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Buttars' Bill Passes House Committee 7-6
The Salt Lake Tribune has the story.
[Buttars' illness] left Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, to carry the bill. Ferrin changed the "origins" bill to remove wording that implied more than one scientific theory on the origin of species existed. He told the committee that evolution is the only scientific explanation, but that scientists have a variety of opinions under the umbrella term "evolution."
He also said he has concerns that teachers are offering evolution as a fact when it hasn't been "indisputably proven."
Ferrin would like science teachers to "simply acknowledge what is proven and what is not proven."
It sounds like the bill is getting watered down--to the point that it seems superfluous.
(hat-tip to jcobabe.)
1 comments:
The changes to the bill in the House have actually widened the scope of the bill, but have also rendered it practically useless.
The original bill stated that there was no scientific consensus on the origin of life or the origin of the human species, and that the State does not endorse any particular theory on either subject. It also requires teachers to inform students of this.
The new version of the bill states that no theory (or idea or hypothesis) on the origin of life or the origin of any species has been indisputably proved and that the State does not endorse any particular theory on either subject. It also requires teachers to inform student of this.
The question then becomes, why single out the origin of life (abiogenesis) and the origins of species (evolution)? Why does this not apply to all scientific theories. The answer is obvious: the legislators (especially Sen. Buttars) feel that evolution and abiogenesis threaten their (and their constituents') religious beliefs.
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