Angela Garlington feels alone in the way she teaches science at a high school in Odessa, a Texas city populated by oilfield workers.
When she teaches evolution, the theory that all life emerged via random mutations and natural selection, Garlington approaches it as on par with creationism, the belief that life was created by God as described in the Bible.
“I simply tell my students [that] as educated young adults they have a right ... to choose what they believe,” the teacher in her late 40s said. “I don’t have any idea if my colleagues will teach both sides of a controversial issue, but I always have and probably always will.”
Texas state legislators are considering a bill introduced last month that would offer teachers like Garlington some legal protection by giving them latitude to present both sides of subjects “that may cause controversy.”
Texas is one of eight US states where such laws have been proposed since the beginning of the year. South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Alabama, Indiana, Florida and Arkansas are the others.
The bills are the latest salvo in the debate in the US over how science is taught in schools and whether religious beliefs should be considered in the classroom.
Forty-two percent of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form about 10,000 years ago, according to a 2014 Gallup poll that showed little change since the study was launched three decades earlier.
Another 31 percent believe that humans evolved from less advanced life forms under God’s guidance, while 19 percent believe evolution produced the diversity of life without God.
The issue is particularly emotive in conservative southwest Texas, where Kimberly Villanueva teaches at a middle school in the town of Stanton, about 45 minutes east of Odessa.
“I had children last year get up and leave the classroom when we taught plate tectonics and evolution,” she said.
“Don’t you believe in God?” one of the students asked.
Under the law, Villanueva is not allowed to answer that question.
Should the Texas bill become law, Villanueva believes she would at least be able to have discussions that would keep students in the classroom and “open [their] minds to scientific possibilities as well.”
Critics of the bills in Texas and other states say that they are an attempt to circumvent constitutional limitations requiring separation of church and state.
There have been multiple court cases dating back decades on teaching creationism in US schools.
About 70 bills addressing the issue have surfaced across the US since 2004, according to National Center for Science Education deputy director Glenn Branch.
The recently proposed bills aim to head off potential court challenges by giving teachers the option of teaching religious theories in science class, rather than a mandate that they do so.
However, such legislative attempts have to date had mixed success. Louisiana enacted such a bill in 2008 and Tennessee followed suit in 2012.
However, in conservative South Dakota and Iowa this year, similar bills did not succeed.
“Allowing the teacher to teach creationism would risk the possibility of a lawsuit from a parent objecting that it’s unconstitutional to teach creationism,” Branch said. “Stopping the teacher from proceeding would risk the possibility of a lawsuit from the teacher.”
The South Dakota bill died in the state legislature in a matter of weeks, thanks in part to the opposition of National Science Teachers Association executive director David Evans.
“We strongly support teaching science in science class and are strongly opposed to teaching other things in science class,” Evans said.
However, Garlington said she has not faced any backlash for the way she blends science and religion in her classroom.
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