Utah House of Representatives votes to reject amended "origins of life" bill
After an "origins of life" bill was amended, the Utah House of Representatives has voted 46 to 28 to reject it. The original bill would have required teachers to issue to their students a disclaimer questioning the scientific validity of the theory of evolution. Although the disclaimer did not mention any alternative theory to Darwin's, some supporters and opponents of the bill viewed it as part of the drive to encourage the teaching of intelligent design. The amendment stripped the bill of the disclaimer language, leaving it to the state board of education to "establish curriculum requirements relating to scientific instruction." Representative Stephen H. Urquhart, who inserted the amendment, says science and religion should remain separate. Casey Luskin, a spokesman for the Discovery Institute, a group that promotes the teaching of intelligent design, characterizes the legislative action as "a loss for scientific education," but acknowledges that it is a local Utah matter. Joe Conn, a spokesperson for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says, "If the creationists can't win in a state as conservative as Utah, they've got an uphill battle."
New York TimesBy Kirk Johnson
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Editor's Note: For links to information on recent controversies over evolution in other states, see below.]
[NSBA School Law pages on evolution debates]