americanatheists

ACTION ALERT: MISSISSIPPI
Proposed Mississippi legislation will put “just a theory” stickers in biology textbooks.

Representative Gary Chism from District 37 in Mississippi, has sponsored legislation to amend the state’s constitution in order to place “just a theory” stickers in Mississippi biology textbooks. The legislation, HB25, has been referred to the Education and Judiciary A committees for review and has a good chance of passing the committee for a House review.

You can read the entire proposed legislation, which will enact a constitutional amendment, online at:
http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2009/pdf/HB/0001-0099/HB0025IN.pdf

The proposed constitutional amendment includes different definitions of the word theory instead of the scientific one.

It describes evolution as a “controversial theory some scientists present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things.” It goes on to state that, “No one was around when life first appeared; therefore statements about life’s origins should be considered a theory.

It then makes the statement that, “Evolution refers to the unproven belief that random undirected forces produced living things.” It then goes on to list a creationist manifesto of “problems with evolution” such as the Cambrian Explosion, “lack of new major groups of other living things appearing in the fossil record,” “lack of transitional forms,” and the “complete and complex set of instructions for building a living body” (read as Irreducible Complexity).

The proposed legislation, while unconstitutional in and of itself, is full of scientific misunderstanding, a misrepresentation of scientific theory, false statements about evolutionary biology, and a gross ignorance of the Theory of Evolution.

What can you do about it? You can contact Rep. Gary Chism and the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Education and Judiciary A committee and ask them to vote against this bill and keep it from being forwarded to the floor for a vote.

You can contact Gary Chism via email at gchism@house.ms.gov, by phone at (662) 327-0777, or via USPS at PO Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215. His online biography is located at: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/members/house/chism.xml

The Chairman of the Education Committee is Cecil Brown (cbrown@house.ms.gov or (601) 359-3330). The Vice-Chairman of the Education Committee is Sara Thomas (sthomas@house.ms.gov).

The Chairman of the Judiciary A Committee is Edward Blackmon, Jr. (eblackmon@house.ms.gov or (601) 859-1576). The Vice-Chairman of the Judiciary A Committee is Angel Cockerham (acockerham@house.ms.gov or (601) 783-6600).

Make sure you reference HB25 in any email, letter, or phone call. Do not insult the Representatives or use derogatory language. Please keep letters and phone calls polite and professional.

For legal purposes, you can reference the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (http://www.pamd.uscourts.gov/kitzmiller/kitzmiller_342.pdf) and Selmer v. Cobb County Schools (http://alt.cimedia.com/ajc/pdf/evolution.pdf).

You can also contribute funds to American Atheists, Inc. to help fight legal battles just like this. You can designate your contributions to the “Legal Action Fund” and your donation will be spent exclusively on legal action against those that would infringe upon the Separation of Church and State. Please visit http://atheists.org/contribute to donate.