Evolution to Be Taught as Scientific 'Theory' in Florida Because of Right-Wing Campaign

Today, Florida's Board of Education voted 4-3 to change standards for teaching science in Florida's public schools. The Miami Herald reports:

For the first time ever, evolution is to be taught clearly and explicitly in Florida classrooms now that the Florida Board of Education Tuesday approved a batch of new science standards that says the "E" word.

Previously, Florida's science standards referred to evolution as "biological changes over time." The shift to evolution was widely embraced by Florida's scientists, school teachers, and university professors.

Yet a successful lobbying campaign by a coalition of conservative groups, such as the Christian Coalition of Florida and the Florida Family Policy Council, managed to convince the board to insert the caveat. They said they were "vigorously opposed" to the evolution language because it "clashes with their religious convictions or their personal beliefs that evolution has not been proved."

Unfortunately, however, the right's tactics seemed to be mostly driven by ignorance. At a public hearing, one Florida Panhandle resident held up two oranges and mockingly said that "after reading all the material" on evolution, he has a "conviction" that one of the oranges "is the first cousin of somebody's pet cat" and the other, "the parent of somebody's pet dog." Watch it to your right.