Georgia Creationism: It’s Bob Staples Again

We’ve been following The Controversy between evolution and creationism for quite a while now, and we observe that the same people keep making the same arguments and saying the same things year after year. We understand that the peddlers of creationism are unlikely to change a formula that provides them with a shady living, but what amazes us is the fervent stubbornness exhibited by their followers. They never learn anything, ever.

Last year we wrote Creationist Rumblings in Georgia. That was about good ol’ Bob Staples, a member of the Villa Rica Church of Christ, who went to a meeting of the Carroll County Board of Education and asked the Board to start teaching creationism because, in his words: “Evolution is a theory in crisis and harmful to our progress.”

In today’s news we learn — would you believe it? — the same thing that happened last year has happened again! Same guy, same school board, same issue. It’s being reported by the same newspaper that carried last year’s story, and even the reporter is the same — Rachel Lane. The repetition is what we think is interesting here, so let’s get to it.

In the Times-Georgian, a daily newspaper serving Carrollton, Georgia — the county seat of Carroll County in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains — we read Schools eye potential budget cuts. As was the case last year, the first part of the news article is about school board budget business, which we’ll skip. The only reason we’re here is to see what good ol’ Bob is up to. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us:

In other news from Thursday’s board meeting, Bob Staples and about 15 supporters appeared before the board asking them to consider the teachings on evolution and creationism again. He spoke to the board members in July 2010 about the same issue, but wanted to ask them to consider making a statement about the importance of teaching creationism.

This isn’t a perfect repeat of last year’s performance. This year ol’ Bob brought 15 supporters. Let’s read on:

“Academic freedom is provided to teachers so they can properly express opinions in the classroom,” Staples said. One of the teachers could decide to teach creationism. He also stated that evolution is a theory that evolutionists have said is similar to religious beliefs.

The Board has some familiarity with this from the past, so they handled it politely as they did the year before. Here’s how it went:

Board member Donald Nixon said that there are federal laws in place that prohibit the teaching of creationism in the classroom. Evolution is a required part of the Georgia curriculum.

[…]

Nixon said learning about evaluation never made him question his faith. When he was teaching the course, one of his students, after objecting to the assignment, said learning about the theory of evolution made her a stronger supporter in the truth of her God.

And here’s one more reaction from a member of the Board:

Board member Bart Cater suggested the school board members consider designing and signing a declaration on their beliefs and filing it.

What? Are they going to require a signed statement of religious belief from all the Board members? That sounds constitutionally troublesome. Anyway, that’s the latest about good ol’ Bob Staples.

Out of curiosity, we visited the website of Bob’s church and found this article: Shall We Dance? Here’s a sampling of what it says:

Statistically, some of the worst things that happen to teenagers happen on prom night, graduation night, and homecoming night: pregnancy, drunk driving, car accidents, rape, and more. … Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire. … There is an old saying, that goes like this: Dancing feet and praying knees do not grow on the same pair of legs. … Modern dancing is sinful and should be avoided.

We can imagine the bumper strips that must be everywhere in Carrollton, Georgia: No Darwin, No Dancing!

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