Jun 13, 2008 3:24pm

The Creation of Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, has a lot of people who would like to see him as John McCain’s running mate in November.  He’s described by some of his fans — see Rush Limbaugh’s take on him — as a true conservative, something they think McCain is not.  He may soon be tested by the Louisiana Science Education Act, a bill that, in the language of its authors, "promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning." The bill passed the Louisiana House 94-3 this week.  The state Senate already approved an almost identical version 35-0.  The courts will presumably vote later.  Opponents see it as a "stealth creationism bill." Barbara Forrest, a philosophy professor who has been fighting the bill, writes, “The Louisiana legislature tried to force creationism into public schools in 1981, and they lost in the U. S. Supreme Court. The Discovery Institute, a national creationist organization, and the Louisiana Family Forum are using the same old tricks, but with new labels. In Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District in 2005, I showed that intelligent design was cooked up as a new name for the same old creationist arguments, and the strategy behind this bill is no different. Despite their denials, even the bill’s backers know that SB 733 is a creationist bill written in creationist code language.” More HERE from our Baton Rouge affiliate, WBRZ-TV, which shares resources with the Baton Rouge Advocate. The bill adds that its language "shall not be construed to promote any religious doctrine, promote discrimination for or against a particular set of religious beliefs, or promote discrimination for or against religion or nonreligion." To see what the Discovery Institute says about all this, take a look at this POST (and several preceding) by John West, their VP for Public Policy.  You’ll recall that the institute is the main proponent of the Intelligent Design movement. To see where Gov. Jindal is on this — well, please let us know if you hear anything.  He spoke forcefully in the past in favor of Intelligent Design, against abortion, and against funding of research on stem cells that would involve the destruction of embryos, but has mostly steered clear of this particular bill. At some point, though, it may well come to his desk for a signature.

User Comments

I though that schools were about exposing students to ideas and engaging their critical thinking. And frocing them to seperate fact from fallacy. Oh wait, that was before the Department of Education (Misinformation) took over. Silly me… Although it’s nice to set teachers and administrators get higher pay and bonuses, while Johnny still can’t read… in the 8th grade! Score one for the inept teachers unions. Pay raises, vacations, and they don’t even have to do their jobs. Yup, sounds like a government job to me!!!

Posted by: patriot | June 13, 2008, 3:34 pm 3:34 pm

what Jindal says
you not only teach evolution, teach Intelligent Design also. what is wrong in that. liberals do not like this idea.

Posted by: john | June 13, 2008, 3:35 pm 3:35 pm

I don’t mean to pick on public exposure to religon, but remember, the world has never gone to was under the guise of an agnostic. I hope when they push this religon down kids throats, they preach moderation. They teach a very strong form of it in the middle east and look where it’s got them; and us!

Posted by: DAVID NH | June 13, 2008, 3:40 pm 3:40 pm

I think Jindal would be an awesome running mate with John McCain.
Young, ethnic background and smart!!!!

Posted by: maggie | June 13, 2008, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm

Oh PLEASE not again! Will the person left on earth with a BRAIN please turn out the lights as you leave?

Posted by: agb | June 13, 2008, 4:26 pm 4:26 pm

I actually think this debate SHOULD be in science classrooms, but not by legislative fiat. It is obvious that most people have no idea what evolution is, what science is, or what the scientific evidence for evolution is. It would indeed be very helpful to show students WHY scientists have concluded that evolution is the correct theory, and WHY creationism does not meet that standard. And teach it in a way that the students can follow it through and figure it out for themselves. Science classes should never be lectures about facts. It should always involve students in learning how the scientific process works; in essence, learning how to learn.

Posted by: jock59801 | June 13, 2008, 4:37 pm 4:37 pm

So; here we go again!
The comments above range from emotional to reasoned, but if as Jock59801 would like, the discussion takes place in science labs then we first have to have students who can read, write and who have developed some critical thinking skills.
This nation has been dumbed down over the last few decades by well intentioned idiots who have demanded nothing in terms of achievement from students. In fact it seems to have become acceptable to be ignorant or uneducated. Athletic performance is worshiped and rewarded but academic performance is usually unrecognized. If we do not EXPECT and REWARD academic performance then we will not get it.
Given these conditions is it any wonder that creationism finds a willing audience. They need only believe what they are told and they never have to think for themselves.
Creationism, Intelligent Design and ALL religions require nothing more than blind faith. Science requires facts, argument and effort from minds capable of providing systematic thought processes to evaluate issues and ideas.

