Sunday, May 08, 2011

 

Um, Are You Listening to Yourself?


Via the Sensuous Curmudgeon, here is Gene Mills, president of the Louisiana Family Forum, an affiliate of James Dobson's Focus on the Family, and chief lobbyist for the anti-evolution and oxymoronic Louisiana Science Education Act, complaining about Zachary Kopplin’s campaign to repeal the law:

The Louisiana Science Education Act, which passed the Louisiana Legislature in 2008 with only three opposing votes, encourages academic freedom and inquiry in the classroom: a permissible constitutional objective! To date, not a single complaint has been filed, not a single school board has moved to address a related concern and not one lawsuit is on record to correct inappropriate action on behalf of a Science Education Act infraction.

In other words, the repeal efforts are a “political solution” in search of a problem that does not exist.

Um, no! That means that the law is a political solution in search of a problem that does not exist. There never was any problem with teaching “critical thinking” in science classes. The problem, as people like Rev. Mills see it, is that they aren't allowed to counter critical thinking with religious cant, as Bruce Chapman made clear.

But I loved the Curmudgeon's analogy for the law's disingenuous disclaimer of religious intent:

Mills refers to the laughable Discoveroid-drafted section of the law that purports to instruct the courts how to construe it (it’s non-religious, doncha know) in spite of the plain meaning and obvious intent of the law. That’s comparable to a suicide-bomber’s explosive-laden vest being sewn with a tag saying: “Attention Bomb Squad Coroner: The deceased wearer of this garment should not be construed to be a suicide bomber.”
How appropriate this week!

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