Creationist legislation introduced in Indiana

[caraher]

The chair of the Senate education committee wants to let school corporations require "creation science."

[Chellee]

1. Well this isn't a shock.

Somehow we got talking about science at work the other day and I was the only one of four that believed in evolution. And only half of us believed in Pangaea.

This is Indiana. Science is not our strong suit.

[caraher]

2. True

It's just that the last thing Indiana needs is a turn as ground zero for creationist idiocy.

[caraher]

3. And it's trucking along

Passed out of Senate committee on an 8-2 vote the same day the House approved Right to Work. What a shitty day! I believe they're taking up the creationism bill in the full Senate as soon as Monday...

[caraher]

4. Now it's a religious studies bill?

As amended yesterday, the bill reads,

The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.

So now it sounds like, if you want to teach the science of the origin of life, you must also discuss at least two religious versions of the origin of life.

I suppose it also implies that if you were teaching a course on a religion, if you mention the origin of life, you then have to bring in another religious account of the creation of life.

Evidently, the hope is that opening the door to non-Christian accounts of life's origins will pretty much keep any school corporation from trying to teach creationism.