The Christian Right's Got a New Stealth Tactic to Smuggle Creationism into Science Class

In the 21 years Patsye Peebles taught biology in Louisiana public schools, she never received one complaint from parents for teaching evolution.

"The bottom line is that I never questioned their faith," she said.

Whenever she had a student who brought up creationism, she always made it clear that science is science, and religion is religion.

"I wanted them to understand," Peebles said, "that science has to be testable and proven with evidence."

Whether they agreed with evolution or not, Peebles wanted her students to become what she calls "biologically literate citizens." Now she worries that a new Louisiana law, which would encourage teachers to question evolution, will push the state's education backward. 

"My whole curriculum was based on evolution, I integrated it into everything I taught," said Peebles, who testified against the law in a state Senate hearing and serves as a regional coordinator for the National Association of Biology Teachers.

"Now this muddies the waters and keeps students from having a really good education," she said. "When they go to college, they will be at a disadvantage because they will not have a good understanding of science."

Already, more than half of the state's eighth-graders lack basic competence in science, according to recent national test scores.

But despite pleas from scientists, civil liberties activists and educators like Peebles, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed Louisiana Senate Bill 733 into law. The new statute will allow teachers to introduce into the classroom "supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials" about evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning.

The "Science Education Act," as it is known to the law's proponents, is the first such "academic freedom" bill to make it into the law books. The Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that promotes intelligent design, is coordinating the promotion of similar bills throughout the country -- this year in states including Florida, Alabama, Missouri, Michigan and South Carolina.

"These bills are full of creationist code language," said Barbara Forrest, a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University. "The phrase 'academic freedom' has been used by creationists for decades."

Forrest is co-author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, a 2004 book that exposed the theocratic agenda of the Discovery Institute and other creationist organizations. She is leading the Louisiana Coalition for Science, a network of individuals and groups who organized opposition to SB 733.

Measures like Louisiana's new anti-evolution law are key pieces of the Religious Right agenda. Americans United for Separation of Church and State and its allies believe the Science Education Act is another attempt to force religion into public schools. AU has warned that lawsuits will result if Louisiana introduces religion into classrooms.

The major force behind the law in Louisiana is the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), a Religious Right organization that actively promotes creationism. The LFF, which is a state affiliate of James Dobson's Focus on the Family, suggested the measure to its sponsor, Sen. Ben Nevers (D-Bogalusa).

In the past, Nevers repeatedly tried to push through legislation promoting creationism. In 2001, he voted in favor of a measure declaring Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution to be the cause for racism.

Nevers also introduced a resolution encouraging schools not to purchase textbooks that "do not provide students with opportunities to learn that there are differing scientific views on certain controversial issues in science."

Though he insists the new law he sponsored is not intended to promote creationism in public schools, Nevers was caught telling the Hammond Daily Star otherwise.