Signing Tennessee Anti-Evolution Bill Into Law Would Be ‘Dumb’

Signing Tennessee Anti-Evolution Bill Into Law Would Be ‘Dumb’

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Among its more dubious claims to fame, Tennessee was the site of the 1925 “Monkey Trial,” in which John Scopes was convicted of violating a state law against teaching that “man has descended from a lower order of animals.” Eighty-seven years later, the Tennessee Legislature is itching for an encore. It has sent to Gov. Bill Haslam a bill governing the teaching of “scientific subjects that may cause debate and disputation,” including evolution and global warming. [A number of media outlets, including Huffington Post, are reporting that Haslam is likely to sign it.] The legislation says teachers cannot be prohibited from “helping students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories.”