Posted: 10/26/07
Senator backs off on funding
earmarked for religious group
By Bill Walsh
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Bowing to pressure, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has backed off an attempt to steer $100,000 to a Christian group that supports teaching religious and alternative theories of creation alongside evolution in science classrooms.
Vitter took heat from educational, religious and civil rights groups for earmarking money in a fiscal 2008 spending bill for the Louisiana Family Forum, “to develop a plan to promote better science education.”
The group has long challenged Darwinian theories explaining the origins of life, and the earmark was seen by some as an attempt to inject Christian religious doctrine into the classroom.
Vitter announced on the Senate floor that “to avoid more hysterics,” he wanted to shift the money to science and computer labs in schools in Ouachita Parish. He said the earmark had been misconstrued.
Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the two managers of the $605 billion bill, accepted Vitter’s proposal and said the money would be reallocated in House-Senate negotiations.
The Louisiana Family Forum was launched in Baton Rouge nine years ago by Tony Perkins, now president of the Family Research Council, a national Christian advocacy group. The Family Forum’s stated mission is “to persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking.”
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