This is about the creationist bill we wrote about in Oklahoma’s Second Creationism Bill for 2014. And don’t be confused by our title. This isn’t the second such bill to pass the House; it’s just the state’s second creationist bill for the year. The first one is already dead. We’ll get to that later.
This bill is House Bill 1674. It was introduced by two familiar creationist names — Gus Blackwell (a preacher) and Sally Kern, a sociology major who is married to a preacher.
The thing is one of those Academic Freedom bills, based on the anti-science, anti-evolution, pro-creationism model act promoted by the Discovery Institute. To track the bill’s progress you can use this link: Tracking Reports Website, but once there you need to enter HB1674 in the search box and then hit the “Retrieve” button. We tried it, and it’s not very informative.
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) just posted this news: Antiscience bill passes the Oklahoma House. They say it “passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a 79-6 vote on March 3, 2014.”
Wow — that’s 93% in favor of the bill. What a great state! Oklahoma is sandwiched between Kansas and Texas. That seems to be creationist country. Oh, NCSE also says this:
As introduced (PDF) in February 2013, the bill specifically mentioned “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning” as subjects which “some teachers may be unsure” about how to teach. Later, in February 2014, Gus Blackwell (R-District 61), a sponsor of HB 1674 along with Sally Kern (R-District 81), Arthur Hulbert (R-District 14), and Josh Brecheen in the Senate (R-District 61), amended the bill to omit the specific details.
Smart creationists! They’re covering their tracks. It’s a brilliant move, except that the legislative history always follows a bill, and when the thing gets challenged in court, as it surely will, its creationist roots will be there for all to see.
Now the thing moves on to the state Senate. It has friends there. Although Oklahoma’s first creationist bill for the year has already died in the Senate (from inactivity, not by being voted down), it was similar to this one and it was sponsored by Senator Josh Brecheen – District 6. But he’s still in action and building up his total of rapture points, because he’s a sponsor of the bill that just passed the House.
NCSE says: “The Senate would have to approve the bill by April 24, 2014, for it to become law.” No problem! There’s plenty of time, and the lawmakers obviously don’t have anything better to do. The legislature isn’t scheduled to adjourn until 30 May.
Copyright © 2014. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
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The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
In the past 14 years Oklahoma has had more creationist bills (27) than any other state and all, so far, have failed. Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education (OESE, http://www.oklascience.org ) has served as an ‘umbrella’ group to mobilize national and state organizations and many individuals to send messages opposing the bills. Since the bill passed two days ago, requests have gone out to 2000+ persons to send messages in opposition.
There is no guarantee that we will succeed again, but the Senate Education Committee has been good in not hearing these bills (so far). That Committee has one or two Republicans that join the Democrats and the Committee Chair has been good in not allowing such bills to be heard,
Addresses for the Senators that should receive opposing messages are listed on the OESE web site. We encourage citizens to help by sending messages. They may not all be read, but they are tallied – and that counts big!