Via Pharyngula, I see that the ironically-named "Louisiana Science Education Act" has passed. Sigh.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based advocacy group, said the bill would promote teaching creationism in public schools and said some teachers might use supplemental materials produced by fundamentalist Christian organizations.

"It's time for Louisiana to step into the 21st century and stop trying to teach religion in public schools," Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of the organization, said in a statement. "Laws like this are an embarrassment."

The organization said any attempt to introduce religious materials in science classes will prompt a lawsuit.

Well, that's something, I guess. If the legislators really were interested in science education, they didn't need to pass the law. A science teacher who wanted to bring in a NOVA special about evolution was already allowed by the law to do so. However, if the intent of the new law was to create a back door for religious-minded teachers to bring in a video about how it was really the Old Testament flood that wiped out the dinosaurs, now it's going to have to be watched by groups like the one mentioned above and fought in the courts.

Damn it's depressing to be trying to move forward into the 21st century and to see idiots like the Louisiana legislature trying to drag us back to the Dark Ages. The vote passed the house 94-3. My representative was not one of the 3 that voted against it.