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The Day that Utah Evolved Email Print

By Devilstower
02/28/2006 09:14:37 AM EST

The bill was first proposed in the Utah state Senate by Republican Chris Buttars, who said it was "time to rein in teachers who were teaching that man had descended from apes, and rattling the faith of students."  The Republican dominated Senate passed the proposal on a 16-12.

As the bill headed into the equally lopsided Republican state House, it looked as if Utah was on the way to joining the Kansas Club -- those states that have mandated "alternative theories," or forced the placement of stickers on text books, or otherwise given science a punch in the gut.

Then a funny thing happened in the governor's desk.  

Though Sen. Buttars found a House sponsor for his "I am not an ape" bill, almost immediately the House started modifying the wording, softening the rhetoric (and correcting some mistakes about what was actually in the Utah school curricula) that had passed in the Senate.  Even so, it soon became evident that the House wasn't ready to buy into the whole idea.
... House lawmakers weren't as eager to support the bill's underlying premise.

Rep. Scott Wyatt, R-Logan, said he feared passing the bill would force the state to then address hundreds of other scientific theories "from Quantum physics to Freud" in the same manner.

Did you catch that?  This could be the most sensible thing any elected official has said in the whole debate, and it's coming from a Republican state congressman in Utah.  Rep. Wyatt didn't stop there, he delivered a statement that should be repeated whenever and wherever this "debate" is stirred up.

"I would leave you with two questions," Wyatt said. "If we decide to weigh in on this part, are we going to begin weighing in on all the others and are we the correct body to do that?"

Let's cover that ground again:


  1. All of science is made up of theories, and evolution is no different in that light than quantum, gravitation, or relativity.

  2. If legislative bodies start saying how evolution should be taught, what's to stop them from getting their hands into all the rest of it?

  3. Is congress really the best place to be determining the validity of scientific theories?


Granted, Rep. Wyatt's statements may lack visceral kick.  There are no references to God or Darwin, and no insults to either side of the aisle.  It's not a zinger.  But what he delivers here is that commodity all too rare in this discussion -- a reasoned approach.

I have no idea of Rep. Wyatt's view on any other issue, but on this day, he has my admiration.  Consider this a virtual round of applause.  The final results?

Senate Bill 96 failed in the House on a 28-46 vote, after a lengthy debate that saw the bill changed twice.

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The Day that Utah Evolved | 3 comments (3 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Creationists Never Surrender (none / 0)
Buttars said he doesn't believe the defeat means that most House members think Darwin's theory of evolution is correct.

"Absolutely not. It means the vote was wrong in my opinion," Buttars said. "I don't believe that anybody in there really wants their kids to be taught that their great-grandfather was an ape."

I've not seen Mr. Buttar's grandfather, but I'm willing to speculate.

by Devilstower on 02/28/2006 09:15:46 AM EST

A word in defense of Utah (none / 1)
I live in Utah and most of the native people I meet are Libertarian not from the "shove it down your throat" right.  We have a very high level of Internet use and have from the beginning of the web.  Novell was located in Happy Valley, aka Provo.

The Idiot in Utah that started this was not even from Utah.  She is Gayle Ruzika.  I believe she is from Texas.  She is with the Eagle Forum.  She moved to Utah to organize people to lobby for her viewpoint.  Since the LDS are the most highly organized people on the face of the planet this was not a difficult task.

Lots of women are at home moms so there was a large base to form her telephone tree and the anti libertarian agenda has developed with her aide if not her initiation.

Believe this or not, I also have a house in Kansas.  My friends here also are Libertarian.  They, Kansans, elected a democrat because they think the Republicans have gone too far with teaching creationism in the school.

I believe both these states are duped by the same word:  conservative.  These people are all fiscally conservative.  What needs to be reiterated until it becomes a late night tv joke is that the Republicans are not fiscally conservative.  

There is nothing fiscally conservative about a $500Billion budget deficit.

Nothing conservative about the prescription drug benefit.

It does not preserve our rule of law to legalize 11 million ILLEGAL immigrants.

There is nothing environmentally conservative about any of the Republican policies.

You can call yourself anything you want but the response should be:  PROVE IT.

by ann on 02/28/2006 01:23:44 PM EST

This reminds me (none / 0)
of that NASA flack and Bushite who insisted their press releases refer to the "theory" of the Big Bang.

I've often wondered why the strict Bible constructionists give physics a pass, when that's what first upset the Church so much.

Anyway, you're right, this is a sensible approach to these attempts.

"The end of all intelligent analysis is to clear the way for synthesis." H.G. Wells "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there." Bob Dylan

by Captain Future on 03/03/2006 07:24:17 PM EST

The Day that Utah Evolved | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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