{"id":485,"date":"2008-03-03T21:29:46","date_gmt":"2008-03-04T02:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=485"},"modified":"2008-08-06T12:14:27","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T16:14:27","slug":"creationism-bill-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=485","title":{"rendered":"Creationism bill roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concerning the recent creationism bill (“academic freedom act”) filed in the state senate:<\/p>\n

The St. Pete Times education blog has the news release<\/a> put out by Terry Kemple’s Community Issues Council. Check this opening paragraph out:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The evolution \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsacred cow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 must be submitted to scrutiny in American education,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Terry Kemple. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anyone in academia who strays from the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdoctrine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of marching lock step in support of the theory of evolution risks persecution and blackballing in their career.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It also says, “Kemple, President of Community Issues Council, worked closely with the Senate sponsor to get the bill filed in the Florida Senate.” Yes, but who actually wrote this bill, Kemple? The Orlando Sentinel education blog<\/a> knows what is up:<\/p>\n

The bill is much like the sample one posted on the website of the Discovery Institute, which advocates for Intelligent Design. And it is controversial because many scientists (and their backers) say there are no other “scientific views” about evolution, only religion-in-disguise beliefs.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, during the debate on the standards, Stemberger and other opponents of the new standards said they were not pushing for the teaching of “any other theory of the origin of life.” They said they want evolution taught but not as “dogma,” and in a way that allows “critical analysis” of it. Much of their agenda — and even some of their catch phrases — seems in lockstep with the the Discovery Institute.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See for yourself: Storms\/Kemple bill here<\/a>. Discovery Institute bill <\/a>.<\/p>\n

I spoke with a reporter this morning about this bill. I had three basic things to say, but it looks like the media is picking up on some of this nicely on their own.<\/p>\n

1 — This academic freedom stuff is merely the next evolutionary step as anti-science folks continue their attempts to shove creationism into the public school classroom. First, there was blatant creationism. Next there was intelligent design. Both failed miserably. Now comes along academic freedom. Same smelly crap, different packaging.<\/p>\n

2 — Simply put, there are no other scientific theories challenging evolution. None. Nil. Zero. Zip. So, what is the academic purpose of this bill then?<\/p>\n

3 — This bill will fade away and die. Kinda like in Alabama<\/a>. There were also threats of such a bill in Utah<\/a>. And there was Oklahoma<\/a>. And Maryland<\/a>. Well, you get the point.<\/p>\n

I’m not giving away any trade secrets here. These are just the ABCs of fighting the anti-science crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concerning the recent creationism bill (“academic freedom act”) filed in the state senate: The St. Pete Times education blog has the news release put out by Terry Kemple’s Community Issues Council. Check this opening paragraph out: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The evolution \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsacred cow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-7P","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1196,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1196","url_meta":{"origin":485,"position":0},"title":"Keep an eye on Hillsborough","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Sure, we may have missed out on a great show in Pinellas County when a potential candidate who had serious problems with basic science understanding didn't qualify in time to officially run. But another opportunity has presented itself in Hillsborough County. Terry Kemple is running for a seat on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1196#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1718,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1718","url_meta":{"origin":485,"position":1},"title":"Hillsborough school board election in the spotlight","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A runoff election for a spot on the Hillsborough County School Board is an interesting one. Carol Kurdell is facing off against a person well known to us here at Florida Citizens for Science: creationist Terry Kemple. Hard-working insider, conservative with an agenda facing off in Hillsborough School Board race:\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1718#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1570,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1570","url_meta":{"origin":485,"position":2},"title":"Florida legislature changes","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The ever vigilant Sensuous Curmudgeon spotted a couple of departures from our dysfunctional Florida legislature that have implications for the future of antievolution efforts in Florida. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll repeat the announcements here, but there are also a few other changes that escaped his notice that are definitely worth mentioning. First of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1570#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":553,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=553","url_meta":{"origin":485,"position":3},"title":"Tampa folks: FCS on TV","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Everyone in the Tampa area is encouraged at check out Florida Citizens for Science president Joe Wolf on a show called Flashpoint on the local ABC affiliate. Joe wasn't sure when his particular episode will run, but the website says the show airs on Sundays at 11 a.m. The show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCS in the News"","block_context":{"text":"FCS in the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1629,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1629","url_meta":{"origin":485,"position":4},"title":"Campaign websites","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Terry Kemple, a current candidate running for a seat on the Hillsborough County School Board, was a very vocal antievolution advocate during the 2008 Florida science standards fight and subsequent \"academic freedom\" bills fight in the state legislature. He then tried to get onto the Hillsborough County School Board in\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1629#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2530,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2530","url_meta":{"origin":485,"position":5},"title":"Baxley and the Religious Liberties Act","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I told you about the\u00c2\u00a0\"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\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\/485"}],"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=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}