Rick Brattin, a Republican state representative in Missouri, has sponsored a bill (HB 1227) that would require “equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design.”

What would that entail?
Course textbooks contain approximately an equal number of pages of relevant material teaching each viewpoint. Textbook materials include text, pictures, illustrations, graphs, tables, questions, discussion items, student exercises, teacher support material and other material supplied with the textbook, with freedom allowed the textbook publishers to arrange, substitute, or size material to provide an approximately equal teaching of each viewpoint for a specific textbook…
In the absence of course textbooks which provide equal treatment, written interim material may provide alternate viewpoints, with interim textbook material developed pursuant to subsection 6 of this section as a recommended source
So I guess Brattin wants to break out a Bible since there’s no credible scientific literature that opposes the idea of evolution…?
There’s a bright side, though. The bill includes some Pastafarian Bait:
If scientific theory concerning biological origin is taught in a textbook, the textbook shall give equal treatment to biological evolution and biological intelligent design. Other scientific theory or theories of origin may be taught
Oh, good. Because I have a huge list of Creation Myths and I can’t wait for them all to get equal time in the classroom thanks to the Guy Who Has No Science Background.
Brattin’s own Facebook posting just reinforces the idea that he has has no idea what he’s talking about:

Seriously, everyone. Stop being obsurd. The 90% of Americans who know the least about science should totally be in charge of controlling the curriculum for everyone else. That’s how science works!
For what it’s worth, this bill has a long way to go before being enacted (or even discussed on the House floor), but the fact that a politician would even introduce it suggests that voters in Missouri elected a man who cares more about promoting his faith than making sure students in Missouri are well-educated.
Nearly identical bills to this one (HB 911 and HB 1722) were introduced in 2004, but the National Center for Science Education points out that “both bills died when the legislative session ended.”
***Edit***: Jon Voisey has a detailed explanation and thorough takedown of the bill.
(Thanks to Shane for the link)
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