Censorship or Freedom – You decide!

On Monday, Jan 29th, the NM House Judiciary Committee tabled resolution HJM 14 on teaching objective origins science in the public classroom. The resolution, along with companion legislation which has not been tabled (SB 371, HB 506 and SJM 9) would help public school teachers and public school students investigate and speak freely about scientific information concerning biological origins.

And what is wrong with that?

It’s curious that in a nation that values and promotes student diversity, in a nation that encourages and educates students to be tolerant of individual differences, in a nation that protects a student’s right to individual expression, that this same nation would not at the same time protect a student’s right to investigate all scientific information concerning biological origins and that it would not allow students to think for themselves. This is nonsense!

It’s worse than nonsense. It is censorship! If a government is not allowing full disclosure and active discourse concerning any topic, whether it is politics or science, history or literature, it is promoting censorship.

And what message does this give our kids concerning science? That only some scientific information is allowed in the classroom, because other scientific information is “dangerous.” That only some questions are allowed to be asked, because other questions expose our own bias and secular religion? And that only some conclusions can be made about scientific data because other conclusions go against the secluar creation myth that we want you to believe in?

If a student is not allowed to see all scientific information about a scientific subject, that is censorship. And if a conclusion about scientific data is mandated by a teacher, a book, or even the authority of science, and students are not free to make up their own minds and draw their own conclusions, then that is indoctination, not education.

Is this what we want for NM students? Censorship and Indoctrination? You decide.

What Is Censorship?
Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons—individuals, groups or government officials—find objectionable or dangerous. Censors try to use the power of the state to impose their view of what is truthful and appropriate, or offensive and objectionable, on everyone else. Censors pressure public institutions, such as public school teachers, school boards, and legislators to suppress and remove from public access information they judge inappropriate or dangerous, so that no one else has the chance to read or view the material and make up their own minds about it. The censor wants to prejudge materials for everyone.

What is being Censored in the Classroom today?
A new form of censorship has emerged over the last decade. Public school science classrooms, public school teachers, and public school libraries are not allowed to provide students with any material that challenges the current Darwinian view of origins science. Even peer-reviewed scientific literature that has been accepted by the scientific community is being censored from the public classroom (ref Icons – Gould paper). Students are often misinformed or the information is skewed in order to mold students’ thoughts into drawing a pre-determined conclusion about origins science. This is censorship and these actions remove the intellectual freedom our students need to develop the tools to be self-governors in a democratic society.

“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition: for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. ” —Thomas Paine, Dissertation On First Principles Of Government