Tennessee Senate Passes Law Protecting Anti-Evolution Teachers…Is This a Return to 1925 Scopes Trial?

Friday, March 23, 2012
State Sen. Bo Watson
Tennessee, the state that produced the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925, is coming close to adopting a new law that allows teachers to question the “scientific strengths” of evolution.
 
The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson), says that teachers would still be forbidden from discussing their own religious view and that, “The idea behind this bill is that students should be encouraged to challenge current scientific thought and theory.”
 
Critics of the legislation say it will promote the teaching of creationism in classrooms. Opponents include the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the American Institute for Biological Sciences, as well as several news and teachers organizations.
 
The bill cleared the state Senate 24-8 and now heads to the House, where lawmakers passed a similar proposal last year.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 
To Learn More:
Anti-Evolution Class Discussions Get Senate's OK (by Tom Humphrey, Knoxville News)

"Monkey Bill" Passes Tennessee Senate (National Center for Science Education) 

Comments

yarply 12 years ago
good. maybe soon we can emerge from the ignorance of the dark ages into the glorious light of sanity. maybe soon schools will stop teaching children they are animals.
yarply 12 years ago
tn. at least one state is returning debate to a debatable theory which has lacked debate. in the case of evolution would someone explain which came first. the eye or the brain.
Brandt Hardin 12 years ago
tennessee is dead-set on herding its citizens back to the dark ages. in the past two years, the governor and republican party have squashed gay rights statutes in the city of nashville, developed laws targeting peaceful protesters and made it illegal to post “potentially offensive images” to the internet. the “monkey law” now brings religion back into the classroom by opening debate for creationism. in addition, a new law puts the ten commandments back in public buildings around the state. there is a clear cut suppression of progressive thinking by the republican party and i addressed these issues “illegally” on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/07/potentially-offensive-portrait-governor.html with a portrait of the governor to address his party’s absurd agendas.

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