Florida’s House and Senate have passed bills that would allow–or require–teachers to present alternate theories of how life evolved, National Public Radio reports. Proponents say the issue is academic freedom. But critics say the bills would introduce religion into public schools. The Florida House legislation must now return to the Senate, which has already passed a different version of the bill. Two other states are also looking at the issue, framed as a matter of "academic freedom." That terminology is promoted by the Discovery Institute, a group that backs the teaching of "intelligent design" in classrooms.
The movement is also the subject of the new Ben Stein film, Expelled (see "Move: Science ‘expels’ intelligent design") and it could signal a new opening in the perennial battle over evolution in public schools…
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