{"id":2775,"date":"2017-06-10T08:18:29","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T12:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2017-06-10T08:33:08","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T12:33:08","slug":"governor-signs-religious-liberties-bill-into-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2775","title":{"rendered":"Governor signs Religious Liberties bill into law"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida legislature presented Governor Rick Scott with the Religious Liberties bill on Monday and on Friday he signed it into law<\/a>. There are two sections of the bill<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(link to pdf) that concern us here at Florida Citizens for Science. One of them is:<\/p>\n

A school district may not discriminate against a student, parent, or school personnel on the basis of a religious viewpoint or religious expression.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"open-your-text-books-2\"<\/a>There is no further explanation of that sentence. News stories have pointed out that the law says\u00c2\u00a0school personnel can participate in student-led religious activities, which is true. But that provision is in a separate section of the law as written. So, the above statement, taken at face value, says that a teacher who expresses a religious view will not be discriminated against. How far can that be taken? Will a creationist teacher be allowed to counter evolution lessons with creationist statements and then claim it’s permitted under this Florida law if confronted?<\/p>\n

It appears that is how others are interpreting the law. The Florida Citizens’ Alliance, which is actively fighting against evolution and climate change in textbooks, has boldly stated their intention to use this law<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The group [Florida Citizens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Alliance] supported legislation that also passed Friday to protect students and educators who wish to express their religious beliefs in school from discrimination. If signed by the governor, Flaugh said his group will use it in conjunction with the instructional materials bill to contest textbooks that demonstrate \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bias toward Islam and seldom mention Christianity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and promote those that push for a Christian view of the origins of life.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Darwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory is a theory, and the biblical view is a theory, and our kids should be taught both in a balanced way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The other section of the new law that has us worried is:<\/p>\n

A student may express his or her religious beliefs in coursework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination. A student\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s viewpoint to be expressed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s say that a student is given an assignment related to evolution. A student parrots the correct evolution explanation (in compliance with what the law says about evaluating assignments) but then adds creationist views. Can the teacher do anything? Teachers typically get to know their students throughout the year and it may be clear to the teacher that this student doesn’t actually understand evolution. Would it be considered “discrimination” if the teacher wants to do remediation with the student in an effort to help the student learn and understand the science?<\/p>\n

The bill is signed into law. What now? If this new law concerns you, then it’s up to you to do something at the local level. Simply liking and sharing on social media doesn’t get the job done. You have to be an active participant in the business of your local school board and local schools. If you don’t stand up for science education where you live, who will?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Florida legislature presented Governor Rick Scott with the Religious Liberties bill on Monday and on Friday he signed it into law. There are two sections of the bill\u00c2\u00a0(link to pdf) that concern us here at Florida Citizens for Science. … 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-IL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2768,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2768","url_meta":{"origin":2775,"position":0},"title":"Give the Devil his Due","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"All has been very quiet concerning the odious instructional materials bill lately. The bill would allow any resident, not just parents, to protest against what's found in textbooks, including coverage of evolution, climate change, vaccines, etc. On top of that, school districts must appoint a hearing officer to consider such\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":2572,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2572","url_meta":{"origin":2775,"position":1},"title":"Update: Religious Liberties bill","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A bad bill filed in the Florida Senate by Sen. Dennis Baxley that could potentially affect science education has taken its first step forward. SB 436, entitled the Religious Liberties bill, is scheduled to be considered by the education committee on March 6 at 1:30 p.m. Many bills are filed\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":2534,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2534","url_meta":{"origin":2775,"position":2},"title":"Baxley comments on school Religious Liberties bill","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the first public comment Sen. Dennis Baxley has made concerning the\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he and Rep. Kim Daniels filed in their respective chambers:\u00c2\u00a0Florida Senate to consider public school \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcreligious liberties\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 bill The bill would allow religious clothing and jewelry. It would also allow \u00e2\u20ac\u0153religious\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":2793,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2793","url_meta":{"origin":2775,"position":3},"title":"The fight will now be won or lost where you live.","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately, the devious Instructional Materials bill, which creationists and climate change deniers absolutely love, is now signed into law by Governor Rick Scott. This means our fight is only just now beginning. Each and every one of us has to be on alert. You must keep an eye on your\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":2775,"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":2650,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2650","url_meta":{"origin":2775,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775"}],"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=2775"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2780,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions\/2780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}