Over at Dispatches, Ed makes two interesting points about the Buttars bill I mention below. Firstly, the bill is in danger of being destroyed should it be challenged in court as the religious intent expressed by its supporters would clearly fail the Lemon test. Secondly,
We don't allow people to practice in many fields without demonstrating that they
have some expertise in it. We won't even let someone cut hair without a
cosmetology license in this country. And yet we allow ignorant legislators pass
laws on those issues without demanding that they know anything about them. I
propose a new rule - before a legislator is allowed to propose a change or vote
on an issue involving high school science standards, he must first at least be
able to pass the AP exams in the basic sciences with a good grade.
I'm guessing that would very quickly put a stop to know-nothings like Buttars (B.S., Marketing/Economics, Utah State University) turning the science standards into their own personal ideological stomping ground.
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Red State Rabble cited a report that Buttars inserted "science" into his bill in a couple of places, just to clarify that he is referring to scientific, not religious, arguments. I expect he inserted something like "...the scientific arguments of Genesis..."
For anyone unfamiliar with him, Chris Buttars is well worth paying attention to; he's kept all of us Utahns entertained for several years now. I've never seen him open his mouth without all kinds of lunatic stuff falling out of it, and his mouth is perpetually open. The man's a phenomenon. Sure, some people actually take him seriously, and he certainly doesn't help the cause of promoting rational thought, but at least he's not boring.