The New Orleans Times-Picayune has this new article: Scientists criticize creationism, Louisiana Science Education Act at conference. It’s about the infamous, odious Louisiana Science Education Act, which is typical of legislation being promoted by Discovery Institute. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us:

The Botanical Society of America devoted a symposium Monday in New Orleans to railing against and ridiculing the Louisiana Science Education Act. Panelists said the 2008 law allows the teaching of creationism in science class and has made the state an international laughingstock.

You know all about the lunacy in Louisiana, so we’ll just give you a few of the article’s highlights. Like this:

Barbara Forrest of the Louisiana Coalition for Science said it included coded language — like “the origins of life” and references to academic freedom — that was developed by religiously conservative groups to get around court decisions against laws expressly allowing creationist theory. The result is a law that claims to promote critical thinking while paradoxically doing the opposite, Forrest said.

Besides Barbara, Zack was there too. Right below the newspaper’s headline there’s a picture of him at the podium. He said:

“It’s not about teaching science. It’s about sneaking creationism into the classroom,” said Zack Kopplin, a college student and one of Louisiana’s leading anti-creationism advocate. “You don’t need a law to teach critical thinking in science.”

This is our favorite part of the article:

Many states have considered similar legislation, but only Tennessee has approved its own version, Forrest said: “Even friggin’ Texas has the good sense not to pass one of these bills.”

Barbara!!

And of course the article mentions this:

A number of the law’s critics seized upon the so-called “witch doctor” statement of state Sen. Elbert Guillory of Opelousas during this spring’s legislative session. Guillory defended alternative science on the grounds that he had a health problem accurately diagnosed by a semi-naked man who threw bones in the dust.

That was one of the great moments in the history of Louisiana. We posted about it here: Louisiana Victory for Creationism and Voodoo. And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a video of of the great legislator’s historic statement:

This is a good article that discusses the whole Louisiana creationist comedy, so click over to the Times-Picayune and check it out.

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