No. Their reason for not approving of the bill? It wasn’t specific enough, and allowed, for example, a Wiccan teacher to say what she wished.

So anyone who thinks the wording is somehow going to prohibit actual religious teaching in the classroom… even the legislators apparently don’t feel that way, since they’re worried the religion being taught won’t be the “right” one.

I love this state in a lot of ways but sometimes I desperately want out.

…whereupon they will inevitably one day soon thereafter (once the money flow runs dry) howl magnificently in superior outrage against the temerity of other states, institutions and wealthy corporate interests in snubbing them for reasons they do not wish to understand….

Welcome to the Civil War Version 2. Available in stores everywhere.

…And these people (AGAIN) will have the audacity to express moral autonomy and claim the ‘liberty’ of choosing how their kids are educated in matters of science: to wit, they find science education as a dirrect assault on their precious religious convictions, and so must be summarilly shut out.

It’s very interesting how the very same rationale of absolutism and god-like entitlement propelled so many people of the southern states to reject the idea of legislation against slavery nearly 150 years ago, enough for them to go to the extreme of the seccessionist warpath…simply because they were Totally Aware and Absolutely Convinced that they are were in the Infinite Right.

Doesn’t anybody notice?…these people actually talk and act as if they ARE God.

THAT’s what ANY religion is all about: obtaining political power and economic influence.

You can discuss the “weaknesses” of Evolution all day long, . . .

Actually, this shouldn’t take more than 2 minutes.

To whit:
[Teacher] People have been attacking evolutionary theory ever since it was first published in 1859, attempting to find holes or flaws in the theory. Every angle of attack has been shown to be illogical or at odds with the evidence. Now, on to how evolution actually works . . . [/Teacher]

But think of all the good this bill can do in the hands of a good teacher – it doesn’t specify what kind of science classes it’s talking about, so sex education classes that used to be “abstinence-only” propaganda can now “teach the controversy”.

And on the subject of evolution, the fundamental question is “What’s the world like, and how did it get to be that way?” The null hypothesis is “It’s always been like this”, and some of the alternative hypotheses include “Evolution over billions of years” and “Evolution that all happened one week in 4004BC” and “A FSM and some Pirates are messing with it.” How do you tell if the world’s changing? What evidence is there, are there experiments we can do, where would you look for things that would be different if the different theories are correct?

Once required to “teach the controversy”, then in theory one would be protected to do it properly… a detailed analysis of evidence for evolution…. and detailed evidence for intelligent design or a creator. Complete with practicals and experiments. One half the class duplicates well known experiments, the other half alternately prays to Allah, Buddha, Yarweh, Jesus, Jupiter, Mithras and the FSM (unless, of course, the law determines an official, govermentally-mandated state religion…). We’ll see which one produces results. Followed by a detailed analysis of all the contradictions and flaws in the “reference text” used by one theory. Allowing a science teacher several sessions of detailing flaws in the Bible – material which will appear in the exams.

Explaining to some of these legislators that one doesn’t believe in teaching religion in science lessons, but since their laws require it then, as it is a *science* lesson and not a religious studies class, it will be taught from a scientific viewpoint and basis, would be delicious. I know, I know, it can’t happen – but it’s a lovely thought.

The level of ignorance is stupefying.

Assuming this passes, I’ll be waiting for the moment a bright kid does exactly that and turns this bill on its head. And just wait for the scandal of a child refusing to listen to that hokum because guess what – it’s legal.

TN is a completely red state (house, senate, governor), so don’t count on the bill getting stopped.

In other words, since evolution is part of the curriculum, you need to be able to discuss the “strengths” and “weaknesses” of the current theory of evolution. However, since “Intelligent Design” is not part of the curriculum, you can’t cover the “strengths” and “weaknesses” of ID

Ah, but ID is literally just a collection of bad arguments against evolution. There’s no actual content there. There really isn’t any part of ID that couldn’t be taught as a supposed ‘weakness’ of evolution.

…or promote discrimination for or against religion or non-religion.

THAT is the heart of the bill, the one the fundies don’t want you to think about.

If they can’t teach their crap fake science in school, they are going to try and get real science – evolution – kicked out too, because it “discriminates” against biblical literalism.