An Example of Activism

I mentioned the Alliance for Science earlier on our list, and I attended
one of their meetings. One of the issues raised at the meeting was a
couple of pro-ID bills raised in the Maryland House of Delegates. Here
is what can happen when just a few state residents get involved:
"Two pro-ID bills have popped up in the Maryland State House of
Delegates, HB 1531 and HB 1228. HB 1531 had a hearing last week and the
AfS's own Martha Heil was there to submit written testimony on behalf of
numerous Marylanders. She also reported back to us on the hearing. More
news and analysis of these bills will follow, so stay tuned. but in the
interim, read Martha's report!
Ben and I had an exciting day today in Annapolis.
We arrived with testimony in hand from ourselves, Greg and Erik. We
handed the testimony in and then went to watch the Maryland Senate
operate. It was great to sit in the old-fashioned gallery above the
Senate, watch the bill "scoreboard" and guess which party each speaker
belonged to.
The Ways and Means committee met in the afternoon. Each new bill was
introduced by its speaker, and the public sat in a couple of rows of
chairs along one side of the room. Each speaker had 2 minutes to
introduce his bill, answer questions, and then the chair of the
committee would ask those for the bill to stand and then those against.
For the bill we were watching, HB 1531, we weren't allowed to speak. But
our written testimony spoke volumes. The speaker, Delegate Burns
(D-Baltimore County) first announced that the bill he was presenting was
"about intelligent design". Clearly, he's not drinking the DI Kool-Aid
too deeply, or else he would have tried to pretend it was about
something else. He said that it was there to protect teachers form being
reprimanded or fired if a student brought up this issue. He did
acknowledge that ID isn't science, and wasn't appropriate to teach in
the class. However, he thought he wanted to protect teachers from being
able to answer questions about it. He only had 2 minutes to speak, then
the floor opened for questions.
A delegate, nephew of a State senator, spoke. He asked the sponsor of
the bill how many pieces of testimony were received in support of the
bill. The sponsor was aware of none. The questioner then asked, with a
chuckle in his voice, "Do you know how many pieces of testimony were
received AGAINST the bill? Ten." And he held up an impressive sheaf of
paper - all our testimonies.
The questioner next asked how the sponsor reconciled the decision in
Edwards v. Aguillard, the minority opinion (Scalia's, I believe) of
which explicitly says that it's OK to discuss questions about other
theories. Why did the added protection need to exist?
The sponsor didn't have a great answer, just reiterating that a lot of
students have strong faiths that they'll bring to the class.. and left
it there, somewhat implying that the students deserved to have their
questions answered (I agree) and also that they deserve to have their
faiths discussed on equal footing with science (I strongly DISagree).
Ben and I were watching the process avidly. The public gallery had about
20 other people, and people had been coming and going as bills were
introduced and then tabled. We might have been the only people there
watching this bill, and didn't dare to leave, even though we had to get
on the road to make sure Ben's little boy was picked up on time. It was
too thrilling.
The chair of the committee asked those in the audience who supported the
bill to stand.
No movement. Those against?
Ben and I and six or eight other people rose to our feet there in our
state capitol. We remained standing as the questioner asked the bill's
sponsor to look at all the people against the bill. The sponsor had to
admit defeat and asked if he could say one other word. The chair,
surprised, allowed him to do so.
He told us a parable about a prophet from the Bible who had to face down
twenty thousand men and he was only one. The prophet was someone I've
never heard of, and I'd never heard the parable either.
But the point was made: This bill was about bringing religion into the
classroom."
 
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Dick Fischer
Dick Fischer, Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org <http://www.genesisproclaimed.org/>
 
Received on Sun Apr 2 15:18:34 2006