{"id":2626,"date":"2017-03-23T16:54:19","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T20:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2626"},"modified":"2017-03-23T16:54:19","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T20:54:19","slug":"religious-liberties-bills-nearing-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2626","title":{"rendered":"Religious Liberties bills nearing finish line"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida Senate approved the bad Religious Liberties bill (SB 436<\/a>) on a vote of 23-13.<\/p>\n

The version in the House (HB 303<\/a>) passed through both of its committee stops on unanimous yes votes and will now go to the full House.<\/p>\n

The only thing that will stop or modify it is the fact that the House and Senate versions are a bit different. That means that when the House approves their version, there needs to be negotiations between the two chambers until they agree on a final bill. If they can’t agree, the bill can die. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.<\/p>\n

\"baxley\"<\/a>Our arguments were either not heard by Florida’s lawmakers or they were dismissed as unimportant. An article published today at least mentions our concern:\u00c2\u00a0Senate OKs school religious expression bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bill (SB 436) says school districts may not discriminate against any student, parent or school employee because they shared their religious viewpoint.<\/p>\n

But those opposed to the bill say it could open the door from everything from cracking down on science teachers who teach evolution to allowing Christian students to intimidate those of other faiths.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Could it be provoking? Could it be concerning? Yeah, that’s healthy thought. That’s what happens in a free world,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, and sponsor of the bill.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sen. Baxley has been advocating for years for challenging evolution lessons in our schools (see our post Baxley and the Religious Liberties Act<\/a>). If this bill passes, he may finally get his wish.<\/p>\n

Opening the door to unscientific, religious concepts in a public school science classroom is not “provoking” or “healthy.” It’s doing a disservice to our children who could become confused or misled about what is and is not science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Florida Senate approved the bad Religious Liberties bill (SB 436) on a vote of 23-13. The version in the House (HB 303) passed through both of its committee stops on unanimous yes votes and will now go to the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-Gm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2650,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2650","url_meta":{"origin":2626,"position":0},"title":"A Tale of Two Bills","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Religious Expression in Public Schools bills, which\u00c2\u00a0invite conflicts between creationism and evolution in science classrooms (see our\u00c2\u00a0Religious Liberties Act 2017 blog category), are nearing the finish line in the Florida legislature. The Senate version won easy approval through the entire process and the House version passed through all of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2597,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2597","url_meta":{"origin":2626,"position":1},"title":"House version of the Religious Liberties bill now moving","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been tracking the Senate version of the\u00c2\u00a0Religious Expression in Public Schools\u00c2\u00a0bill, which has successfully navigated one committee hearing and is headed for its next one next week. We are concerned with two troubling parts of the bill that could have negative implications for science education. Please see our previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2620,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2620","url_meta":{"origin":2626,"position":2},"title":"Religious Liberties bill on Senate floor Tuesday","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a few quick updates on the\u00c2\u00a0Religious Expression in Public Schools bills that we're opposed to. First, the Senate version has been approved by all of its assigned committees and is now scheduled to be debated on the Senate floor tomorrow (Tuesday). If I understand the procedure, this is an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2615,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2615","url_meta":{"origin":2626,"position":3},"title":"Lots and lots of bill updates today","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a bit to talk about today. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start with the Religious Liberties bills that we oppose on the grounds they can negatively impact science education. One passed the Senate judiciary committee this afternoon on a narrow, party line vote of 5-4. I spoke at this meeting but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2582,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2582","url_meta":{"origin":2626,"position":4},"title":"Religious Liberties bill passes Senate education committee","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A bill that is potentially harmful to science education in Florida schools was reported favorably (in other words, it passed) by the Senate education committee today. The Religious Liberties bill was passed on a party-line vote of 5-2. The Senate bill still has to get through a judiciary committee meeting,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2579,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2579","url_meta":{"origin":2626,"position":5},"title":"Religious Liberties Bill: Analysis and Fasting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I know. It's the weekend. You're recharging for the week ahead. But I have to ask you to do something on behalf of science education. I have to ask you to send some emails and make some calls. Yes, your voice matters and right now we really need it. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2627,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2626\/revisions\/2627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}