Posted by: Andy Clark | June 13, 2008, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm

I’m so tired of this whole issue. There is no place in a science class for any concepts (whatever you want to call them) that includes “Jesus rode a dinosaur and the earth is only 5000 years old”. Even the Pope has made comments on the stupidity of this anti-science rubbish.

Posted by: Rick_VT | June 13, 2008, 6:18 pm 6:18 pm

Intelligent design is unintelligent design. There are no facts, there is no science, there is nothing to teach. It’s a bunch of worthless junk.

Posted by: Damon | June 13, 2008, 6:47 pm 6:47 pm

Andy Clark
Some of it may be just a dream, but young people are actually capable of quite sophisticated thinking if we give them a chance. Yes, education in general is pathetic in this country, as proven by controversies such as this one, but I refuse to give up hope!

Posted by: jock59801 | June 13, 2008, 7:11 pm 7:11 pm

What if evolution is the product of intelligent design? I’m a moderate and a Christian, and I believe that God created the universe through the process we know as evolution. I also think that creationism and intelligent design are not science, even though I don’t believe that evolution is “accidental”. I don’t think religion should be argued in a science class, and I frankly preferred to take care of my daughter’s religious education at home. However, because of the controversy, evolution is simply not taught in some public schools. I would like it to be possible for students to be taught the theory of evolution whether they choose to believe in a 6-day creation or whatever else. They could surely answer a question “According to the theory of evolution…” without recanting any conflicting religious beliefs. If acknowledging up front that mnay people disagree with the theory of evolution would enable the topic to be taught, I would be all for that.

Posted by: naw | June 13, 2008, 11:02 pm 11:02 pm

All You Right Wingers…
By All Means, Enlist in the War, Lay down your Flesh, Bone, Blood & Spirit and Your Legal of Age Children Too.
Stick with McCain an Continue the SAME D@mn Thang !!!
Or Vote for Obama an have the Troops back in the USA, within 18 Months.
Its Your Choice
Vote For McCain and Expect the Draft, because of the LOW ENLISTMENT RATES SINCE 911
ENLIST IN THE WAR EFFORT, IF YOU BELIEVE IN THIS WAR !!!

Posted by: o. | June 13, 2008, 11:32 pm 11:32 pm

Well the if one wants to Intelligent design to be taught in the science class room one has to ask: how do you test for that? You can’t test for that. The only way people even try to show pseudoscientifically that ID MIGHT be possible is by saying that many of our structures are to complex to have come about by chance. however, much of this is based on lack of understanding of evolution through natural selection. The detailed explaination of how the process of evolution through natural selection was able to result in complex organisms at a relatively fast rate(millions of years as opposed to trillions) is far to complex to explain here.

Posted by: craychek | June 14, 2008, 1:38 am 1:38 am

I don’t think this would be a problem, except for one thing. Some teachers actually believe that creationism IS science, and would teach it as truth. Everyone knows if creationism were to be subjected to scientific testing, it would fail. Creationism and ID were discussed in my physical anthropology class, and it was quite obvious to us that they were not remotely scientific. I’m not sure high school and elementary school students would be able to make the distinction. So once again, the religious right is trying its best to drag this country down into the mire of the uneducated.

Posted by: cturple | June 14, 2008, 8:59 am 8:59 am

This article tells one ounce of what this guy is all about. Jindal is very impressive. He has done more and accomplished more in his 37 years then Obama and HIllary combined. This guy has a computer for a brain, a spirit of einstein, a sould of a saint and articulate like a professor. He is an amazine individual and it has made me feel much better about politicians knowing that someone like him is in it. Mccain will not only do well, Mccain will win with Jindal on the ticket. Between Mccain and JIndal, it’ll be a ticket that will revolutionlized politics and Googlized this economy in a whole new level.

Posted by: Richard | June 14, 2008, 11:06 am 11:06 am

Nothing really objectionable about teaching creationism–so long as it is done in a religion class, not a science class. They can teach it in Bible study every Sunday, for all I care. But somehow giving creationism the imprimatur of a scientific theory is something for scientists to bestow, not the state, given the separation of church and state.

Posted by: Jose C | June 14, 2008, 11:10 am 11:10 am

Nothing really objectionable about teaching creationism–so long as it is done in a religion class, not a science class. They can teach it in Bible study every Sunday, for all I care. But somehow giving creationism the imprimatur of a scientific theory is something for scientists to bestow, not the state, given the separation of church and state.

