, 2014, according to
the New Orleans Times-Picayune (March 12, 2014). Enacted in 1981, the
Balanced Treatment Act was declared to be unconstitutional by the
United States Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987. Yet it
remains on the books.

SB 70 was passed "without action," which the Times-Picayune explains
allowed the committee "to move the bill to a vote of the full Senate
without formally approving or opposing it." In 2013, a proposal to
repeal the Balanced Treatment Act (included in Senate Bill 205) was
passed by the Senate, only to be removed by a conference committee
before a final version of the bill was passed by both houses of the
Louisiana legislature.

Dan Claitor (R-District 6), the sponsor of SB 70 and the legislator
who in 2013 amended SB 205 to include a repeal of the Balanced
Treatment Act, emphasized that his bill targeted the Balanced
Treatment Act alone, not "the Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008.
This is a 33[-]year[-]old bill that was found unconstitutional 27
years ago." There is a current bill that would, if enacted, repeal the
so-called Louisiana Science Education Act: Senate Bill 175.

Lenny Ditoro, who is reportedly associated with the Louisiana Family
Forum, spoke in opposition to SB 70, saying, "the legislation
represented the opinion of [the] Louisiana legislature at the time
[and] is a matter of history of this body." In 2013, opposition to the
repeal was voiced by Ben Nevers (R-District 12), who argued instead
that it would be useful for the law to be on the books in case the
Edwards decision is ever reversed.

For the text of Louisiana's Senate Bill 70 as introduced, visit:
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=871510 

For the story from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, visit:
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/creationism_science_education_0312.html 

For the text of Louisiana's Senate Bill 175 as introduced, visit:
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=875625 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Louisiana, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/louisiana 

DARWIN DAY BILL IN HAWAII

House Resolution 145, introduced in the Hawaii House of
Representatives on March 7, 2014, would, if enacted, express the
House's recognition of February 12 of each year as Darwin Day "to
celebrate all of Charles Darwin's achievements in the field of
science."

The resolution is unusual in establishing Darwin Day on a perennial
basis: previous Darwin Day resolutions, such as Virginia's House
Resolution 884 in 2009, typically designate February 12 of the current
year as Darwin Day. The sole sponsor of HR 145 is Kaniela Ing
(D-District 11).

For the text of Hawaii's House Resolution 145 as introduced, visit:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2014/bills/HR145_.htm 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Hawaii, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/hawaii 

BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE ENDORSES REPEAL EFFORT AGAIN

The Baton Rouge Advocate (March 9, 2014) reaffirmed its editorial
support (previously expressed in 2013) for the attempt to repeal
Louisiana's so-called Science Education Act, which, Governor Bobby
Jindal told NBC News in 2013, permits the teaching of creationism,
including "intelligent design." Senate Bill 175, prefiled by Karen
Carter Peterson (D-District 5) in the Louisiana Senate on February 25,
2014, and provisionally referred to the Senate Committee on Education,
is the fourth attempt to repeal the act.

"If Louisiana allowed teachers to instruct students that the sun
revolves around the Earth, there would likely be outrage at such an
affront to science and education," the Advocate's editorial commented.
"Yet that is just about what is in state law when it comes to
evolution and the processes by which life developed on Earth. It's
just as mistaken to allow -- actually, encourage -- teachers to adopt
'supplemental materials' that 'critique' evolution, because evolution
is as fundamental to biological sciences as the planets are to
astronomy."

The editorial also expressed hope that "the Legislature will listen to
reason and repeal the statute. Previous efforts have been scuttled in
Senate committee, where the backers of creationism have more sway.
Once a repeal bill gets to the floor, given how the law makes
Louisiana look like Hicksville with a French accent, we like its
chances." The previous attempts to repeal the LSEA were shelved by
increasingly narrow votes of the Senate Education Committee: 5-1 in
2011, 2-1 in 2012, and 3-2 in 2013.

Endorsers of the repeal effort include the Louisiana Coalition for
Science, the Louisiana Association of Biology Educators, the New
Orleans City Council,  the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the American
Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society
for Cell Biology, the National Association of Biology Teachers, and a
group of seventy-eight Nobel laureates in the sciences, representing
nearly 40% of living Nobel laureates in the sciences.

For the 2014 and 2013 editorials in the Baton Rouge Advocate, visit:
http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/8485234-123/our-views-the-opposite-of 
http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/5482640-123/our-views-a-new-effort 

For the text of Louisiana's Senate Bill 175 as introduced (PDF), visit:
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=875625&n=SB175%20Original 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Louisiana, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/louisiana 

FACEBOOK: N > 40,000

A milestone: there are now over 40,000 fans of NCSE's Facebook page.
Why not join them, by visiting the page and becoming a fan by clicking
on the "Like" box by NCSE's name? You'll receive the latest NCSE news
delivered straight to your Facebook Home page, as well as updates on
evolution-related and climate-related topics. Or if you prefer your
news in 140-character chunks, follow NCSE on Twitter. And while you're
surfing the web, why not visit NCSE's YouTube channel, with hundreds
of videos for your watching pleasure? It's the best place on the web
to view talks by NCSE's staff, including the new series of activist
workshop webinars.

For NCSE's Facebook page, Twitter feed, and YouTube channel, visit:
http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse 
http://twitter.com/ncse 
http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd 

WHAT'S NEW FROM THE SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

Have you been visiting NCSE's blog, The Science League of America,
recently? If not, then you've missed:

* Mark McCaffrey reviewing Eisenhower's contributions to science education:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/i-like-ike-0015404 

* Steve Newton discussing the creationist backlash to the reboot of Cosmos:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/cosmos-creationists-why-some-people-hate-science-television-0015444 

* Ann Reid recounting her evolutionary adventures on Heron Island:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/occasional-evolutionist-0015451 

* Minda Berbeco criticizing Patrick Moore's climate change denial:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/like-wow-denial-is-lame-0015441 

* Glenn Branch uncovering the identity of a missing witness from the
Scopes trial:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/bryan-s-missing-witness-part-1-0015431 
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/bryan-s-missing-witness-part-2-0015432 

And much more besides!

For The Science League of America, visit:
http://ncse.com/blog 

Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website --
http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on 
evolution and climate education and threats to them.

--
Sincerely,

Glenn Branch
Deputy Director
National Center for Science Education, Inc.
420 40th Street, Suite 2
Oakland, CA 94609-2509
510-601-7203 x305
fax: 510-601-7204
800-290-6006
branch@ncse.com 
http://ncse.com 

Check out NCSE's new blog, Science League of America:
http://ncse.com/blog 

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http://reports.ncse.com 

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