Again there is a push in the wonderfully tolerant state of Oklahoma to dumb down the science standards and try to get intelligent design, creationism, god pulled the earth out of a hat, or whatever you want to call this crap. Senate Bill 320 (link here) is being touted as an "academic freedom" bill, but it's just what these bills always are, and attempt to sneak ID (intelligent design) into our public schools.

I hope you will actually take some time and read this bill and see how it is worded to sound like a good thing. Of course we want teachers to give our children all the scientific evidence available on any theory, but it specifically mentions only evolution, chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning (possibly meaning stem cell research, I don't know, I didn't write it). These are all controversial topics according to the religious right, but not so much in the scientific community. The general consensus among almost all scientists is that evolution occurs by natural selection, global warming is caused by man. There is some controversy about the origins of life, but not involving the supernatural, and cloning, but not whether or not a cloned human has a soul (they are basically just a test tube twin for the person being cloned).

Personally if I had a child in the public school system I would not want the school teaching my child that there is this other "theory" called intelligent design that says that a higher intelligent being *cough god cough* that at the very least set everything into motion supernaturally. This has very clear religious connotation despite what its proponents may tell you. It is the parents' and churches' jobs to brainwash children with this anti-science dogma: "If there is something that can't be explained by science right now then god must have done it." Just the lame god of the gaps theory over again packaged nicely in pseudo-science. Let the religious establishment and the parents teach their kids this if they want, but keep pseudo-science and religion out of our public school system.

I believe that most members of the moral majority would agree that HIV causes AIDS and that the Holocaust happened, under the academic freedom law these could be taught just as easily in the classroom as alternative theories too. There is just as much evidence for these as there is for ID and global warming denial.

I really hope that the Oklahoma Senate is smart enough not to pass this terrible bill, but I'm sure most of them are right wing evolution haters and global warming deniers, so I guess we will see.

We are not a Christian nation, we were founded on separation of church and state so that the government could not favor any religion in its policy nor force it on anyone. Keep your religion out of our government and especially our public schools.

(I learned of this new bill because of science blogger ERV. Thanks.)