House Committee Assignment Stops Creationism Bill

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The House Education Committee would have heard the bill if Speaker Brian Bosma hadn't assigned it to the House Rules Committee.

The legislation would have allowed school corporations to require the teaching of various theories on the origin of life, including creationism.  Speaker Brian Bosma made a procedural move and assigned the bill to the Rules committee, which effectively killed it.  The bill’s author, Auburn Republican Senator Dennis Kruse, says he’s disappointed it didn’t even get a hearing in the House.  He says schools should get back to teaching a subject he says was accepted belief for most of human history.

“I think God created the world and created man and woman. And I think that is the true truth and we have twisted things,” Kruse says.

Kruse says he plans to bring the concept back in future sessions, but he plans to use different language that he hopes will be acceptable to more legislators.  Bosma says he has mixed emotions about the concept’s future:

“While I don’t disagree with the intent of the author, it seems to be buying a lawsuit that the state can ill afford at this point,” Bosma says.

Bosma says he shut down the bill in part to ease pressure on the House Education Committee, which would have heard the legislation.