![Barbara Forrest Barbara Forrest](http://ncse.com/files/images/speakers-forrest.thumbnail.jpg)
Writing in the Shreveport Times (July 18, 2010), Barbara Forrest blasted the Louisiana Science Education Act, which opened the door for creationism to be taught in the state's public schools. Responding to the executive director of the Louisiana Family Forum, who in a previous column praised "the courage of our policy writers," she replied, "The LFF announced on their website that they wrote the bill. They were assisted by the Discovery Institute (DI), a creationist think tank in Seattle that has hawked 'intelligent design' for almost two decades." She also noted the anomaly of the bill's including a disclaimer prohibiting "discrimination for or against religion or non-religion": "But legislation that is about real science education need not include religion disclaimers," she explained. "Disclaimers are typically included in creationist laws, which are precisely about promoting religion." Additionally, she observed, it was creationists who were foremost in pushing for the bill. "Public school science teachers did not request this law. On the contrary, they opposed it." Forrest, a member of NCSE's board of directors and of Louisiana Coalition for Science's board of directors, is Professor of Philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University and the coauthor with Paul R. Gross of Creationism's Trojan Horse (revised edition: Oxford University Press, 2007).