Indiana State Bill 89 has recently caused a national stir. The bill would mandate teaching religious theories on the origins of life in public schools, including faiths such as Islam, Christianity and Scientology.
SB 89 was passed through Indiana’s Senate Jan. 31, with a vote of 28 to 22. The author and sponsor of the bill was Republican State Senator Dennis Kruse, who represents District 14. That district encompasses part of Fort Wayne.
The bill adds a new section to already-existing Indiana Code 20-30-6, which deals with “optional curriculum.” Previously included in this code are measures that allows schools to offer voluntary religious observances, provided a school or clerical employee does not “cause or encourage attendance.” Other sections provide for courses on American Sign Language and the risks of sexting.
The bill, which would become IC 20-30-6-18 if signed into law, states, “The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.”
What that means is that any course which teaches a theory of life has to include at least two religious beliefs. Though the text of the bill is not long, it is vague and could be interpreted in a number of ways and certainly could enter the arena of biology.
IPFW student Harry Francies is among those who do not support the bill. He does not believe religion belongs in the science classroom.
“It makes me think that we have a bunch of idiots in charge,” said Francies. “There is always a high probability of our lawmakers doing stupid things. But that is what democracy is based on.”
The Discovery Institute, an organization which promotes the teaching of intelligent design, issued a statement about SB 89, calling it “bad science” and that it would allow creationism into the classroom.
“Instead of scrapping SB89 in deference to legal precedent, the Indiana Senate has amended the bill to allow more religious views on origins, as if more religion could cure the original problem,” said the Discovery Institute.
They would prefer to introduce intelligent design, which they claim is scientifically-based rather that religiously based.
However, intelligent design is also highly criticized for being unscientific.
“The main thing to keep in mind is that the scientific explanation for the origin and diversification of life is based on observations of the natural world that are followed up with extensive hypothesis testing,” said IPFW biology professor Mark Jordan.
That is, religious theories and intelligent design don’t meet the criteria of the scientific method, which serves as the basis for any study in the scientific fields. Students who take a course in biology, chemistry or similar areas need to know this method.
“Other explanations do not use this approach and are therefore inappropriate in a science curriculum,” said Jordan.
Allowing religious theories into the classroom would possibly undermine this foundation of science education by showing students that the scientific method doesn’t always matter.
The matter could also be one of strictly religious motivation, which would violate the First Amendment.
James Farlow, professor of geology at IPFW, wrote for the Journal Gazette on Feb. 2, saying, “Those who push for teaching creationism in public schools are primarily driven by a desire to have science teaching reflect and reinforce their literal reading of the opening chapters of Genesis.”
“I don’t think we really want to go there,” he added in the article.
Though it has made it through the House, many believe that SB 89 will never make it through the Senate or even be put to vote. Backing this is a legal precedence from Supreme Court ruling Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987. That case stemmed from a Louisiana law that required schools to teach creationism alongside evolution. Because it violated the First Amendment and did not have a secular purpose, the law was deemed unconstitutional.
Some speculate that the wording, which includes several major religions, would also make the bill unattractive to legislators. That amendment was proposed by state senator Vi Simpson D-IN.
In an interview with Village Voice blogger Tony Ortega, Simpson said, “I offered that amendment because I wanted to get the bill out of the science category, and secondly because I wanted to give school board members some pause, to get them thinking about what kinds of things would come up in the classroom, and that they wouldn’t be able to get away with only a Christian or a Genesis perspective.”
Currently, the state of the bill is up in the air. Brian Bosma, current Indiana House Speaker, told the Northwest Indiana Times that he had not made a decision yet on bringing SB 89 to vote.
