LFF hasn’t endorsed any supplemental materials, but Mills says when a Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) proposed a policy on the new act that stated creationist and intelligent design information weren’t permissible, LFF persuaded BESE to remove the prohibition. He says what happens to the law is up to the teachers.

—David Winkler-Schmit, “Monkey Business: The Louisiana Science Education Act,” Best of New Orleans, March 9, 2009 [emphasis added]

“LFF hasn’t endorsed any supplemental materials” — this is what Rev. Gene Mills, executive director of the Louisiana Family Forum, apparently said when he was being interviewed for this Best of New Orleans article. LFF is supposedly not endorsing any supplemental materials despite the fact that, according to the “Critical Thinking in the Classroom” page on its website, the LFF “drafted and promoted the Louisiana Science Education Act through the Legislature and State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.” According to Rev. Mills, whether or not creationist materials are used in the state’s public school science classes supposedly depends on what Louisiana’s teachers decide on their own to do. This is supposedly true despite the fact that, according to the LFF’s website, “LFF has long worked to promote critical thinking [read: 'creationism'] in the classroom.”

Let’s look at the facts as the LFF gives them to us on its “Critical Thinking in the Classroom” page.

  1. The Louisiana Family Forum is promoting “biology textbook addenda” on this “critical thinking” page. What are these addenda? They are creationist textbook supplements written by Charles Voss, a long-time creationist who has had them posted for years at his “Textaddons.com” website. (Voss is vice-president of the young-earth creationist “Origins Resource Association.”) They are precisely the kind of “supplementary materials” that the LFF intends for use in public school science classes under the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA). Voss has posted an addendum for each of the eleven state-approved biology textbooks listed on the page. All of his addenda are actually variations of the same basic document, and all are designed to undermine the teaching of evolution. One is adapted for use with the popular textbook Biology, by Kenneth R. Miller and Joe Levine (Prentice Hall). Among the references that Voss cites in this addendum are (1) The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories (Philosophical Library 1984), co-authored by Discovery Institute creationists Charles Thaxton and Walter Bradley, along with Roger Olsen; and (2) Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, by Michael Denton (Adler & Adler 1986). In 1998, William Dembski, one of the founders of the intelligent design creationist movement in the U. S., wrote that “The Intelligent Design movement begins with the publication of The Mystery of Life’s Origin . . .  and Evolution: A Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton . . . . These two books presented a powerful scientific critique of evolutionary theory.”
  2. The LFF is also promoting “DVD teaching modules” on its “critical thinking” page. What are these modules? The link goes to a page at “Coldwater Media” on which a DVD entitled Investigating Evolution is available for purchase. IE is a DVD produced for the Discovery Institute that, according to DI’s online store, is “designed as a supplementary resource for general biology courses.” This DVD was one of the freebies given to attendees of a 2007 Discovery Institute symposium at Biola University (formerly the “Bible Institute of Los Angeles,” hence its current name). This symposium, according to evolutionary biologist Dr. Louise Mead, an employee of the National Center for Science Education who attended, “opened with an evening prayer to ‘Our Lord, Jesus Christ’.” The event was held in order to coach high school teachers in the use of the stealth creationist textbook, Explore Evolution, which the Discovery Institute hopes will be used in Louisiana under the LSEA. (See the LCFS 9/27/08 post about Explore Evolution here.) According to Dr. Mead, “As the symposium proceeded, the climate became overtly hostile toward people who accept evolution.” (See Dr. Mead’s article about the symposium here.)
  3. The LFF concludes its “critical thinking” page by recommending, as a “practical first step for citizen-activists,” that these activists urge their local school boards to imitate Ouachita Parish by adopting “academic freedom resolutions.” In November 2006, the Ouachita Parish School Board adopted a “Science Curriculum Policy,” which is a “RESOLUTION ON TEACHER ACADEMIC FREEDOM TO TEACH SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE REGARDING CONTROVERSIAL SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS.” This is a stealth creationism policy that laid the groundwork for the introduction and passage of the LSEA. It was written by LFF operative Darrell White, who has posted the template on his creationist “Origins Science” web page. (See “Board Gives Teachers Academic Freedom,” Ouachita Citizen, November 29, 2006.)

So these are the facts, as we have them from Rev. Mills’ own organization. Has the LFF endorsed any “supplemental materials”? Is what happens next under the Louisiana Science Education Act to be laid exclusively on the backs of the state’s science teachers?

The Louisiana Coalition for Science has laid out the facts. You decide.