Florida Citizens for Science

I told you about the “Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act” (House Bill 303) filed in the Florida house and my concerns with it. Today, a companion bill was filed in the senate: Senate Bill 436. It’s a duplicate of the house bill.

I’ve seen troublesome bills in past years that were only filed in one chamber but not the other. Those bills always faded away, usually without even getting a hearing in any committees. But seeing that the current bill has versions filed in both chambers heightens my concern. That increases the chances of it at least making it out of the starting gate, so to speak.

Another thing to worry about is who filed the senate bill: Dennis Baxley. He was a representative in the state house back in 2005 when he sponsored an infamous bill titled The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights. That bill would have prevented “biased indoctrination” by “the classroom dictator.” In defense of that bill he related an upsetting personal story of a Florida State University professor ranting against creationism in class. You can read more about that bill in chapter 8 of Going Ape: Florida’s Battles over Evolution in the Classroom. (Please excuse the shameless self promotion … but I think the fact that Baxley is back in action is a good reason to get up to speed on his history, don’t you think?)

In 2008 we here at Florida Citizens for Science were deeply involved in the brawl over the inclusion of evolution in the new state science standards. Baxley was then executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida and he had a firm opinion about the issue:

“There is no justification for singling out evolution for special skepticism or critical analysis,” wrote Richard T. O’Grady, executive director of the American Institute of Biological Sciences in a Feb. 8 letter to the Board of Education. “Its strength as a scientific theory matches that of the theory of gravitation, atomic theory and the germ theory.”

The response from Dennis Baxley, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida: “He’s in error.”

“At one time, the scientific community thought that for good health, you should attach leaches to your body,” said Baxley, a former state representative from Ocala. “We’re just asking them to leave the door open a little bit” for other evidence to be considered.

Stay tuned …

House Bill 303, filed Thursday (1/19) by Rep. Kimberly Daniels, has the potential for serious trouble. The “Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act” has two troublesome sections that could impact science education.

The bill is broad, with the purpose of protecting/allowing students and others in the school system free religious expression without fear of discrimination. On the surface, that’s a noble desire. But there are booby traps littering the five-page bill that could blow up in many places, including the science classroom.

The first cause for alarm comes early in the bill:

A school district may not discriminate against a student, parent, or school personnel on the basis of a religious viewpoint or religious expression.

That single sentence can kick open the door for creationists and even climate change deniers in instructional positions to freely express their anti-science views in the classroom. And that sentence actually is alone. The bulk of the bill addresses students’ religious expression while just this one sentence mentions rights for school personnel. There are no further details or explanation to go with that single statement, leaving it wide open to interpretation and abuse.

The other cause for alarm can be found here:

A student may express his or her religious beliefs in coursework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination. A student’s homework and classroom assignments shall be evaluated, regardless of their religious content, based on expected academic standards relating to the course curriculum and requirements. A student may not be penalized or rewarded based on the religious content of his or her work if the coursework, artwork, or other written or oral assignments require a student’s viewpoint to be expressed.

On the one hand, anti-science views expressed by students can be tempered with the “expected academic standards” requirement. And keeping assignments fact based can eliminate anti-science “student’s viewpoint” issues. On the other hand, there is too much wiggle room in there that could allow students or their parents to make trouble for teachers teaching reality-based science. Even though teachers can use academic standards to defend themselves, this paragraph in the bill can still have a chilling effect on teachers who want to avoid conflicts.

This bill is not strictly an anti-science or creationist one, but it certainly can be used for those purposes if signed into law as is. There is also the very real and dangerous possibility of the bill being amended and otherwise modified during the legislative session to include creationist and deceptively called “academic freedom” language. We need to keep an eye on it for the next few months.

It’s also worth noting that the bill sponsor runs Kimberly Daniels Ministries International and affiliated organizations. A quick Internet search doesn’t turn up any statements about evolution or creationism by Daniels. But she certainly has a colorful history:

Daniels has gained as much attention for her work on the [Jacksonville City] council as her background as an ex-prostitute and a minister who performs exorcisms. Her sermons — some have been criticized as offensive against Jews and homosexuals — can be heard on local television and seen on the internet. She was also featured on a television show in 2012, where she is shown speaking in “tongues” and wildly performing exorcisms at her Jacksonville church.