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Monkey Bill (TN) passes without Governor signature

http://ncse.com/news/2012/04/monkey-bill-enacted-tennessee-007299

i guess we should consider it a minor victory that the Gov didn't sign this Bill, although it matters not. it is now law in Tennessee, at least for the time being. it's a stark reminder of the power that Religion still has in this country. that a non-argument can hold the same weight in a Science classroom as a proven Theory is a staggering admission of willful ignorance by the TN legislature. as i wrote to a one of the Bill's sponsors:

"gotta hand it to the creationists. no matter how many times they've been defeated (all but in Louisiana) they keep finding new ways to try to worm their way into Science classrooms around the US. "teach the controversy", even if there isn't one.

one side has millions of pieces of evidence, fossils, genetics, experiments, and data. the other side says "god did it". one side argues for descent with modification, the other side advocates abiogenesis through intelligent design (which are completely different arguments!). one side is demonstrative and testable, the other side is not. one side is the backbone of which all Biology and Medicine is based upon. the other is nonsensical and unnecessary. which should we be teaching our students?"

one might think that something like this would be front page news, or an issue for talking heads on CNN, MSNBC, or even at Fox News (proclaiming victory, no doubt!). i mean, Science just lost to Religion!! it's as simple as that. Myth winning out over lab results. that's a monumental achievement!

so why won't we hear about this from the mainstream press? where's the Liberal media now, when we need them? to me it's quite simple. while most educated Newspersons might find this story interesting, their viewing public simply does not. even if they believe in Evolution, they don't like being reminded that it counters what they hear from their Church, their relatives, or their friends. additionally, if Religion trumps Science, they will be required to examine in full detail what happened, how it happened, and which side makes a more credible argument. in doing so, they would inadvertently have to knock Religion. knocking, or mocking, Religion doesn't go over well with the public at large.

so, i guess there's nothing to do but sit back and wait for the sequel: "Scopes 2: Not your Great-Grandfather's Monkey Trial".

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Permalink Reply by John J Kelly on April 13, 2012 at 2:58pm

Teaching all of the creation myths will probably make the students happy to have a reasonable explanation. Give them all in the same week and the kids will be screaming for cogent explanations.

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Permalink Reply by John J Kelly on April 13, 2012 at 3:01pm

Is this what happens when a bunch of people who should know better don't go to the polls because they're miffed at something the Democrats did? We seem to have a surfeit of state legislators and members of the House of Representatives that seem to come from a long time past in a theocratic land.

There are other fish to fry. Get out the vote.

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Permalink Reply by Reason Being on April 11, 2012 at 5:28pm

Good post Matt---I wrote a letter to the TN Governor about it the other day. I got some generic form back, blah, blah, blah stuff. His not signing is kind of slippery in my opinion---he also chose not to veto. You are spot on saying this is like a bad dream in your comment below.

It really is sad that we continuously need to have this debate between a proven, and really non-controversial fact (evolution) and religion. Atheists need to speak up about stuff like this, as often as can.

Thanks for your support on my site. It is funny, as you pointed out that we blogged about the same topic today!