paleonet Alabama anti-evolution bill passes in committee

From the Tuscaloosa News:

Bill pushing alternatives to evolution moves ahead

By PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press Writer
March 10, 2004

Religious groups are successfully pushing legi slation that would protect
science teachers in Alabama's public schools and colleges who offer
students alternatives to evolution.

A Senate committee approved one version of the bill Wednesday, and a House
committe! e passed a similar version a week ago. The two bills now go to the
Senate and House for consideration.

John Giles, state president of the Christian Coalition, said the
legislation "gives a license to teachers to teach alternative views on
evolut ion and provides a statutory safety net against frivolous lawsuits
from groups like the ACLU."

Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association,
said the teachers who belong to his organization have not complained of a ny
major problems, and AEA is not taking a position on the bill.

"It's more of a political issue than an issue in the classroom. I don't
know of a single incident in the classroom, but it's one of those political
issues that people like to jump on," Hubbert said.

The Senate Education Committee voted 7-0 Wednesday for legislation,
sponsored by Sen. Wendell Mitchell, D-Luverne, that says no public school
or college teacher in Alabama shall be terminate! d, disciplined or denied
tenure for presenting alternatives to evolution. The legislation also says
students can't be penalized for subscribing to a particular position on the
origin of life, "so long as he or she demonstrates acceptable understa nding
of course materials."

Similar legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jim Carns, R-Mountain Brook, got
approved by the House Education Committee 10-2 on March 3.

Larry Darby, a Montgomery attorney and president of the Atheist Law Center ,
said the bill ignores the scientific evidence behind evolution and is an
attempt by religious groups to get God into the classroom.

He predicted that if the Legislature passes the bill, it will be challenged
in court.

Interim St ate Superintendent of Education Joe Morton said he has no problem
with the legislation. He said the State Board of Education has already done
several things on the issue, including putting a sticker in the front of
biolog! y books that say evolution is a "controversial theory."

The board has also adopted a policy that encourages students "to wrestle
with the unanswered questions and unresolved problems still faced by
evolutionary theory."

Proponents of the le gislation say it doesn't allow science teachers to skip
evolution and only teach other positions. True academic freedom ought to
include a full discussion, said the Rev. Dan Ireland, a Southern Baptist
minister and executive director of the Ala bama Citizens Action Program.

"Academic freedom means you pursue all aspects of a subject and then you
come to your own conclusions," Ireland said. "To many people the creation
aspect is more real and plausible than any others taught."
< BR>Dail Mullins