Posted by: Jose C | June 14, 2008, 11:11 am 11:11 am

I feel students should be exposed to separate viewpoints. They should know what religious people believe so that they can understand how part of the world works. These religious ideas, however, cannot, should not and will not be portrayed in any way, shape or form as the undeniable truth. Students should be taught all viewpoints and the flaws in all viewpoints. This bill does not support that, as it only teaches two viewpoints and allows for bland discussion which will only polarize students and widen the divisive gaps which has consumed our country in fire. It is an opening for the far right and that is very clearly intolerant, ignorant and wrong.

Posted by: 14guy | June 14, 2008, 8:16 pm 8:16 pm

I think religion has plenty of pull…how many churches of darwinism do you see in your city…none. How many Churches of various worship from ten to hundereds…Ecolution is based on the concept that those that do better will fare better. Thats a fact thats easily seen… religion is very important and helpful to many people but should not be taught in public schools

Posted by: Eric | June 15, 2008, 5:48 am 5:48 am

patriot …not anymore, America is the new Nazi regime and teach whatever BS that they want, that’s why schools in America are the worst.

Posted by: Truth | June 15, 2008, 8:11 am 8:11 am

The Roman empire crumbled from the barbarians outside. The American empire will crumble again from the barbarians. This time by the religious right from the inside

Posted by: Giz80 | June 15, 2008, 11:06 am 11:06 am

um john im a liberal and I love that idea we teach them everything and then we let them deside for themselves what they want to belive challenge there minds to make there own conclutions I love the idea man keep them comming

Posted by: getsmart | June 15, 2008, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm

“I love that idea we teach them everything and then we let them deside for themselves”
We’re talking about school here. Letting the students decide on what’s true?
Would you mind teaching holocaust denial in history class as well so the students can decide which version they prefer?

Posted by: Giz80 | June 15, 2008, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm

Bobby Jindal is a coward and nothing more than a Bush puppet. He won’t even veto bills that he doesn’t think are good for Louisiana because he is afraid that his agenda will not get through the legislature. He is NOT VP material. Only his skin color is ethnic. Inside he is pure white.

Posted by: callendrarose | June 15, 2008, 5:41 pm 5:41 pm

Well, if Bobby Jindal is such a smart political fellow we can be sure he will happily sign this anti-science bill just as soon as he comes up with a plausible lie to explain how he misunderstands what science is.

Posted by: davej | June 15, 2008, 10:19 pm 10:19 pm

To believe in interspecies evolution, in spite of the explicit lack of any connectivity in the fossil records, requires far more ‘blind faith’ (or lack of critical thinking) than to believe in any of the creation ‘myths’.

Posted by: Mike | June 15, 2008, 10:25 pm 10:25 pm

The “American Taliban” would like to shove “ID”, creationism or whatever term they are using this week to lie and pretend it is not what it is (religious dogma).
The bottom line is why “Intelligent Design”? Why not “Stupid Design”? Something so stupid it keeps belching out live things? Or “Drunk Design”? Or “Mechanical Design”? How about “Moronic Design”?
Why not? Because it is not their preferred diety. Where does this leave Jews, Buddists and others? They don’t care. Should we teach reincarnation too?
I like Unicorns. Have never seen one so I am guessing they are not real. Show me a Unicorn, and I’ll give your religious based ID a thought.

Posted by: Andy | June 15, 2008, 11:07 pm 11:07 pm

“To believe in interspecies evolution, in spite of the explicit lack of any connectivity in the fossil records, requires far more ‘blind faith’”
Seriously, visit any nature historical museum. There are thousands of fossils
“(or lack of critical thinking) than to believe in any of the creation ‘myths’.”
Some myths involve talking snakes

Posted by: giz80 | June 16, 2008, 7:22 am 7:22 am

Remember in order to not promote any one religion like the bill states you need to teach ALL ideas of intelligent design. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster views must not be left out of the debate.

Posted by: breckey | June 16, 2008, 10:08 am 10:08 am

Oh goody, another religious extremist to screw the country over. Just what the country needs.
I guess the American voter appreciates that the current administration was catching up with countries like Iran or Saudi Arabia, but clearly it wasn’t enough.

