Florida Follow-Up

Just weeks after Florida’s Board of Education voted to add the word "evolution" to the state's science curriculum, which calls evolution a fundamental concept underlying all biology, comes news that anti-evolution bills have been introduced in the Florida State Senate and in the House of Representatives by activists who want to see alternatives to evolution taught in the science classroom. The identical bills claim to protect the right of teachers to "objectively present scientific information relevant to the full range of scientific views regarding biological and chemical evolution in connection with teaching any prescribed curriculum regarding chemical or biological origins" and the right of students not to be "penalized in any way because he or she subscribes to a particular position or view regarding biological or chemical evolution." (The bills are very similar to a sample bill on a Web site of the Discovery Institute, a think tank that promotes "intelligent design.") Senate Minority Leader Steve Geller voiced his disapproval, saying he "never thought I'd be in the Florida Senate in the 21st century, still having the same debate about evolution." —Heather Wax