A Missouri Republican state representative has introduced a bill that would require teaching students that “destiny” is a valid theoretical substitute to evolution.
Rep. Rick Brattin, who insists he’s a “huge science buff” and not attempting to hijack the state legislature to introduce religion into the state educational system (of course he is) claims his bill “is about testable data in today’s world.” Because, of course, destiny is “testable data.”
“HB 291, the ‘Missouri Standard Science Act,’ redefines a few things you thought you already knew about science,” Mother Jones reports:
For example, a “hypothesis” is redefined as something that reflects a “minority of scientific opinion and is “philosophically unpopular.” A scientific theory is “an inferred explanation…whose components are data, logic and faith-based philosophy.” And “destiny” is not something that $5 fortune tellers believe in; Instead, it’s “the events and processes that define the future of the universe, galaxies, stars, our solar system, earth, plant life, animal life, and the human race.”
The bill requires that Missouri elementary and secondary schools—and even introductory science classes in public universities—give equal textbook space to both evolution and intelligent design (any other “theories of origin” are allowed to be taught as well…
Brattin argues that there are “numerous college professors within biology, school science teachers” who are “banned from the science community” because they want to teach other theories of origin. The National Center for Science Education’s Meikle agrees—the bill really could “open the door for teachers who are opposed to evolution to bring in creationist materials.” That’s why his group is “hoping it doesn’t pass.”
Republicans in the Missouri state House outnumber Democrats 106 to 56.
Brattin, according to Project Vote Smart, is 32, married with three children, did not attend college, and a member of the Missouri House’s Children and Families legislative committee.
Other bills Rep. Rick Brattin has sponsored just this year include:
HB276:Â Authorizes any school district to designate a teacher or administrator as a school protection officer who may carry concealed firearms after he or she has met specified minimum training requirements.
HB278:Â Prohibits any state or local governmental entity; public building, park, or school; or public setting or place from banning or restricting the practice, mention, celebration, or discussion of any federal holiday.
HB422:Â Authorizes Missouri to enter into the multistate Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, eliminates all state tax credits, phases in a flat income tax rate, and increases the sales and use tax by .25%.
HJR15:Â Proposes a constitutional amendment specifying that the right of every citizen to possess or purchase ammunition for the proper functioning of arms must not be infringed or limited.
Brattin has also co-sponsored anti-abortion and anti-labor bills, pro-gun bills, and bills designed to restrict rights of welfare recipients.
Brattin also has co-sponsored a very dangerous bill, based on its original text, HB513, which “Affirms parental liberty regarding the upbringing, education, and care of their children as a fundamental right which cannot be infringed on without demonstrating a governmental interest of the high.” Sounds nice, but so very dangerous.
The legislation Rep. Brattin supports is bad for America, and especially bad for children and the poor.