Ban on Evolution in Texts Gains in Ark. Legislature
A committee of the Arkansas Legislature recommended Wednesday that the theory of evolution be banned from textbooks in the latest challenge by state officials to the scientific view of how life began.
The Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs approved the legislation and sent it to the House 20 years after the state Legislature passed a similar bill that was struck down in federal courts as unconstitutional.
The measure advanced despite a warning from the American Civil Liberties Union that it could violate the separation of church and state.
“Would anybody here pretend that this isn’t about religion?” Rita Sklar of the ACLU’s Arkansas chapter asked the committee.
“Do you believe you were descended from a monkey?” Rep. Denny Altes shot back. “If we teach kids that they were descended from monkeys, don’t you think they’ll act like monkeys?”
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