Posted by: WDJ | June 16, 2008, 10:48 am 10:48 am

Greetings, I was part of the public education system that had the religion of evolution pushed down our throats with out any choice. We had no other option, and it as all taught as fact. When I grew up and started reading and thinking for myself in a critical way. What I found out was shocking. Most of what I was taught as a kid about evolution is mostly considered error today. The fossil record does not support evolution, and no transitional fossils have ever been found. Many fossils have been found that just blow the evolution myth away. Many of the claims of evolution taught in schools are more of imagination and religion than science. Even the more we found out about DNA science the more evolution has problems changing their story to fit. Evolution has never been rooted in science, but only in loud angry religious fanatics as they state and repeat false unsupported claims that evolution is true. It has been repeated so much and for so long that most people actually still believe it. Evolutionist are scared to even consider all the holes and gaps in their own weak theory. Then they claim the Creationism is just a religion and does not have any science, ( all the time not telling you that evolution is a religion also). Yet in reading up on this and checking into the claims I find much more science in the claims of creationism, and much more leaps of faith in evolution. Most people do not even realize that most of what you hear as evolution science is actually a persons interpretation of the data, and rarely are you actually shown the data itself. You will see great fan fare and headlines of some great find that supports evolution, but you rarely see the small retraction a few weeks later that has to correct those claims and say otherwise. Evolution is the state’s religion supported by intimidation, name calling, and exclusive funding. If you look into the claims of evolution scientifically you will finally see it is a theory that just does not fit. Some would say that the theory of evolution is on the same par as the theory of Gravity. This again is a false claim. The theory of gravity can be observed and tested repeatedly. Evolution can not been observed nor can it be repeated in testing. Never has there ever been any evidence that shows that new information can be added to a living cell. The falsely called micro-evolution statement as been used to confuse people. Yet we know by DNA science that changes to adapted to an environment comes from DNA code that already exist in the cell. It is not added to the cell. Mutations and other small changes are known to be a loss of information not a gain of information to the cell. Contrary to the religion of evolution, your DNA code is not being built up and having more information added to it. You Human DNA code is slowly loosing information and breaking down. Just don’t believe in evolution just because you were taught it your whole life, look into the issues and think critically. Don’t follow evolution blindly in a leap of faith in evoltionary stories. People also use the claim that Church is against science. There has been a church that was neither christian nor Biblical that had no tolerance to these things. What evolution don’t what you to know is that many of the scientists that have made great strides in history were christians. It was even their God view that motivated them to get into science, promote science, and find fantastic discoveries. But you will not hear much about these people in the public schools. You have been deceived and lied to. Free you mind from the ball and chain of evolution.

Posted by: JWM | June 16, 2008, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm

Its just so funny to hear evolutionists and ID groups argue, and they are on the same side. The ID idea is not a new movement. It is a theory contemporary with Darwin. Darwin’s evolution is molecules to man by accident only. ID is evolution with Intellgent intervention. Darwin’s goal is to try to explain away God no matter the costs or science they have to ignore. ID evolution, being more scientific, is just more willing to admit that Science alone can not explain the origins. It’s even funny when the ID group is put with any thing dealing with creation or GOD. ID just claims a higher intelligence or source there of, but it does not line up with Creation or a known God. It is also funny that the old church used as an example of Christians being against science was also the same angry church putting Christians in jail, and burning them at the stake just because they did not yield to the current popular accepted scientific and religious views, much the same way angry evolutionists attack Christians today for having a different view. The older I get the more I see history repeat itself.

Posted by: JWM | June 16, 2008, 1:26 pm 1:26 pm

I forgot the most important thing. God doesn’t force any one into heaven. If you want to reject GOD, you have the God given freedom to do so. You may not like the the results, but you are free to do so. If on the other hand you consider that there is more to life then you can touch, taste and feel. You may want to consider that GOD in His love provided a way, thru JESUS Christ, God in the flesh, to give you a choice and a way out. You can admit you are a sinner and accept Jesus Christ as your only Saviour , and He will give eternal life, even evolutionists can come to Him. This is the end game decision, and it can never be forced on a person. God lets you have the choice, and He lets you have the consequences also. So continue to argue and complain, and get upset if that is all you have to do. When it comes to the end game, you have to make a choice. Please make the best choice you can. I hope to see you there. You can start the flame mail now. Have nice eternity…

Posted by: JWM | June 16, 2008, 1:38 pm 1:38 pm

the people of Louisiana want their children taught this way. lump it and move to an atheist state like Taxachuttes….

Posted by: fred | June 16, 2008, 1:47 pm 1:47 pm

get the government out of education and this church/state problem goes away…..

Posted by: fred | June 16, 2008, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm

I can’t discern from the article if the bill is creationist friendly or not. Pass.

Posted by: kathy | June 18, 2008, 8:38 pm 8:38 pm

It will be a shame if Governor Jindal tries to help his state be a haven for ignorance.

Posted by: Rob | June 21, 2008, 4:00 pm 4:00 pm

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