New Florida Intelligent Design bill

A news article says,

Amid much controversy a year ago, the Florida Board of Education approved new standards that require public schools to teach that the scientific theory of evolution is the foundation of all biological science.. . . .

That's true -- the new state science standards call evolution "the fundamental concept underlying all of biology."

State Sen. Stephen Wise, a Jacksonville Republican, said he plans to introduce a bill to require teachers who teach evolution to also discuss the idea of intelligent design . . . .

. . . . Wise, the chief sponsor of the bill, expects the Senate to take it up when it meets in March. He said its intent is simple: "If you're going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking."

Wise said that if the Legislature passes the bill, he wouldn't be surprised if there's a legal challenge.

"You just never know. They use the courts all the time. I guess if they have enough money they can get it in the courts," he said. "Someplace along the line you've got to be able to make a value judgment of what it is you think is the appropriate thing."

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The bill should be passed if for no other reason than to invite lawsuits that would give an opportunity to overturn or counteract the infamous Kitzmiller v. Dover decision, which is over three years old. Kitzmiller was decided by an activist judge who said that his decision was based on his cockamamie notion that the Founders based the establishment clause upon a belief that organized religions are not "true" religions -- he said,

. . . .this much is very clear. The Founders believed that true religion was not something handed down by a church or contained in a Bible, but was to be found through free, rational inquiry. At bottom then, this core set of beliefs led the Founders, who constantly engaged and questioned things, to secure their idea of religious freedom by barring any alliance between church and state.

IMO the courts should declare the evolution controversy to be non-justiciable. If necessary, Congress should use its power under the Constitution's Article III to strip the Supreme Court of appellate jurisdiction over questions concerning the scientific merits of evolution and criticisms of evolution.

Some of the comments under the above news article are really incredible. A comment titled "The stupidity burns" says,

Only a scientifically illiterate hick would call any scientific theory "only a theory". In science a theory is the highest level of understanding. A scientific theory is higher than an hypothesis, higher than a law, even higher than facts.

And a comment titled "The problem is the Christian death cult" gushes, .

The basic facts of evolutionary biology are the strongest facts of science. The evidence is so massive, so powerful, and growing so rapidly, it's virtually impossible to find a biologist who doesn't love evolution. It's virtually impossible to find a biologist who doesn't agree with this famous quote: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." To properly teach biology, evolution must be a major part of every single lesson every single day.

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