Apparently, lawmakers in Louisiana don’t want students to be scientifically literate.
A controversial law—the result of the deceptively named Louisiana Science Education Act that was passed in 2008—injects religion into science classrooms through the state-sanctioned teaching of creationism and intelligent design. This law also encourages school administrators and teachers to misrepresent and attack evolution’s acceptance by the scientific community.
Fortunately, Senator Karen Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans) recently filed Senate Bill 374 to repeal this act, but we need your help to get it passed.
Here are the facts: the Science Education Act requires state and local education administrators to promote “open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.” It also permits teachers to use “supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner.”
Senate Bill 374 will end the distribution of unscientific literature in science classrooms and stop the teaching of creationism and intelligent design. Recently, 74 Nobel laureate scientists have spoken in favor of passing this bill and repealing the LSEA.
The American Humanist Association is committed to defending sound science education in public schools. With the AHA’s 71st Annual Conference to be held in New Orleans this June, we must lend our support to the Louisiana state senators who value education.
I ask you to join this important repeal effort by taking action now.Thank you for standing up for science.
Sincerely,
Roy Speckhardt
Executive Director