Monkey Bill Passes, Setting Stage for Fresh Lawsuits

April 13, 2012  |  permalink

We now have compelling evidence that evolution doesn’t happen—at least, not in Tennessee. As of April 10, 2012, Tennessee has on its books a new law intended to undermine the teaching of evolution and promote discussion of creationism in public schools. The legislation was opposed by pretty much every credible organization involved in the teaching of biology: the National Association of Biology Teachers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, the National Earth Science Teachers Association, the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, and all eight Tennessee members of the National Academy of Sciences. But the legislators of Tennessee thought they knew better, and Governor Bill Halsam, demonstrating neither courage nor conviction, allowed the bill to pass into law without his signature.

As Rob Boston notes in Talk2Action, the bill is likely to result in a wave of lawsuits against already cash-strapped school districts. Such lawsuits will serve to further weaken public education.

The same groups that have masterminded the success of this bill and other initiatives to introduce religion into the public schools are also leading the charge to deprive the public education system of funding through voucher systems. Embroiling the public schools in needless lawsuits over the teaching of creationism, which is clearly unconstitutional, seems a particularly brutal way of siphoning money from public schools. However, it is the predictable consequence of such reckless actions.