By Barbara Forrest

Louisiana continues to receive quite a bit of attention because of the decision by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology to stay out of Louisiana in the wake of the state’s passage of the creationist Louisiana Science Education Act. The New York Times is only one of the out-of-state media outlets that have picked up the story. (The Louisiana Family Forum was apparently caught off guard by the story and issued a peevish response.)

The comment to the NYT from Bobby Jindal’s office is indicative of the level of (un)concern about the SICB’s decision: “That’s too bad,” a spokesman, Kyle Plotkin, said in an e-mail message. “New Orleans is a first-class city for a convention.” It’s ironic that the NYT even received an answer from Jindal’s office — Jindal never responded to the SICB letter [pdf].

The Salt Lake City Tribune naturally picked up the story: “Utah Policy on Evolution Helps Land Science Conference” (2/18/09). Utah has benefited from Louisiana’s folly — in 2005, the Utah State Board of Education adopted a position statement [pdf] announcing its support for teaching evolution: “The Theory of Evolution is a major unifying concept in science and appropriately included in Utah’s K-12 Science Core Curriculum.” The Utah BOE adopted this statement as a show of opposition to an attempt by a Utah legislator, Sen. Chris Buttars, to pass a creationist bill in that state. It is so incredibly sad — and embarrassing — to contrast the statement of the Utah State Board of Education with the creationist-appeasing action taken on January 13, 2009, by the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, as highlighted by the Baton Rouge Advocate:

The list of the weak-kneed on this issue gets longer and longer every time it is discussed. Not only the BESE members but state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek acquiesced in the lobbying from creationism backers such as the Louisiana Family Forum. The latter is a particularly influential backer of Jindal. Three members of the 11-member BESE are Jindal appointees.

BESE joins the ranks of the wimps who have rolled over on the issue of creationism. It’s a sad thing. . . .

Sen. Ben Nevers, who introduced the bill on behalf of the Louisiana Family Forum because, as he told the Hammond Daily Star on April 6, 2008, “They believe that scientific data related to creationism should be discussed when dealing with Darwin’s theory,” is back on script. Having momentarily slipped when he gave the Daily Star an honest statement of the bill’s intent, he has since continued to lengthen his list of dishonest statements to the media, as he did to the Baton Rouge Advocate (February 17, 2009) in response to the SICB decision:

State Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa and a key sponsor of the bill, disputed criticism by officials of the group.

“If they read the legislation, which hopefully they have, they will understand that what we are trying to do is expand the opportunity to teach pure science in the classroom,” Nevers said.

Letters from New Orleans residents Frank Sassone and Nathan Ivey to the New Orleans Times-Picayune supported the SICB decision.

Louisiana does not need the type of publicity that its public officials keep churning out by their refusal to do what Oklahoma had the good sense to do to Senate Bill 320 (rtf), the “Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act,” which was introduced there last month: kill the blooming thing in committee. Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry vetoed the similarly misguided 2008 “Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act” last year.

It is clear that in Oklahoma, elected officials — at least so far — have more respect for the professional expertise of their teachers and scientists than either the Louisiana legislature or Gov. Jindal. It’s so incredibly sad.