0001|                           HOUSE BILL 1321
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0002|     43rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 1997
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0003|                            INTRODUCED BY
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0004|                           TIMOTHY E. MACKO
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0005|     
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0006|                                   
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0007|     
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0008|     
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0009|     
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0010|                                AN ACT
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0011|     RELATING TO EDUCATION; ADDRESSING THE TEACHING OF VARIOUS
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0012|     THEORIES OF BIOLOGIC ORIGINS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
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0013|     
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0014|     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
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0015|          Section 1.  A new section of the Public School Code is
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0016|     enacted to read:
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0017|          "[<u>NEW MATERIAL</u>]  LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS--TEACHING OF
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0018|     VARIOUS THEORIES OF BIOLOGIC ORIGINS.--
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0019|          A.  The legislature finds that:    
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0020|                    (1)  science is a special way of knowing and
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0021|     understanding the physical world that uses the "scientific
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0022|     method" to conduct rigorous investigations into processes that
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0023|     are observable and repeatable;
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0024|                    (2)  science is a discipline that employs
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0025|     skeptical peer review and experiments attempting to falsify
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0001|     ongoing and prior scientific work to ensure the validity and
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0002|     integrity of results;
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0003|                    (3)  historic processes such as the origin of
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0004|     the physical universe and biologic life were not observed and
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0005|     have not been repeated;
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0006|                    (4)  theories of biologic origins vary widely
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0007|     in proof, evidences and belief;
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0008|                    (5)  the theory of evolution posits a pre-
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0009|     biotic soup from which biologic life emanated, postulates that
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0010|     all life emanated from a common ancestor and requires
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0011|     transitional forms as evidence of macro-evolution between
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0012|     species forms;
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0013|                    (6)  no extant fossil evidence exists for this
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0014|     pre-biotic soup, no fossil or any other evidence exists for
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0015|     this common ancestor and noted evolutionists have described the
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0016|     extreme scarcity of transitional forms as the "trade secret of
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0017|     paleontology";
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0018|                    (7)  the accepted evolutionary explanation for
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0019|     macro-evolution leading to transitional forms is beneficial
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0020|     mutation, yet the observation of beneficial mutations is so
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0021|     rare that they cannot be the source of transitional forms;
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0022|                    (8)  a proposed evolutionary explanation for
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0023|     the transition between reptiles and feathered birds is the
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0024|     mutation of scales, yet the genetic structure of scales and
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0025|     feathers are so different that scales are not the likely source
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0001|     of feathers;             (9)  the proposed mechanism for
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0002|     relating macro-mutations between species at the genetic level
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0003|     is equivalence of protein composition separation between
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0004|     different representatives of those species, yet no such
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0005|     evidence of equivalence of separation in protein sequences
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0006|     exists in any known species;                 (10)  noted
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0007|     evolutionary biologists observe that in order for the theory of
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0008|     evolution to be correct, there must be evidence of progression
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0009|     within species from one form to another and there must be
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0010|     evidence of transition to other forms, yet all observations
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0011|     indicate that species exist in very stable stasis with no
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0012|     proclivity toward change or evolution into another species;
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0013|                    (11)  the structure of genetic change is
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0014|     transferred through DNA proteins, yet DNA structure is
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0015|     specifically designed to be robust toward change;
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0016|                    (12)  the theory of evolution requires
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0017|     transformation from bacteria to complex cells as well as a
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0018|     suitable explanation for the production of complex order from
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0019|     randomness, yet no mechanism for these transitions is observed,
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0020|     recorded or evident in the fossil record and no causal
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0021|     mechanism to explain the extremely unlikely thermodynamic
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0022|     processes necessary to produce even a single gene has been
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0023|     advanced;
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0024|                    (13)  probability theory shows that even the
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0025|     simplest life is extraordinarily complex and unlikely to have
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0001|     arisen from random action, time and chance, and modern
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0002|     information theory shows that random chance cannot produce the
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0003|     order necessary to generate thousands of highly ordered genetic
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0004|     structures from any number of probable steps in any amount of
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0005|     cosmological time;
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0006|                    (14)  it is the policy of the state of New
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0007|     Mexico to enhance the self-esteem of students in the classroom,
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0008|     yet the teaching of a theory that indicates that children
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0009|     evolved in a meaningless manner through highly improbable
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0010|     random fluctuations in a pre-biotic soup can result in a
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0011|     particularly negative impact on a student's self-esteem; and
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0012|                    (15)  because of these conflicts, and because
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0013|     of the availability of various theories of biologic origins,
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0014|     the legislature affirms and agrees with the position of the
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0015|     state board that various theories of biologic origins be taught
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0016|     in the public school system.
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0017|               B.  In determining public school curriculum policy
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0018|     or prescribing courses of instruction for public schools, the
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0019|     state board shall adopt curriculum standards that teach various
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0020|     theories of biologic origins in the public school system."
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0021|                              
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