Scientists won't meet in New Orleans

Citing last year's controversial "Louisiana Science Education Act," one of the nation's leading scientific organizations has cancelled plans to host a convention in New Orleans.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology's 2,300 members will boycott the state because of legislative efforts to bring creationism into science classrooms through a back door.

The bill's supporters feign shock that anyone would think they have a religious agenda. The act is only an effort to "expand the opportunity to teach pure science in the classroom," they say.

But the people behind the act have a history of deceptive tactics and a most unChristian attitude toward the truth about their intentions. Here is a story about how they tore a community apart.