The Louisiana Science Education Act, passed in 2008, allows public school teachers to use supplemental materials in the science classroom which are critical of established science – on topics like the theory of evolution, and global warming. On Wednesday, a bill created by State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson and backed by 78 Nobel laureate scientists and organizations to repeal that law was defeated in state legislature. For the past five years, activist Zach Kopplin has pushed to repeal this law, and he wrote about his fight to prove that creationism was taught in Louisiana’s classrooms in Slate, right before the bill was repealed.
“Now I have evidence that it’s not just one teacher. I have evidence that religion, not science, is what’s being taught systematically in some Louisiana school systems. I have obtained emails from creationist teachers and school administrators, as well as a letter signed by more than 20 current and former Louisiana science teachers in Ouachita Parish in which they say they challenge evolution in the classroom without legal “tension or fear” because of pro-creationism policies. I’ve found the back door.”
This wasn’t enough for the slate legislature, but according to Politico, Kopplin plans on continuing the fight next year.