Lauri Lebo, writing at Religion Dispatches, notes that Florida’s current antievolution bill is one among several such bills filed this year across the country: “Record Number of Stealth Creationism Bills Introduced in 2011.” She nails Senator Wise for his past statements on his wanting intelligent design taught in public schools. Thanks oh-so-much for making Florida stand out, Senator.
HB 1854 would require “a critical analysis” of the teaching of evolution in public schools. The bill is little different from legislation currently in committee in Tennessee, which says that educators may not be prohibited from “helping students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.”
As always, since intelligent design was ruled unconstitutional in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the introduced bills rely on such creationist code words as “teaching the controversy,” “academic freedom,” or “critical analysis.” However, in the case of Florida, the bill’s sponsoring lawmaker Rep. Stephen Wise had proposed similar legislation in 2009. The bill died in committee, but not before he spoke publicly about wanting to see intelligent design taught alongside evolution to promote “critical thinking.”
