on Jun 23rd, 2008For Immediate Release: (1) New York Times calls for Gov Jindal to veto SB 733 & (2) Escalating Discovery Institute involvement in promoting SB 733
Press Release: LA Coalition for Science, June 22, 2008
(1) New York Times editorial and major scientific societies call for Jindal’s veto of SB 733
(2) Escalating Discovery Institute involvement in promoting SB 733
Baton Rouge, LA, June 22, 2008 — The New York Times has noticed the Louisiana legislature’s passage of SB 733, the “LA Science Education Act.” In its Saturday, June 21, 2008, editorial, “Louisiana’s Latest Assault on Darwin,” the Times urges Gov. Jindal to veto the bill: “The state . . . has a sorry history as a hotbed of creationists’ efforts to inject religious views into science courses. All that stands in the way of this retrograde step is Gov. Bobby Jindal.” With one of the nation’s most prestigious newspapers highlighting the legislature’s support for this misguided legislation, the eyes of the nation will now be turned toward our state even more attentively.
Louisiana’s passage of SB 733 has also come to the attention of well-known National Review columnist John Derbyshire, who calls upon Gov. Jindal to either veto the bill or “explain to Louisiana taxpayers the pointless waste of public money that will inevitably ensue from your signing it.”
In addition, nine of the nation’s most prestigious scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), have sent letters to Gov. Jindal asking him to veto the bill.
As the calls for Gov. Jindal to veto SB 733 grow louder, evidence of the escalating involvement in Louisiana of the Discovery Institute (DI), the out-of-state creationist think tank whose religious agenda was declared unconstitutional in Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District (2005), continues to accumulate. Given DI’s emergence as a major player and partner with the LA Family Forum in promoting SB 733, Gov. Jindal’s allowing the bill to become law is likely to attract even more unflattering national attention. The LA Coalition for Science repeats its request that Gov. Jindal veto the bill in order to spare Louisiana this embarrassment.
Download the entire press release here (pdf).